North Korea accuses US of spreading Ebola and choosing Africa

North Korea is accusing the US of spreading the Ebola virus, claiming it has been “bent on the development of bio-weapons” in order to achieve world supremacy.

The secretive state reacted strongly to the Ebola outbreak by closing its border to tourists and quarantining anyone who does enter.

Now, a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is claiming an aide to ex-President Reagan informed them the US had invented a progenitor of Ebola virus “for the purpose of launching a biological warfare”.

Pope urges Africans to reject voodoo

Pope Benedict is on a visit to Benin where he will urge African Christians to reject what he calls magic and witchcraft.

But the pontiff faces something of a challenge if he wishes to persuade believers to turn away from their traditional spiritual religions

Molecule kills HIV as single-day pill offers one-year treatment

Scientists have designed a synthetic molecule that can reactivate dormant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in mice and lead to the death of some of the infected cells, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.

The new findings address a long-standing challenge in HIV treatment: While antiretroviral therapy can successfully stave off disease progression, the virus can silently persist in some cells for many years, so an infected person must be vigilantly treated for the rest of their life.

Previous studies have explored potential ways to eliminate latently infected cells, such as by stimulating them to produce some viral particles (“kick”), followed by cell death via the immune system or the virus itself (“kill”). A molecule called bryostatin 1 holds the potential to trigger a “kick and kill” response, but it is costly to obtain from its source, a marine animal known as Bugula neritina.

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To address this challenge, Matthew Marsden and Jerome Zack of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), United States, and Wender Group colleagues at Stanford have designed synthetic molecules capable of imitating the activity of bryostatin 1 and perhaps even improving on its function. In the new study, the team tested SUW133, one of their more promising synthetic bryostatin 1 analogs.

The researchers first demonstrated that SUW133, like bryostatin 1, is capable of activating latent HIV infection in cells removed from infected patients. Then, they tested SUW133 in mice of a strain commonly used for HIV research, in which the mouse immune system is modified to be similar to that of humans.

Molecular analysis revealed that SUW133 stimulated HIV protein production in latently infected cells in the mice. Within 24 hours, up to 25 per cent of these cells then died. SUW133 was also better tolerated by the mice than was bryostatin 1.

These results support the potential for SUW133 to be used in a “kick and kill” treatment for HIV. Further research is needed to explore this potential and answer questions such as whether a greater percentage of cells could be killed over longer periods of time or with repeated dosing, whether similar effects might be seen in humans, and what the long-term effects of SUW133 may be.

Meanwhile, for about $75 (N30,000), the governments in South Africa and Kenya will soon be able to treat an HIV-infected person for one year with a pill taken once a day that contains a “best-in-class” combination of three antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

The backbone of the new pill is dolutegravir, a remarkably powerful and safe ARV that inhibits HIV’s integrase enzyme and has been too expensive for most poor and middle-income countries to afford. The annual per-person cost of the new pill, made by generic manufacturers, is also about $25 (N10,000) less than the least expensive similar triple-ARV combo pill on the market. “This is a major breakthrough,” says Michel Sidibé, head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The new pill, announced today by Sidibé and others at a press conference connected to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York City, will help speed efforts to offer treatment to all 37 million HIV-infected people in the world, Sidibé says. Currently, only 19.5 million are receiving ARVs.

The pill will be offered as a first-line treatment, and the hope is that its excellent “profile”—powerful suppression of HIV, low toxicity, and ease of use—will make it simpler for people to stay on treatment for their lifetimes and reduce the chances of ARV resistance emerging.

The other two ARVs in the cocktail are lamivudine and tenofovir, both of which are already in widespread use.

South Africa, which has more HIV-infected people than any country and is the biggest purchaser of ARVs, estimates it will save $9.

By Chukwuma Muanya,

Twitter doubles tweet length for some users

By Selena Larson

If brevity is the soul of wit, Twitter is about to get a lot less clever.

For the first time in history, Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) is changing its character limit.

The service announced on Tuesday it is doubling its character count for tweets -- from 140 characters to 280 characters -- for some of its users. The test group will include those who tweet in certain languages, including English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey has hinted at expanding the character limit before. Earlier this year, Twitter removed user handles -- a person's Twitter name preceded by the @ sign -- from replies to tweets, instead linking them in text above the tweet.

