Prenatal exposure to pollution harmful for kids with asthma

2:23 PM Health No Comments

The fact that air pollution, childhood lung growth and respiratory problems are associated with prenatal exposure has been shown in numerous studies in recent years. A new study that will be presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San Francisco now indicates that these prenatal exposures could pose a particular risk for children with asthma.

Study leader, Amy Padula, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California in Berkeley declared:

“In this study, we found that prenatal exposures to airborne particles and the pollutant nitrogen dioxide adversely affect pulmonary function growth among asthmatic children between 6 and 15 years of age. This analysis adds to the evidence that maternal exposure to ambient air pollutants can have persistent effects on lung function development in children with asthma.”

The study, which was part of the Fresno Asthmatic Children’s Environment Study (FACES), a Lifetime Exposure initiative that examines the impact of prenatal exposure to various ambient air pollutants on children’s and adolescent’s growth of lung function in high pollution areas included repeat evaluations of 162 asthmatic children aged between 6 and 15 years and their mothers.

The researchers traced the mothers’ residences during pregnancy and obtained the corresponding concentrations of pollutants from the Aerometric Information Retrieval System supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine the prenatal pollutant exposure levels. The team obtained monthly average concentrations of pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter from 24-hour averages at a central site monitor, before calculating summaries for the entire pregnancy and each trimester.

The researchers used spirometry to calculate the children’s’ lung function growth, which is mainly determined by changes in lung capacity as a child grows. Spirometry is a common pulmonary function test that evaluates the amount and velocity of air that can be inhaled and exhaled in four different measures:

The FVC (Forced Vital Capacity), i.e. the volume of air that can be expelled after a full inhalation.

The FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second), i.e. the volume of air that can forcibly be expelled in one second after a full inhalation

The FEF (Forced Expiratory Flow), i.e. the speed of air from the lung during the middle portion of a forced expiration.

The PEF (Peak Expiratory Flow), i.e. the maximal speed of air expelled immediately after being inhaled. All pulmonary function tests were performed multiple times for boys and girls separately, with the team noting any important changes in addition to adjusting the measures for the children’s height, age, race and socioeconomic status.

The findings revealed that exposure to nitrogen dioxide during the first and second pregnancy trimesters were linked to lower pulmonary function growth in both genders in childhood. Girls who were exposed to nitrogen dioxide during the first trimester were linked to lower FEV1 growth, whilst nitrogen dioxide exposure during the second trimester was linked to lower FEF growth. Boys exposed to nitrogen dioxide exposure during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy were linked to lower FVC growth. The researchers also noted that whilst exposure to particulate matter during the first trimester was linked to lower FEV1 and FVC growth in girls, boys with similar exposures during the third trimester were linked to lower PEF and FEF growth.

Dr. Padula states: “This finding adds to the evidence that current air pollution levels continue to have adverse effects on human health. Few studies have examined prenatal exposure to air pollution and subsequent lung function in childhood. These results suggest that we need to be doing a better job to reduce traffic-related air pollution.”

She continued saying that her team anticipates to perform further research to investigate the impact of genetic susceptibility to air pollution, and concludes:

“Currently, our studies are examining the associations between prenatal air pollution and adverse birth outcomes. It would be useful to know what makes some people more or less susceptible to the adverse affects of air pollution so we might be able to provide more targeted public health advice.”

Read More

Tonto Dike dumps smoking habit?

1:30 PM Entertainment No Comments

Nollywood bad girl,Tonto Dike, who is known to be a heavy smoker has finally dumped the habit.

The 26-year-old controversial actress announced this, on Monday, via micro-blogging website Twitter. She tweeted “I have [a] good news for those who wish me well. hehehehheheehehehe, it’s a silly good news but you all [are] going to love this. I QUIT SMOKING. Puppyface.”

*Tonto Dike

Just last year, Tonto was in a bitter war with fellow actor, Van Vicker when she puffed cigarette at him. The Ghanaian actor was said to have cautioned the actress to cut down on her smoking habit.

Before now, Tonto’s alleged heavy smoking habit has been a thing of concern to some of her fans as well as friends.

Tonto emerged in the Nigerian movie industry after placing second in the 2005 edition of Next Movie Star reality show. She landed her first movie in 2006 drama ‘Tea and Coffee.’ Since then, the actress has not looked back. Today she is one of the most-sought-after controversial actresses in Nollywood.

Read More

Doctor by training, artiste at heart

8:21 AM Entertainment No Comments

Gbenga Adeniji speaks with Ondo-based Ademola Adewuyi, a practising medical doctor, who is also a performing musician

When one considers Ademola Adewuyi’s dedication to his job as a medical doctor, it will be hard to believe that he gives same measured attention to his other love, music. For instance, when our correspondent first called him on the telephone on Monday to ask him some questions, he took excuse that he was going to attend to his patients and would answer the questions later.

But when the answers eventually came, there was an indication that for him and music, it is a love made in heaven as well.

Ademola, who hails from Ekiti State, studied Medicine and Surgery at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. His music is in afro folk genre of Segun Akinlolu’s (Beautiful Nubia), who is also a veterinary doctor, and Asa.

He says, ‘‘I started singing as a young college boy about 15 years ago but ventured into professional music about seven years ago. For me, discovering my musical abilities was both incidental and divinely orchestrated. Necessity in church demanded I perform whenever service hold so I then realised I was doing it well.’’

He describes his brand of music as a fusion of folk and pop on a pedestal of jazz. He further adds that it is a kind of neo-folk which ‘‘incorporates the tell-tale signature of folk music with the harmonic dynamism characteristic of jazz.’’