Twitter says it hopes people will embrace the change. But considering the move strays from its core design, it's likely to cause some backlash.

The decision to limit the tweet character to 140 stems from text messaging. SMS messages are capped at 160 characters before they're split in two texts. Dorsey has said founders wanted tweets to be able to fit in a text message: 140 characters for the tweet, and 20 characters for the username.

'First Ever Self-flying Taxi', Launched In Dubai

The self-flying taxi transports people to their destinations without a pilot.

 

Dubai made aviation history on Monday afternoon with the first “ proof of concept flight” of its new two-seater, self-flying taxi in an aerial test in Jumeirah Beach Resisdence area, said officials.

 

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai witnessed the maiden flight of the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT), according to a statement by Dubai Government Media Office.

 

The self-flying taxi will “be used for the world’s first self-flying taxi service set to be introduced by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA),” said the statement, noting that the aerial taxi will shuttle passengers across the city without a pilot.

 

Built by Volocopter, a German specialty manufacturer of autonomous air vehicles, the aircraft’s aerial test comes seven months after plans for a self-flying taxi were unveiled at the World Government Summit in Dubai. 

Female Basketballer, Ekaterina Lisina Confirmed Holder of World's Longest Legs Record

A towering Russian model who overcame bullying to become an Olympic star, has officially set a new record for having the world’s longest women's legs.  

 

Ekaterina Lisina, who stands at 6ft 9in, has two Guinness records to her name having also been crowned the world’s tallest model.

 

The 29-year-old’s left leg measures 132.8 cm (52.2 in), while her right leg is 132.2 cm (52.0 in) long.

 

 

She comes from a very tall family, with her brother measuring 6ft 6in, her father at 6ft 5in and her mother at 6ft 1in.

 

The model says it “feels amazing” to become a Guinness World Records title holder and hopes it will increase the positive attention she gets day to day.

 

Lisina overcame being bullied about her height as a teenager to achieve her dreams of becoming a professional model.

 

 

In 2008, she played in the Russian Olympic basketball team and won a bronze medal at the Beijing Games.

 

Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said: “We might have been inspired this year by fictional superheroes, but the focus for this edition is celebrating the planet's real-life superheroes, who come in all shapes and sizes.

“We believe that everyone has a superpower that’s waiting to be discovered, and our search for the latest record-breaking talent has brought us into contact with some truly superhuman characters."

 

Guinness World Records 2018 is out now. 

Donald Trump congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari for a job well done

United States President Donald Trump congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of other African countries for a job well done as he hosted them to a working lunch on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York.

The gathering was held at the New York Palace Hotel, and also had in attendance top government officials from Trump’s cabinet, as well as from different African countries.

Trump said he was greatly honoured to host the lunch and described the African leaders as “partners for promoting prosperity and peace”.

“I’m greatly honoured to be joined by leaders of Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa. In particular, I want to thank President Condé, who is representing the African Union”, he said.

“In this room, I see partners for promoting prosperity and peace on a range of economic, humanitarian and security issues.

“We hope to extend our economic partnerships with countries who are committed to self-reliance and to fostering opportunities for job creation in both Africa and the United States.

“Africa has tremendous business potential. I have so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich. I congratulate you.

“They’re spending a lot of money. But it does – it has tremendous business potential and representing huge amounts of different markets. And for American firms it’s really become a place that they have to go – that they want to go.

“Six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies are in Africa. Increasing American trade and investment across diverse industries – including agriculture, energy, transportation, healthcare, travel, and tourism – will further transform lives throughout the continent”, the American president stated.

He added, “Africa, I have to say, is a continent of tremendous potential. The outlook is bright. I look forward to hearing from you and your advice during the meal”.

Trump said he was eager to know more African leaders closely, saying, “I really want to congratulate you – growing very fast economically and in every other way. You’ve done a terrific job, you’ve had some tremendous obstacles placed in your path, but you have done really an absolutely incredible job.”

The US president pledged that his country would partner with African countries and organisations, like the African Union, in leading successful efforts to end violence, prevent the spread of terrorism, as well as respond to humanitarian crises.