According to him, he has passion for both medicine and music because he sees them as media of healing. According to him, medicine heals the body, while music heals the soul. He further says he finds time for each of them anytime each calls for attention.

Disclosing that he is into general practice at the moment but plans to specialise on family medicine soon, the singer adds that he will sing full time and practise full time. For now, he has two new singles – Fowo Ko mi Lowo and Black is Beautiful.

Adewuyi states, ‘‘The first single tells the story of a man wronged by his friend and would not rest until they resolve their crises. The moral of the song is forgiveness. The other talks about celebrating what you have, your innate potential, abilities and possessions rather than envying another who is supposedly better.

‘‘I try to express lessons of life in contemporary language which people can easily grasp. I use fictional characters to drive home my point. Hence, the scope is broad bordering on forgiveness, love, self empowerment and so on.’’

The singer, who is based in Akure, Ondo State, states that his wife – who he met in the OAU – likes her both as a doctor and singer.

‘‘She met me as a singer when I was still in training to be a doctor. We met back at Great Ife. She loves my music, she is my number one fan and she loves me both as a doctor and a singer, ‘’ he says.

Apart from performing at concerts, Adewuyi organises an annual musicial festival Arambada, whose maiden held at OAU and last edition at the Federal University of Technology Akure.

BY GBENGA ADENIJI

Read More

The Perfection of the Paper Clip

2:54 AM Technology 2 Comments

It was invented in 1899. It hasn’t been improved upon since.

Getty Images/BananaStock via Thinkstock.

The paper clip is something of a fetish object in design circles. Its spare, machined aesthetic and its inexpensive ubiquity landed it a spot in MoMA’s 2004 show Humble Masterpieces. This was a pedestal too high for design critic Michael Bierut, who responded with an essay called “To Hell with the Simple Paper Clip.” He argued that designers praise supposedly unauthored objects like the paper clip because they’re loath to choose between giving publicity to a competitor and egotistically touting their own designs. Bierut might be right about his colleagues’ motives, but he’s wrong about the paper clip: It’s not all that simple.

Most everyday objects—like the key, or the book, or the phone—evolve over time in incremental ways, and the 20th century in particular revolutionized, streamlined, or technologized the vast majority of the things you hold in your hand over the course of an average day. But if you could step into an office in 1895—walking past horse-drawn buses and rows of wooden telephone switchboard cabinets—you might find a perfectly recognizable, shiny silver paper clip sitting on a desk. What was then a brand-new technology is now, well over a century later, likely to be in the same place, ready to perform the same tasks. Why did the paper clip find its form so quickly, and why has it stuck with us for so long?

Before the paper clip, there was paper. When it was developed in China in the first century A.D., paper was made from cotton and linen. (Some contemporary paper is still made this way; most currency is printed on it.) This rag paper was expensive to produce, so it was primarily reserved for permanent writing and sewn into bound volumes. Temporary writing—tracking Sumerian accounts payable or inviting a friend to a birthday party in Pompeii—was done in clay or wax tablets that could be wiped clean and reused.
Advertisement

In the 19th century, the invention of wood pulping and industrial paper mills made inexpensive paper widely available; the rise of commerce, bureaucracy, and literacy transformed it into masses of loose sheets of paperwork. The figure most responsible for the creation and care of all this paperwork was the clerk. As Adrian Forty points out in Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750, the clerk was a creature of uncertain status, someone who had attained a middle-class respectability but who frequently lacked both managerial responsibility and a middle-class salary: Think of Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, working endless hours for a thankless boss. These clerks were often surrounded by papers that had to be sorted into cubbyholes or tied into bundles with string. This was a new sort of of urgent but essentially meaningless work.(No wonder Melville’s famously reticent scrivener, Bartleby, was forever intoning “I would prefer not to.”*) And in the shop of Mr. Snagsby, the law-stationer in Charles Dickens’Bleak House, we get a glimpse of this tidal wave of 19th-century office supplies:

“Mr. Snagsby has dealt in all sorts of blank forms of legal process; in skins and rolls of parchment; in paper—foolscap, brief, draft, brown, white, whitey-brown, and blotting; in stamps; in office-quills, pens, ink, India-rubber, pounce, pins, pencils, sealing-wax, and wafers; in red tape and green ferret; in pocket-books, almanacs, diaries, and law lists; in string boxes, rulers, inkstands—glass and leaden—pen-knives, scissors, bodkins, and other small office-cutlery; in short, in articles too numerous to mention…”

Here in Mr. Snagsby’s inventory we find the most direct precursor to the paper clip: the straight pin. As Henry Petroski notes in his book The Evolution of Useful Things, the pin-making industry was illustrative of the industrialization taking place prior to mechanization. The first chapter of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations features a passage describing the manner in which the manufacture of iron pins took advantage of the division of labor, with one man drawing the iron wire, another straightening it, a third cutting it, and so on. Smith noted that 10 individuals engaged in 10 different parts of the process could together make about 48,000 pins a day, whereas a single individual working by himself could not make even 20. By the end of the 19th century, this process was so efficient that a half-pound box of pins could be bought for 40 cents. But while iron pins were cheap, easy to use, and disposable, they had the obvious downsides of rusting and piercing, leaving stains and holes in the papers they pressed together.

Plate II of Pin Making in The Encyclopedie, 1762. 

Epinglier/Defehrt/Goussier via artoftheprint.com.

What enabled the shift from the pin to the clip was the development, in 1855, of low-cost, industrially produced steel, which has the right balance of strength and flexibility to make tracks, pipes, wire, and nearly every other piece of 20th-century metal infrastructure. Manufacturers could use the new supple steel wire to draw in space, making strong, rust-free hooks, safety pins, clothes hangers, and paper clips. And in the last quarter of the 19th century, patents were issued for nearly every shape of steel wire that could be imagined to be useful.

Cushman & Denison T Pins patented in 1902.

Image of box via Officemuseum.com.

The paper clip we think of most readily is an elegant loop within a loop of springy steel wire. In 1899, a patent was issued to William Middlebrook for the design, not of the clip, but of the machinery that made it. He sold the patent to the American office-supply manufacturer Cushman & Denison, who trademarked it as the Gem clip, in 1904. Middlebrook’s rather beautiful patent drawing shows the clip not as an invention but as the outcome of an invention: the best solution to an old problem, using a new material and new manufacturing processes. Coiled in this form, the steel wire was pliant enough to open, allowing papers to nestle between its loops, but springy enough to press those papers back together. When the loops part too far from each other and the steel reaches its elastic limit, the clip breaks. This property, however, also belonged to the many other clip shapes developed around the same time.

1899 US patent for paper clip machine/USPTO.

The Early Office Museum has collected a remarkable array of these. There was the simple and angular Fay clip which, at 1867, is probably the earliest patented paper clip. The slightly intestinal-looking Wright clip, patented in 1877. The Niagara clip—looking charmingly like two clips holding hands—patented in 1897. The more marketably named Common-Sense and Hold-Fast clips of the early 1900s. Some of these, like the bow-shaped Ideal paper clip and the two-eyed Owl clip, can still be found in supply cabinets today. Some of these clips were better for securing larger stacks of paper; some used less wire and were therefore cheaper; some are less likely to get tangled in the box. But the key to the success of the Gem clip can be found in the fact that it was patented first as a mechanism: the shape, which took only three gentle bends and a snip to produce, was easy to automate cheap to produce , and the resulting form, which tidily tucks the sharp ends of the wire away, was lightweight, easy to use, and unlikely to tear the paper it secured.

From left; the Fay clip, the Wright clip, the Niagara clip, the Common-Sense and Hold-Fast clips.

Patent images via Officemuseum.com.

Once the paper clip was in, the straight pin was out, abandoned to seamstresses and hat-makers. At the same time, its office habitat was in flux. In Forty’s book, he points out that the typical clerk’s desk of the 19th century was backed with rows of cubbyholes: “A clerk seated at a high-backed desk could see his work in from of him and a little to either side, but he could not see beyond his desk, nor could anyone else see what he was doing without coming to look over his shoulder. Such a desk,” Forty notes, “assumed that the clerk was responsible for its contents, and for his work; it represented a small private domain, perhaps with a roll top that could be closed down at any time to secure its privacy.” With the advent of scientific management, which applied the same division of labor found in pin manufacturing to the tasks of clerical workers, permanent filing was moved to a separate department. Paper clips could handle the rest. With cubbyholes no longer necessary, the flat-top desk, with more access to light and air but less privacy, became the standard.


In the years since, the Gem clip has faced competitors offering notches, points, and eyes, but it is still the best-selling form of paper clip. Many of these other paper clips improve on aspects of the Gem clip, but they also raise new problems. Ridged clips, first patented in 1921, grip paper more strongly, but also are more inclined to tear it. Clips with a bent-up lip are easier to slip on, but they make stacks bulky. Other competitors address problems that—frankly—aren’t that problematic. A “time-saving” clip patented in 1992 has two loops on either end, but the time lost by office workers locating the correct end of the clip doesn’t seem to be keeping anyone up nights. And the Gothic clip, patented in 1933, has a pointed inner loop and longer “legs” than the Gem clip, making it less likely to bend and tear paper. It is used by some libraries and archives, and it is in many ways a genuine improvement on the Gem shape, but for most of us, the occasional rip or indent in that top sheet of that stack of invoices just isn’t that important. Sometimes, the best design is the one that is—like the Gem—just good enough.

An ad for Gem paper clips appearing in Office Appliances, Volume 36, 1922.

Minimal, relentlessly plain, and instantly familiar to a contemporary eye even in an advertisement from 1894, its persistence has made the paper clip the epitome of the disposable, anonymous, manufactured object. It is made for secretaries, for assistants, for subordinates and gofers. It only became most useful once there were millions of pieces of paper that had to be grouped, but that also had to be taken apart again. The staple may contain more potential for physical harm, but the threat of the paper clip is Sisyphean: once you’ve clipped the papers together, you’re probably going to have to unclip them, and then clip together some others, and then unclip those and keep going until you retire, or you get that break in your acting career. Perhaps if Microsoft had chosen an object less reminiscent of mindless toil, the optimism of its much-loathed Clippy office assistant would have seemed less demented, and thus less prime for ridicule. This unconscious association of the form of paper clips with the oppression of endlessness is at play in Sarah Morris’ Clip paintings.

Skrepkus by Sarah Morris, 2010.

Courtesy of the artist and Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York.

But if the paper clip can be a symbol for endless drudgery, it can also be twisted, pulled apart, and used as a tool. And in this capacity, many of the practices to which it is best suited are the opposite of the commercially productive, sanitary, and morally meaningless act of clipping together papers. Paper clips can be used to pick locks, clean under fingernails, and hack into phones. Straightened out, they are used by office workers to distract themselves from the monotony of their intended use. Nearly every reader of Joshua Ferris’ novel of office life, Then We Came to the End, becomes part of his collective narrator as they read the sentence, “If a stray paper clip happened to be lying around we were likely to bend it out of shape,” and every white-collar underling must find familiar David Foster Wallace’s description of office life in The Pale King: “The way hard deskwork really goes is in jagged little fits and starts, brief intervals of concentration alternated with frequent trips to the men’s room, the drinking fountain, the vending machine, constant visits to the pencil sharpener, phone calls you suddenly feel are imperative to make, rapt intervals of seeing what kinds of shapes you can bend a paperclip into, &c.” The paper clip, which possesses inexpensiveness, interchangeability and consistency, has also been used as a symbol for the numerous: a Tennessee school collected 6 million paper clips to symbolize the Jews killed during the Holocaust, a project documented in a 2004 Miramax film. And its affordability can be a symbol of humble beginnings: In 2005, a Canadian named Kyle McDonald took a red paper clip and began a series of online trades that eventually netted him a house (not to mention a blog, a book, and a lot of public speaking gigs). A philosophical conceit called the “paperclip maximizer” is an artificial intelligence that, programmed by humans solely to manufacture as many paper clips as possible, eventually takes over the Earth and increasing portions of space in its quest for material, leaving trillions of paper clips with no one to use them.