Conjoined sisters are settling into campus life at a Tanzanian university

Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti, 20, who are joined at the abdomen, have become minor celebrities in the east African nation where the media have closely followed their path through high school and arrival at university earlier this month.

Mwazarau Mathola, spokeswoman for the Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa in the centre of the country, said on Thursday the women arrived a few weeks before classes start in October to get used to their new life and take computer lessons.

“A separate house has been provided for them, furnished and set up for their needs, because they can’t be housed in normal student accommodation,” said Mathola.

A couch has been installed in their classroom to allow them to sit comfortably, and they have a carer.

The twins were abandoned by their mother after the death of their father, and later taken in by a Catholic mission. They will study education, with the hope of becoming teachers of history, English and Swahili, said Mathola.

In July, Maria made an emotional call on state television for parents not to “hide or lock up their handicapped children”.

“They must know they human beings, handicapped or not, are equal and have the same rights,” she said.

The sisters, who enjoy knitting and cooking together, thanked the teachers who helped them through highschool, as well as the government who provided a vehicle to take them from their home to school each day.

“We didn’t expect this day to come, it is by the grace of God that we are here today,” said Consolata, the chattier of the two.

The sisters admit that they do not always get along, as Consolata told a local newspaper in 2015: “For example when I want to do laundry and Maria prefers to read. However we always find a way around it.”

BMW readies mass production of electric cars, 12 models by 2025

Germany's BMW plans to be able to mass produce electric cars by 2020 and offer 12 different models by 2025 as traditional car makers seek to gain share in a market dominated by U.S. upstart Tesla.

A global crackdown on diesel cars in the wake of Volkswagen cheating on emissions tests has raised pressure on car makers to quickly develop electric alternatives.

BMW, which includes the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands and sold 2.34 million cars last year, announced its shift into more electric cars on the same day as smaller rival Jaguar revealed it would offer electric or hybrid variants of all its models by 2020.

On Wednesday Nissan unveiled a new version of its Leaf electric vehicle, in its latest move to take on , the U.S. firm co-founded by Elon Musk which sold 83,922 vehicles last year.

Germany's BMW, which launched the i3 electric car in 2013, said it is readying its factories to mass produce electric cars if demand for battery driven vehicles takes off.

"By 2025, we will offer 25 electrified vehicles 12 will be fully-electric," BMW Chief Executive Harald Krueger told journalists in Munich, adding that electric cars will have a range of up to 700 kilometers (435 miles).

The Frankfurt motor show, which starts next week, will be used to unveil a new four-door electric car positioned between the i3 city car and the i8 hybrid sportscar, Krueger added.

"We will be increasing the share of electrified models across all brands and model series. And, yes, that also includes the Rolls-Royce brand and BMW M vehicles," Krueger explained.

BMW is investing in its factories to enable all of its models to be equipped with all variants of powertrain by 2020, including fully electric motors.

A war between North Korea and the USA; What It could do to the global economy

Tensions escalate between USA and North Korea after threats to US overseas territory of Guam. Any conflict would cause major economic problems both in Korea and more widely across the globe. Global supply chains could be severely impacted. US debt levels could spike as a result of any conflict. Tensions between the USA and North Korea escalated further on Tuesday evening when President Donald Trump promised "fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before"in response to recent threats from North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un. Hours later, North Korea responded by saying it is seriously considering a missile strike on the Pacific island of Guam, home to a US military base. 

Russia unveils its new 'Star Wars' combat suit

The "next-generation" suit comes with a "powered exoskeleton" that supposedly gives the soldier more strength and stamina, along with "cutting-edge" body armor, and a helmet and visor that shields the soldier's entire face, RT said.

The suit also has a "pop-up display that can be used for tasks like examining a plan of the battlefield," Andy Lynch, who works for a military company called Odin Systems, toldMailOnline. There's also a light on the side of the helmet for inspecting maps or weapons.

Russia hopes to produce the suit "within the next couple of years," Oleg Chikarev, deputy chief of weapons systems at the Central Research Institute for Precision Machine Building, which developed the gear, told MailOnline.