Finally, the simplicity of the paper clip has allowed it to become a graphic symbol on the digital desktop. For many a 21st-century office worker, it is more often encountered as the “attachment” icon in an email program than in the physical form of a bent steel wire. As we move further and further toward a paperless society, that loop-the-loop form might become more familiar in two dimensions than in three. But this semiotic doppelganger, like the clip’s colored plastic and novelty-shaped variants, is likely to accompany the original, not replace it. Office life, despite plane flights and email, just isn’t all that different than it was 100 years ago, and it’s likely to be largely similar in another 100 years. And the paper clip—which is just exactly good enough—is likely to be around to see it.


Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2012/05/the_history_of_the_paper_clip_it_was_invented_in_1899_it_hasn_t_been_improved_upon_since_.html

Read More

Military mom 'proud' of breast-feeding in uniform, despite criticism

1:54 AM Fashion/Lifestyle No Comments

Brynja Sigurdardottir

Military mamas breast-feed with pride. A photo shoot at an Air Force base, intended to raise awareness about breast-feeding, has stirred up controversy.

Is breast-feeding while in uniform conduct unbecoming to a military mom?

The debate over nursing in public got a new layer recently, when photos taken on an Air Force base began to circulate online. In the series of tasteful professional photos showing beaming moms as they nurse their kids, one jumps out: the photo of two servicewomen with their uniform shirts unbuttoned and hiked up to breast-feed.

"A lot of people are saying it's a disgrace to the uniform. They're comparing it to urinating and defecating [while in uniform]," says Crystal Scott, a military spouse who started Mom2Mom in January as a breast-feeding support group for military moms and "anyone related to the base" at Fairchild AFB outside Spokane, Wash. "It's extremely upsetting. Defecating in public is illegal. Breast-feeding is not."

"I have breast-fed in our lobby, in my car, in the park ... and I pump, usually in the locker room," she says. "I'm proud to be wearing a uniform while breast-feeding. I'm proud of the photo and I hope it encourages other women to know they can breast-feed whether they're active duty, guard or civilian."It was Scott's idea to ask photographer Brynja Sigurdardottir to take photos of real-life breast-feeding moms to create posters for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month in August. One of the moms photographed in uniform, Terran Echegoyen-McCabe, breast-feeds her 10-month-old twin girls on her lunch breaks during drill weekends as a member of the Air National Guard.

She said she's surprised by the reaction to the photos, which also feature her friend Christina Luna, because it never occurred to her that breast-feeding in uniform would cause such a stir.

"There isn't a policy saying we can or cannot breast-feed in uniform," Echegoyen-McCabe says. "I think it's something that every military mom who is breast-feeding has done. ... I think we do need to be able to breast-feed in uniform and be protected."

The Air Force has no policy specifically addressing breast-feeding in uniform, according to Air Force spokesperson Captain Rose Richeson, who added, "Airmen should be mindful of their dress and appearance and present a professional image at all times while in uniform."

Brynja Sigurdardottir

Terran Echegoyen-McCabe, left, and Christina Luna breast-feed their children. Terran says she's proud of the photo, though she didn't expect it to get such a reaction.

Robyn Roche-Paull has been advocating for such a policy since she left the U.S. Navy 15 years ago. Her challenges in breast-feeding her son while on active duty – she recalls her "flaming red face" upon being reprimanded for nursing in a medical waiting room – prompted her to write a book called "Breastfeeding in Combat Boots" as a resource for military moms. She is now an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who remains close to the military through her active-duty husband and her blog for military moms.

"If you follow the comments on my blog, a lot of the comments are that the breast-feeding mothers are the ones who need to be covered up. Nobody sees anything wrong with bottle feeding mothers or fathers," she says. "Asking mothers to feed a baby by bottle when they are together, simply because they are in uniform, can both affect the mom's milk supply and her willingness to keep breast-feeding or stay in the military. It's simply one more barrier they have to face."

The criticism of the photo goes beyond the usual nursing-in-public debate, though. One commenter on Roche-Paull’s website who identified herself as a retired captain in the Marine Corps said she advocated for breast-feeding moms in the military and now, as a civilian, she nurses freely on base. However, she writes:


“I would never nurse in uniform. I took my child to the bathroom or a private office when her nanny brought her to me …. Not because I was ashamed of nursing, nor of being a mother. All the guys knew I pumped. The military is not a civilian job. We go to combat and we make life or death decisions, and not just for ourselves but for those we lead. The same reason I would never nurse in uniform is the same reason I do not chew gum, or walk and talk on my cell phone, or even run into the store in my utility uniform. ... We are warfighting professionals. Women before us have worked too hard to earn and retain the respect of their male peers. I don’t want my Marines to look at me any other way than as a Marine. When I am asking them to fly into combat with me and do a dangerous mission, I do not want them to have the mental image of a babe at my breast. I want them to only see me as a Marine. Let’s be a realistic folks. We give up many freedoms being in the military…Breastfeeding in front of my fellow Marines was one of them."