It should be noted, however, the video only showed a static display of the suit, and it's still an open question of whether it actually has any of the capabilities that are claimed.

Still, Russia is not the only country developing such technology, Sim Tack, a Stratfor analyst, told Business Insider in an emailed statement.

The US hopes to unveil its own Tactical Light Operator Suit, also known as the "Iron Man" suit, in 2018.

Tack said that France is perhaps furthest along in creating its Integrated infantryman equipment and communications system, or FELIN, but it's not as high-tech as the Iron Man suit.

Nevertheless, it's "unclear whether these type of suits will eventually make it to the battlefield," Tack said.

Some technical problems still persist: for example, the batteries required to power the exoskeletons — many of which have leg braces that evenly distributes weight and allows the soldier to run faster and jump higher — are too bulky because the suits require so much power, Tack said.

But given how much effort countries are putting into developing these suits, "we may well see some type of them reach the battlefield at some point," Tack said.

Source Business Insider

Nnamdi Azikiwe's Opinion About Ojukwu & Biafra

"Yes. I played a prominent role in Biafra for the unity of the country in order to restore peace and bring about unity of the country. That’s the role I played. I advised Ojukwu. I said well look, you have declared secession. What we should do is to get the elder statesmen and women of the nation to reconcile you and Gowon. I said by declaring secession, you get so many people who do not believe you to remain there. You see all of us were interned. As we were interned then, we couldn’t express our own views as we see it because, he made Decree Number 5 which vested absolute powers in himself and if you were against his views, it then constituted an act of subversion and the penalty was death by shooting. Well, it was a war-time measure and that is understandable. So, I advised him. I said go to the conference table and iron out your differences. Allow elder statesmen and elder stateswomen to bring the two of you to the conference table and settle this matter so that there will no more be civil war and the country may be united. He agreed. But Gowon was advised by the Ministry of External Affairs to insist on pre-conditions. That is that before he could negotiate with the secessionists, that they must accept certain terms; accept the 12-state structure and all. So, it was quite obvious that the Federal Government wanted Biafra to come to the conference table with their hands tied and their feet tied. But they won’t be free agents. That was the diplomatic mistake on the part of the Federal Government. So, when they did that, then Lt- Col. Ojukwu told me, “How can I go to the conference table based on these ultimatums?”
Still I advised Ojukwu to go to the OAU and ask them to use their good offices to settle the dispute and that we should avoid loss of lives. He accepted my advice in good faith. Then he said, ‘Now, you have some heads of state in Africa who are your friends, would you mind going to appeal to them to use their good offices so that the Nigerian civil war could be an item on the agenda for OAU summit in Kinshasa?’ I said I would gladly go. So he sent me to Monrovia as a peace envoy. I went there and met my friend, President Tubman. Tubman expressed his willingness to use his good offices. He told me he would see another mutual friend, the late Haile Sellassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, and both of them would see that the civil war was placed as first item on the agenda of the OAU Summit in Kinshasa.
I returned and broke the news to Ojukwu. He was very pleased. Then, when the OAU summit opened, Chief Awolowo, as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive Council and Commissioner for Finance, led a strong Nigerian delegation to Kinshasa and raised a very strong objective on the Nigerian civil war being placed as an item on the agenda on the grounds that according to the OAU Charter, this was a domestic affairs and member states were precluded from interfering in the domestic affairs of each other, which was really sound according to international law. But we wanted to solve it in the African way, to use mediation and conciliation to bring two warring brothers together.
The OAU accepted the submission of Chief Awolowo and so it was not put into the agenda. Well, history will show now between Chief Awolowo and myself, who actually accentuated the war. I was trying to get the OAU to settle the dispute so they could go to the conference table and he was thinking of legalism, that it would amount to interference in the domestic affairs of a member-state. But meanwhile here you have two brothers killing each other.
Well, Ojukwu told me, I have done my best. You see, Nigeria was relying on law and we are relying on humanity. What’s next? I said why not try other heads of states and see what could be done to bring about peace? He then said he left the initiative with me. I suggested going to some heads of state and see what can be done. But his advisers led by Dr. Nwakama Okoro suggested recognition. That if we can get other states to recognize Biafra, maybe the hands of Nigeria may be forced to go to the conference table.