Another commenter on the blog replies:


“There is N-O-T-H-I-N-G more authoritative than a strong mother standing tall breastfeeding as she barks orders. It’s AWESOME that you’ve worked so hard promote breastfeeding, but I think you *might* be selling yourself short.”

The women in the photo have given some thought to the whole question of military versus maternal duties. To those who believe breast-feeding in uniform undermines the authority of a female officer, Echegoyen-McCabe says:

"I guess my thoughts are, if you don't want to breast-feed in your uniform, you don't have to. But you should have respect for those who do. ... If anything, it should make people look at you as someone who is able to multitask."

By Pamela Sitt

Read More

UNILAG/ MAULAG Controversy: Varsity shut for 2 weeks

1:37 AM Education, News No Comments

Following the protest that erupted over the renaming of University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University by the Federal Government on Tuesday, and to quell the growing tension in the institution, the university authorities have announced the temporary closure of the school.

It will be recalled that shortly after the pronouncement by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday during his Democracy Day national broadcast changing the name of the school, students and lecturers of the university embarked on protest to register their disapproval over the name change.

The protest continued Wednesday when the protesters barricaded the ever-busy Third Mainland Bridge. The students and lecturers who arrived the Bridge as early as 7am carrying placards of various inscriptions, conveying a message of their non-acceptance of the new name.

Speaking at the protest, the ASUU Chairman of the university, Dr Karo Ogbineka, said any attempt to change the university’s name must be resisted and called on President Jonathan to revert the decision in the interest of peace.

According to him, “If President Goodluck Jonathan must honour MKO, he could name him after one of the those new established nine federal universities. UNILAG, already has a name that has been in existence for fifty years.”

In the light of the foregoing, the Senate of the university, in a release, has directed that all academic activities be suspended forthwith for two weeks.

The statement also mandated all students to vacate the Halls of residence, latest by 11.00 a.m. Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Also,the University security has been mandated to ensure strict compliance.

BY DAYO ADESULU

Read More

Moshood Abiola Varsity : No going back, says FG

1:34 AM Education, News No Comments

The federal government,Wednesday, reacted defiantly to the protest from the students and staff of the University of Lagos which was re-named Moshood Abiola University, saying that there was no going back on the decision as the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election deserved the honour.

Students after hijacking a BRT bus on the Third Mainland Bridge during the 2nd day of protests against the renaming of the University of Lagos.

Addressing State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive council meeting, the Minister of Information, Labarn Maku said President Goodluck Jonathan’s proclamation was only a response to the over a decade clamour by a broad spectrum of Nigerians for Chief Abiola to be immortalized.

President Goodluck Jonathan announcement during his Democracy Day Broadcast renaming University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University sparked spontaneous protests from the students of the University which led to its closure Wednesday.

Maku however, said that government did not see the protest as a mark of disapproval and expressed hope that reasons would prevail at the end of the day.

“Yes sometimes government decisions get reactions from the populace, we do not as an administration see this as a disapproval. We just see it as a normal way in every democracy that when you make major decisions definitely sometimes you have public reaction but we should not allow the protest to overshadow the national significance of what Mr. President has done.”

I think he has shown that he is a true statesman and he truly appreciates the significance of M.K.O ‘s contribution in the political development of our country and as people who were adults in 1993 we think that this decision has been long over due and that today Abiola can turn in his grave and say this nation for whom I made a supreme sacrifice for political development has recognized my contributions.

“It is our hope that reason will prevail and that the decision to honor one of our nations’s icons and heroes will be appreciated by all Nigerians including our youths and students who are the future leaders of this country” he said.

According to the minister, ” if there is any figure that symbolizes sacrifice of self for this nation, that figure is Chief M.K.O Abiola who clearly won the June12, 1992 Presidential election and died in that captivity because he stood for principle, he stood to defend the principle of democracy, and or anyone that is familiar with the development of our politics in the last two decades, there is no event in the political history of our country that touches the hearts of quiet a significant number of citizens like the June 12 Presidential election.

BY BEN AGANDE, ABUJA.

Read More

Mandela makes rare appearance on television

1:32 AM News No Comments

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday made his first appearance in more than seven months when he received a symbolic flame to mark the ruling ANC’s centenary at his rural home in Qunu.

Mandela smiled as the African National Congress chairwoman Baleka Mbete presented him with the flame in an event shown on television. The handle was emblazoned with the party’s colours.

Nelson Mandela made his first appearance in six months when he received a symbolic flame to mark the ruling ANC party's centenary at his rural home in Qunu, in an event shown on television. A healthy-looking Mandela, seated on an armchair, smiled as the African National Congress (ANC) chairwoman Baleka Mbete presented him with the flame emblazoned with the party colours. AFP

Seated on an armchair with a blanket pulled over his lap, the anti-apartheid hero looked healthy but a little stiff.

“He was happy and he appeared to be healthy and asked a lot of questions,” ANC spokesman Keith Khoza told AFP.

The clips on e-News channel showed the former ANC president Mandela flanked by his wife Graca Machel and grandchildren.

He sat upright and could be seen nodding, as a former soldier of the now defunct Umkonto weSizwe (the ANC armed wing) put the flame in front of him.

Images of Mandela, who returned to his childhood village on Tuesday, were last seen in October when he cast his vote in local government elections in at his Johannesburg home.

The revered statesman who turns 94 in July was flown to Johannesburg in January from the village and later had a medical check-up the following month.

His previous hospitalisation in 2011 for a respiratory infection caused a national panic, following a news blackout on his condition.

His last public appearance was at the 2010 World Cup final in Johannesburg.