Well, I thought that was a sound idea and I placed my services at their disposal so as to meet my friends. We had in mind President Senghor of Senegal, President Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, President Milton Obote of Uganda, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and of course Francois Bongo, he is now Omar. He now has become a Muslim. He was then a Christian. The long and short of it all was that I and these great African statesmen agreed that if Gowon persisted with pre-conditions, then they would accord recognition to force the hands of Gowon to go to the conference table and bring about peace. That was one.
Two, Gowon had already predicted that the war would end on March 31 and as far as these African statesmen were concerned, these killings and atrocities did not do any credit to the image of Africa and as such what should be done was to stop it as soon as possible. Therefore if the war didn’t end by March 31, then the propaganda of ‘Biafra’ that it was an act of genocide would be justified. And they didn’t want to accept that.
I went on this mission and succeeded in persuading these heads of state to agree to give recognition just to force the hands of Nigeria, diplomatically speaking, to the conference table.
President Senghor said he couldn’t because the majority of his supporters were Muslims and rightly or wrongly they felt it was a religious war. And he said well, if he granted recognition, then his government would fall. But he supported the idea of forcing the hands of Nigeria to the conference table. Houphouet Boigny was prepared, provided his people backed him. Ditto for the others except Milton Obote who told us that Prince Mutesa and the Bagandans wanted to secede and he couldn’t support secession when his own state was confronted with similar problems. It left four of them. That is, President Nyerere, Houphouet Boigny, Kaunda and Bongo. They agreed on the understanding that the war did not end by March 31, 1968 and pre-conditions would be removed to make it easy for both Ojukwu and Gowon to go to conference table.
So they granted recognition and it worked like magic because immediately after this, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, who must be presumed to be responsible for this diplomatic blunder (he was the Commissioner for External Affairs]---a good man no doubt, but he is a very poor diplomat in my own humble opinion - announced to the outside world that Nigeria would no longer insist on pre-conditions and that he was prepared for conference table but the war did not end on March 31 and so, they left the impression, you see, that Nigeria wanted to annihilate the Ibos. You noticed the Soviets gave Nigeria more arms and Nigeria used those arms to destroy the secessionists. Here, I came in again and I advised Ojukwu. I said look since Gowon has withdrawn the pre-conditions, go to the conference table and argue the points so as to pave way for a peace conference. It was agreed that they should meet in Niamey. I advised Ojukwu to go. Again Gowon was ill-advised so he couldn’t come.
At Niamey here was Ojukwu. I was on his side. Gowon wasn’t there but Haile Sellassie, Hamani Diori, Tubman and General Akran were there representing OAU. So, I told Ojukwu, I said now you have an upper hand. These respected leaders of the OAU were there. I had briefed Ojukwu. I said ‘look your line of approach is to express appreciation for what the OAU was doing in order to maintain peace in Africa but you were prepared to co-operate and you are leaving the whole matter in the hands of the OAU to see what could be done to bring an earlier cessation of hostilities. I said just say that and thank them and sit down.
Now Gowon didn’t attend. He sent a junior man, I think Alhaji Femi Okunnu or so, to represent him. And they didn’t even attend this conference at which the four heads of state presided. It was only the Biafran side. So Ojukwu won a diplomatic victory and you know Ojukwu is a very good speaker if you give him all the facts. He was a good public relations expert and he won. He said, ‘well if Gowon was sincere why did he spite such great men and didn’t attend?’ That worked.
They agreed that Nigeria could be contacted so that we have a peace conference in Addis Ababa. It was a diplomatic victory for Biafra and so we returned to Biafra highly elated. And Ojukwu insisted that I should accompany him to Addis Ababa. Then something happened. Some of his advisers felt that I was becoming a victim of compromise and that I was a bad influence. That all I was trying to do was to make Biafra impotent. They told Ojukwu that Biafra was holding its own militarily. And why should we want a peace conference? That he should be very, very careful with me, especially as an Onitsha man because they thought that I was using him as a means to give publicity for myself internationally and that time will come when people will look more to me than to himself.
Well, as a young man, human, he fell for such flattery. I don’t want to mention all the names, but particularly influential in swinging his opinion at that material time was Mr. C. C. Mojekwu, who was based in Lisbon. Then Mr. Matthew Mbu was our Commissioner for External Affairs and he himself did as much as possible, but then he realized that he was having someone who has power of life and death over everybody. So, we went to Addis Ababa and on the night before the conference, Matthew came to my bedroom at about 10 in the night. He said, “Do you know that all we have done, this man is going to undo them tomorrow?’ I said ‘No’. Then he brought out a printed version of a long speech. The world press said it lasted for 90 minutes.
He [Ojukwu] went back on everything we discussed. He attacked the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union - all the nations of the world and the OAU, and said that they were misleading us and that the sovereignty of ‘Biafra’ was not negotiable. We went to the conference. I sat next to him. I thought that he was going to speak in accordance with the spirit of Niamey. But he spoke for 90 minutes and he just got the whole place upside down.
Naturally Tony Enahoro - he led the Nigerian delegation - replied in kind and so we were back to square one. So, when we returned, I advised him. I told him that I was surprised at what he did but it was not late. He said, ‘The sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable and if anybody should try to compromise that sovereignty, then it will be an act of subversion.’ Well, that was quite clear to me so I said, ‘Your Excellency, you still have Port Harcourt and you can still bargain from position of strength - after all, the main issue in the civil war is oil and they say that in international politics, oil is combustible and as you have a combustible situation you can begin from the position of strength’. He said, ‘No, Port Harcourt is impregnable.’ ‘Very well, Your Excellency,’ I said. I went back to Nekede where I had been in protective custody since February, 1968. Two weeks later, Port Harcourt fell.
He sent for me. I said, ‘Well, Your Excellency, I did warn you. You cannot now negotiate from a position of strength but having received recognition from four states, we can still use them to see what we can do to appeal to the outside world.’ He said, ‘Very well, I think you should go to the United Nations to seek for recognition.’ I said, ‘Your Excellency, let us wait until after OAU summit in Algiers and find out what Africa thinks.’ In the meantime, I went to Tunisia to see my friend Habeeb Bourguiba of Tunisia. He wasn’t quite well, so we moved from Carthage to Hermit where he stayed. Ojukwu had always said the civil war would be won on the battlefield and not on the conference table, and Bourguiba didn’t take kindly to that. He said don’t you people advise this young man? I explained to him that I have done everything I could to advise him, but he insists on going to the battle field.
So we crossed our fingers awaiting the verdict of Algiers. You know it was decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I advised Ojukwu that to go to the United Nations to seek recognition would be unrealistic since Africa had decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I said Nigerian envoys, the Nigerian delegations, would just percolate the membership of the United Nations and they would frown at the whole thing. He insisted. I was then in Paris. I wrote him a letter. I said, ‘Since you refuse to go to the conference table to negotiate for peace, since you prefer that the civil war should end on the battle field and not on the conference table; since you said that the sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable, I am afraid I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have destroyed all the vestiges of any optimism for peace. Therefore I am relieving myself of my services as a peace envoy. I cannot continue as a peace envoy. I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have let me down. You left me under the impression that if I succeeded in getting recognition you will go to the conference table. You got four recognitions; you did not go to the conference table. I am therefore going to London on exile.’
I went to London in voluntary exile and the British government granted me asylum. I do not see how anybody could say that I ran away from my country. I crossed the Atlantic 46 times, trying to negotiate with various heads of state so that they could grant recognition or make OAU to settle the dispute. How could the head of state turn round now and accuse all those who were politicians in pre-1966 and post-1966 as being responsible for the downfall of the republic? I did my best to preserve the unity of Nigeria and also to preserve the lives of old men, able-bodied men and women and children but I failed. What could I do? I went on free exile and they keep saying that I was among those responsible for the downfall of the republic. I plead not guilty".