Mandela was released from 27 years in prison in 1990 and was elected South Africa’s first black president four years later. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and served one term before stepping down in 1999.

Read More

Drogba to join Batista in Shanghai

1:31 AM Sports No Comments

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Ex-Argentina manager Sergio Batista said Chelsea’s Didier Drogba could soon join him at Shanghai Shenhua as he was unveiled as Chinese football’s latest star acquisition on Wednesday.

Batista indicated Drogba, who has already announced his departure from the European champions, could arrive within weeks at the Chinese club, where he would link up with former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka.

Didier Drogba

“The people from the club are doing the best things to get Drogba here,” Batista told journalists through a translator, adding the Ivorian striker could soon be a Shenhua player “if everything is okay”.

“I think every coach in the world wants to get Drogba on the team and I hope everything is okay. Anelka too,” he said.

Batista, who lifted the 1986 World Cup as a player and led Argentina to Olympic gold in 2008, takes the job vacated by Frenchman Jean Tigana, who was sacked in April after a weak start to his first season in charge.

He joins World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, who arrived at Guangzhou Evergrande two weeks ago, in the ever-growing ranks of big names in the Chinese Super League, whose ambitious club-owners are on a recruitment spree.

French striker Anelka, who became the league’s most famous signing in December, had reportedly opposed Batista’s appointment after he was named as player-coach following Tigana’s ousting.

But Batista, 49, played down speculation of a rift and said he was hoping for a strong contribution from the much-travelled star — although final decisions would rest with the coach.

“It’s another moment. He’s a player. I’m open to hear Anelka and all the players on the team speak about what’s happening on the field. Obviously, the final decision is from the coach,” he said.

Batista added: “Anelka can give to all the players his experience, on the field and off the field.

“I don’t want Anelka to play only to score goals. He is one of the best players in the world, but I want to keep him back on the field to play with his partners on the team.”

Shenhua officials said they hoped Batista’s South American approach could boost their team, now lying ninth in the 16th-club league.

They said Batista has signed a six-month contract, taking him through the rest of the season, with an option for another year. His salary was not revealed.

He will coach his first league match on June 16 against Changchun Yatai, now just ahead of Shenhua in the table. Batista is accompanied by two long-serving assistants, Alberto Osvaldo Rodriguez and Alejandro Daniel Tocalli.

Drogba, 34, departs Chelsea after a match-winning performance in this month’s Champions League final and as one of the English Premier League’s most feared strikers.

Read More

Senators challenge corporate organisations to fund varsities

1:28 AM Education No Comments

In line with the need for corporate organisations to contribute meaningfully to the well being of this country, the Senate Committee on Education has called on companies operating in Nigeria to as a part of fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, help in the funding of institutions in the country.

Vice-chairman of the committee, Senator Adeyeye Olusola said this during a visit to the National Universities Commission, NUC last Monday.

He urged corporate organisations, including multinationals such as MTN and others, to incorporate universities in the CSR.

Senator Olusola said: ”These companies only fund projects that they know they would get their money back in contracts. They are feeding fat on the country, but do not plough back into the system’.

While commending the NUC’s ‘energy and push’ in overseeing the universities, Senator Olusola urged the Commission to create an enabling environment that would make the job of lecturing more attractive and rewarding.

He equally tasked the Commission on creating other means of funding institutions and not rely solely on the government.

Lending his voice, the Committee Chairman, Prof. Uche Chukwumerije said the Committee was at the Commission to exercise its constitutional duties and members were there as partners in progress and not as “inquisitors.’’ “We shall therefore appreciate a free-flow of information relevant to the exercise of this function,” he said.

In his response, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, said the Commission had lived up to its expectations by investing a lot of funds into the universities that should enable them stand on their own.

Okojie said having realised the importance of education in driving the transformation agenda of the present administration; the Commission had embarked on a rigorous review of the university system to achieve quality assurance.

The NUC scribe used the medium to reiterate that government’s aim in the creation of new universities was to ensure access adding that quality assurance was a top priority towards the realisation of this goal.

He said the Commission had among other things, embarked on a curricula review of academic programmes of the universities and strengthening of existing structures in the universities.

By Favour Nnabugwu

Read More

Sustain policy on locally produced goods, textile workers urge FG

1:27 AM News, Politics No Comments

The National Union of Textile Garment Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN) has on Sunday called on the Federal Government to be consistent with its policies on locally manufactured goods.

Mr Oladele Hunsu, the newly elected President of the Union, said that allowing indiscriminate importation of foreign made textile materials would hinder local production.

“Opening the borders for imported goods in one hand and giving out loans to enable manufacturers revive their struggling companies are contradictory.

“Any manufacturer that succeeds in obtaining a loan to revive a factory will be competing with imported textiles. It makes it difficult to sustain the business,” Hunsu said.

He said that some local manufacturers could be tempted to start importing textile materials if they were cheaper than home-made ones.

The union president said that indiscriminate opening of the borders was impacting negatively on job opportunities in the textile industry.

“Many motor cycle operators in various states of the country are workers from textile companies who lost their jobs after the factories were closed.

“I appeal to the government to review the importation policy because about 700 thousand graduates who leave universities yearly are not sure of securing jobs,” he said.

Hunsu said that government should repair the roads and restore electricity to enable manufacturers who collected loans from the Bank of Industry to work.

He said that the union was collaborating with state governments to ensure that dead factories were rehabilitated.

“Without the industries, there will not be workers and without the workers there will not be any industry. The UNTL in Kaduna which has not fully commenced operation has already employed about 3,000 workers,” he said

“The union will continue to impress it on the government to ensure that the textile industry does not die.

“It used to be the largest employer of labour, after the government, before it started declining 10 years ago,” he said.

Hunsu gave assurances that the union would not rest on its oars to ensure that more companies were revived.

Read More

SuperSports roll out two 24-hour channels for Euro 2012

1:25 AM Sports No Comments

AHEAD of the forthcoming 14th edition of the UEFA European Football Championships, Africa’s premier sports broadcaster.

SuperSports has rolled out two 24 hour channels for Euro 2012 for soccer loving Nigerians to enjoy clips of Europe’s elite footballing tourney.

The outfit said it would broadcast all 31 games of Euro 2012 across Sub-Saharan Africa in English and portuguese on Supersports High Definition (HD) three, Supersports three and the two24-hour channels.

Netherlands’ Euro 1980 Captain, Ruud Krol, and England’s Euro 1988 left winger, John Barnes will form part of the Supersport’s world classanalysts who include Kalusha Bwalya, Gavin Hunt, Jomo Sono, Ernst Middendorp, Daniel Amokachi and Efan Ekoku alongside resident analysts GaryBiley, Andre Arendse Shaun Bartlett and Bradley Carnell.

The [proven tactical acumen of the panel of specialists will also be used on Master Plan, a show dedicated to understanding the tactics to be employed by the 16 competing nations in their quest for glory

According to the General Manager SuperSports Nigeria, Felix Awogu there is also a second magazine sho, Euro Zone, a round table debate that will allow Euro super fans with close ties to the participating nations, like former England striker Terry Paine and others the opportunity to discuss, cheer and vent at the performancesof the nations they are affiliated to.

Through social media platform, viewers will also get their opportunityon Euro zone to engage with regard to the performances of their team of chioce.

By Solomon Nwoke

Read More

Governor’s Cup: Delta announces one week deadline for entries

1:23 AM Sports No Comments

Secondary Schools in Delta State have been directed to enter for the Governor’s Cup that is billed to kick off next school season.

Professor Patrick Muoboghare, Chairman of the Committee set up by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to revive football in secondary schools in the state announced this yesterday in Asaba and said the schools have one week from tomorrow to do so.

Muoboghare is also the commissioner for Basic Education in Delta and Principals and Games Masters of the schools have been directed to send entries to his office in Asaba.

“We will soon come out with the fixtures after we would have received the entries,” Muoboghare said yesterday.

More than 600 schools in Delta will engage in the Governor’s Cup. About 450 of them are public schools.

Muboghare had warned Principals that they would lose their jobs if they fielded non students for the competition.

In an address to the Principals at Government College Ugheli, he said that the competition was compulsory to all schools and told them not only to prepare their soccer pitches but also to start training their teams. All schools, he said must register junior and senior teams.

“The Governor is committed to leaving a legacy in sports and reviving secondary school soccer is one of the ways to achieve that,” Muoboghare said, adding “this will surely produce talents who may become stars and foreign exchange earners so it is part of his human capital development agenda.”

Read More

14 MILLION MEALS IN LONDON OLYMPICS

1:22 AM Sports No Comments

LONDON (AP)
From the British staple of fish and chips to African barbecues, athletes and fans won't go hungry at the London Olympics.

INVINCIBLE

Some records are meant to be broken, but that not likely for theseunbreakable Olympic records.

Organizers announced plans Wednesday to serve 14 million meals during the games, calling it ''the largest peace time catering operation in the world.''

The food choice will reflect the ''heritage and diversity of British regional products and recipes,'' while ensuring the menus are ethical and environmentally friendly, the organizing committee said.

The traditional British pie and mash — priced at 8 pounds ($12.50) — is described on a sample menu as ''farm assured Scotch Beef with Long Clawson Stilton Pie, Irish mashed potato with Red Tractor Cream and British butter and onion gravy.''

A beer will set visitors back 4.20 pounds ($6.50), a bottle of water will cost 1.60 pounds ($2.50) and a bottle of Coke sells for 2.30 pounds ($3.60). A plate of fish and chips will go for 8 pounds ($12.50).

Organizers said food and drink for a family of four should run under 40 pounds ($62).

''We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain,'' said Paul Deighton, chief executive of organizing committee LOCOG. ''We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events, which because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street.''

LIGHT IT UP

The Olympic torch relay is on its epic journey to London. See the latest torchbearers.

LOCOG said international food from every continent will be on offer — ''from authentic Asian dishes to African Brai barbecues, Caribbean flavors to tasty Mediterranean dishes and a range of street foods from around the world. `'

A total of 1.2 million meals will be served to athletes in the Olympic Village.

Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Cadbury and Heineken are official sponsors. McDonald's will operate four restaurants on site during the games.

Source: msn sports

Read More

7 tips to beat hotel fees

1:19 AM Business, Fashion/Lifestyle No Comments

The average price of a hotel stay is expected to jump 4% this summer, according to the consulting firm STR. Average rate? $106.64.



But there are ways to beat that price, like booking early or simply asking for a better deal. But even with a better rate, hotels have found another way to get your money: fees. Some hotels are tacking on mandatory fees for everything from daily newspaper delivery to an "energy fee." In the video below, Stacy Johnson explains how to beat them. Check it out and read on for more tips.
Stay in a mom-and-pop hotel. The simplest way to avoid the extra fees is to stay in a smaller, privately owned hotel that doesn't charge them. Many small hotels and resorts compete with the big chains by not charging for local calls, umbrellas, towels or anything else.

Unfortunately, there's no meta-website that lets you search all small hotels around the country. Your best bet is to search the official visitor information site for your destination. So, for example, if you're heading to Disney World, check out Visit Central Florida, which lists hotels both big and small.