Excerpts from the interview he granted to New Nigerian Newspapers, 1979, as Presidential aspirant under the platform of Nigerian People's Party.

China bans Islamic names

The government of China has banned parents from choosing names like “Muhammad,” “Arafat”, “Jihad” and many more for their children.

They drafted a list of “overly religious” names banned in western Xinjiang province, home to the nation’s Uighur Muslim ethnic minority. The list also includes names such as “Imam.”

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the initiative is meant to diminish the public profile of religion, particularly Islam, in the region.

The communist Chinese government has long considered religion a threat to its dominance and has,
in recent years, imposed a series of initiatives to limit Islamic practices, in particular, in response to a series of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and threats from outside jihadist groups like the Islamic State.

RFA lists “Islam, Quran, Mecca, Jihad, Imam, Saddam, Hajj, and Medina” among the names in the document, titled “Naming Rules for Ethnic Minorities.”

The New York Times, which reports that the list includes “more than two dozen names,” adds “Mujahid,” “Arafat,” and “Muhammad” to that list.

Anyone with such names will be banned from officially registering with the government, which excludes them from, among other things, public education and denies them the legal documents necessary to find work and generally participate in society.

Penumbral lunar eclipse- ''Eclipse, comet, full moon'' all coming Friday night

Not as spectacular or noticeable as a total lunar eclipse, this rather subtle phenomenon occurs when the moon moves through the outer part of Earth’s shadow (known as the penumbra), according to EarthSky.org.

The outer shadow of the Earth blocks part but not all of the sun's rays from reaching the moon, making it appear slightly darker than usual.

The exact moment of the penumbral eclipse is 7:43 p.m. ET (6:43 p.m. CT, 5:43 p.m. MT and 4:43 p.m. PT), NASA said.

The eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa, western Asia and eastern North and South America, NASA reports.

About 35% of all eclipses are of the penumbral type.

Full "snow" moon

As required during any eclipse, the moon will be full Friday night. And this month it's nicknamed the "snow" moon.

According to the Farmers' Almanac, full moon names date back to Native Americans in the northern and eastern U.S. Each full moon has its own name.

"The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon," the almanac reports. "Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred."

Calling February's full moon the "snow" moon is right on target: On average, February is the USA's snowiest month, according to data from the National Weather Service. 

The Farmer's Almanac reports some tribes referred to February's moon as the "hunger" moon, because harsh weather conditions made hunting difficult.

Comet 45P

A few hours after the eclipse, Comet 45P, which has been visible after sunset for the past two months through binoculars and telescopes, makes its closest approach to Earth, when it will be "only" 7.4 million miles away, NASA said. 

Look to the east around 3 a.m. Saturday morning, where it will be visible in the sky in the constellation Hercules. Binoculars or a telescope could be helpful. Watch for a bright blue-green "head" with a tail.

It will be visible in various points of the night sky until the end of February, according to NASA. If you miss it, don't worry: It will return again in 2022, said Jane Houston Jones of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Zuckerberg for presidency?

As the leader of a digital nation of nearly 1.8 billion, Zuckerberg already gets treated like a head of state. In recent years, speculation has grown that he might like to become one. Zuckerberg took his first significant step onto the political stage in 2013 when he launched Fwd.us, a political advocacy group to shape public policy on immigration. In April, he used his keynote at Facebook's annual developers conference to rebuke then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had advocated building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and banning Muslims from entering the U.S. It was a significant departure for Zuckerberg.
Mark has clearly stated that he has no intentions running for any political office.
"I'm focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative," the limited liability corporation that oversees his and wife Dr. Priscilla Chan's philanthropic efforts, Zuckerberg said.

Trump Changed Obama's Oval Office Decor

Obama's Oval Office

MLK's burst instead of Winston Churchill's

Not too stylish but rather oval


Here we have Trump's Oval Office and its new added features
Winston Churchill's bust is back!
Those gold curtains!
Sunburst gold and yellow rug!

Who has got best taste of style?

Usain Bolt stripped of Olympic gold medal

The world's fastest man alive Usain Bolt is no longer a nine-time Olympic gold medalist.

The International Olympic Committee has stripped the Jamaican sprinter of the 4 x 100m gold he won at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after his teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of doping offences.

Carter, who helped the 4x100 team to win Olympic and world championship titles, returned a doping violation for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine in a retest of 454 samples from the Beijing Games.

Bolt, Carter and other teammates from 2008, have now been ordered by the IOC to return their gold medals.