Ask for a list before you check in. Many hotels don't list their fees as prominently as their rates. For example, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside lists its fees for self-parking and valet parking at the bottom of its Hotel Policies page.

Expedia and Hotels.com list a few fees for their partner hotels -- like a non-mandatory Internet charge and a rollaway bed fee -- but suggest calling to learn about additional fees. It's a pain to do that, but the alternative is that a great deal online might not be one when you arrive.

Request a waiver for mandatory services. During check-in, ask the manager to waive any mandatory fees you won't use. For example, if the hotel charges a fee for the hotel gym, but you know you won't work out while you're staying there, ask the manager to waive it. You shouldn't have to pay for something you won't use.

Find cheaper alternatives. If you usually use a service provided by the hotel for a fee, do some research ahead of time to find a cheaper nearby alternative. For example, hotels charge an average of $13.95 a day to use their Wi-Fi, according to HotelChatter. Spend $2 on a cup of coffee and you can surf the Internet free at many coffee shops.

Wi-Fi isn't the only way to save. You can pick up your own morning newspaper, find a late-night diner for after-hours meals, or wash your own clothes at a local coin laundry. If you have a smartphone, use a free app like Yelp to help you find local businesses.

Check before you tip. "Gratuity included." That policy has cost me a ton of money on vacations simply because I forget to check before I tip and end up doing so twice. Before you tip anyone at a hotel, ask if the tip is already included. For example, I used to leave a tip for the housekeeper until I found out that many hotels include a housekeeping gratuity fee on the bill.

Bring your own. Some hotels will nickel-and-dime you for everything you use during your stay -- way beyond the bag of mixed nuts in the minibar. You might get charged for beach towels or gym towels. Save the cost and bring your own stuff from home. Pack a beach towel in your suitcase. Pick up some snacks and bottled drinks from a grocery store near your hotel. And if you're going to use something in the hotel, ask what it will cost before you do.

Dispute before you pay. Give yourself plenty of time during checkout. Go through your entire bill and dispute anything you don't agree with. Did the manager say he'd waive a charge? Make sure it didn't show up on your bill anyway. Are you getting charged for the minibar when you didn't use it? Some have a sensor that will automatically add a charge if you took something out but decided not to use it.


Source: msn money

Read More

Zuckerberg drops off billionaires list as Facebook falls

1:12 AM Business No Comments

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's (FB -2.25%) co-founder and chief executive officer, is no longer one of the world's 40 richest people.

The 28-year-old's fortune fell to $14.7 billion Tuesday from $16.2 billion on May 25 as shares of the world's largest social-networking company dropped 9.6% to $28.84. That extended the stock's losses to 24% from the worst-performing large initial public offering of the past decade.

"It seems to be a clear reflection that there was just too much stock issued, that the valuation was aggressive and that a lot of people who lined up to buy it really had no intention of holding it," Jack Ablin, the chief investment officer of BMO Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. The bank oversees about $60 billion of assets.

Facebook shares closed at $38.23 on May 18, the first day they began trading, giving Zuckerberg a net worth of $19.4 billion. The company ended the day with a price-earnings ratio of 83.1, making it more expensive than 99% of Standard & Poor's 500 Index stocks. The company went public as the equity index was heading for its biggest monthly decline since September.

Facebook options trading began Tuesday, with volume for puts exceeding calls by 1.2 to 1, data compiled by Bloomberg show. More than 200,000 puts were traded, giving the holder the right to sell the shares at a specified price. June $30 puts were the most active contracts, with volume at 23,835. They were followed by June $34 calls and June $32 calls, which carry the right to buy the shares.

Zuckerberg is now $800 million behind Luis Carlos Sarmiento, who ranks 40th, with a fortune of $15.5 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's wealthiest people.

Source: msn money

Read More

Jonathan launches energy saving bulbs

1:09 AM News, Technology 1 Comment

President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday formally launched energy saving bulbs otherwise known as LED (light emitting diodes) with a view to encouraging Nigerians to buy the bulbs in order to reduce the cost of energy consumption in the country .

Jonathan launches energy saving bulbs

The formal launching of the bulb is a fiest step in government’s commitment to ensuring that reputable companies are persuaded to come to Nigeria to begin local production of the bulb as well as encourage local manufacturers of electricity bulbs to change to the energy saving.

president Jonathan who performed the ceremony at the presidential villa noted that ‘ the whole world is changing, they are phasing out the bulbs that emit so much heat to ones that save energy. It has nothing to do with our commitment to stabilise power in this country. We will continue to work hard to stabilise power and as we work hard, this is a big country it will take us up to a year to create the awareness across the country and we don’t need to wait until we stabilise power before we begin to talk about changing our bulbs.

“As part of the transformation agenda, it is also important for us to begin to discuss with our brothers and sisters to change some of the habits. Every nation grows and as it grows it begins to change. Only yesterday we were talking about grow local eat local and buy local, encouraging Nigerians to begin to patronize Nigerian made products.

“Today it is about power and energy. Just like telecommunication, Nigerians spend a lot time on phone making so many calls. We realize that in this country, probably because it is government that pays the bills, in public offices and houses where government pay bills, people leave light on in day time. Some places street lights will be on till 8 a.m. In some houses security light will be on in day time. This is not what is happening in other countries.

“In some countries if you move from bedroom to the sitting room you switch-off the light all is to conserve energy and also for safety reasons because it is good to off the sockets and bulbs that we are not using. These are things that we will continue to discuss. So, today we are formally launching this bulb that will reduce the cost of energy. We want Nigerians to pay very little” he noted.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, in his remarks noted that the urban poor as well as rural dwellers would especially benefit from the usage of the bulb as it would not cost them too much.

By Ben Agande, Abuja.

Read More