Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ’s body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday as thousands of people filed by to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago.
As daylight broke, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen — lay assistants to pontiffs and papal households — carried the body on a cloth-covered wooden stretcher after its arrival at the basilica to its resting place in front of the main altar under Bernini’s towering bronze canopy.
A Swiss Guard had saluted as the body was brought in via a side door after Benedict’s remains, placed in a van, were transferred from the chapel of the monastery grounds where the increasingly frail, 95-year-old former pontiff had passed away on Saturday morning.
His longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, and a handful of consecrated laywomen who served in Benedict’s household, followed the van by foot in a silent procession toward the basilica. Some of the women stretched out a hand to touch the body with respect.
Before the rank-and-file faithful were allowed into the basilica, prayers were intoned and a small cloud of incense was released near the body, its hands clasped on its chest.
Going by the dwindling revenue allocation from both the internally-generated revenue and the Federation Accounts, Kwara State Government is moving towards exploration of natural endowments and agricultural production for an improved industrialization.
The state government has approved N3.6 billion for the establishment of an industrial park and shea butter processing factory in the State in order to engage in the production and processing of shea butter for local consumption and exports as part of move to have a better share in the $30 billion global shea butter market.
The Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led State Executive Council also approved the purchase and installation of high-end, fit-out equipment and machines for the ongoing Sugar factory studios in Ilorin, the State Capital, awarded to POV Studios Limited at the cost of N420,250,000.
Speaking on the efforts made by Government to further industrialise the State, Saddiq Buhari, Commissioner for Communications, declared that the Kwara State Executive Council had approved the establishment of a shea butter processing factory in Kaiama and an industrial park at Eiyenkorin in Asa Local Government Area of the State.
The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has disclosed that 10,000 police constables that passed out on Thursday will be deployed to provide security during the 2023 general elections.
He made this known at the passing out parade of the 2022 batch of police constables in Ilorin, Kwara State.
“It is noted that after today’s event, all the graduating recruit constables will be deployed to complement officers on the forthcoming election security duties across the nation, in a bid to ensure a free, fair and credible electoral process.
“This event , which is taking place simultaneously in four premier colleges and police training schools across the country, wraps up six months of highly challenging rigorous, physical, and intellectual training activities and it signifies the transition of the recruits mainstream professional policing duties with the right orientation to meet emerging security challenges within the dictates of the rule of law.
“It should also be noted that the recruitment exercise was spread over the 774 local government areas of the country with due regard to federal character considerations and in line with the directives of Mr President,” the inspector general of police stated.
Baba, who was represented by Ashafa Adekunle, Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 8, added that,” in the attainment of community policing goals, the recruits will all be posted back to their various local government areas to further entrench the policing strategy of the federal government towards addressing communal crimes in their respective areas of purview.”
He informed the new police recruits that the bedrock of policing is discipline, adding that” much as you have a promising and brighter career ahead of you, how far you go in this career depends , to a great extent, on your character, discipline, and integrity.”
Kwara State governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, represented at the event by Muyideen Aliyu, his senior special assistant on security, while the Baba Isale of Ilorin represented the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.
Paul Odama, the state commissioner of police, who enjoined the new recruit policemen to maintain high level of discipline and shun corruption, later presented awards to outstanding graduands.
The 10th Edition of the Future Africa Leaders Awards , FALA, 2022 has recognized 22 year old Lebsey Petmia Lebaga, from Cameroon as the Star Prize Winner for her exceptional humanitarian efforts.
Lesbey demonstrated excellent Leadership Skills through the use of science and technology in transforming lives in her country and beyond.
Throughout the year, she displayed her ingenuity in meeting societal needs with technology in a most notable fashion in Cameroonher home country.
She organized several conferences and seminars, impacting the lives of over 8000 young people in Cameroon and established an online clinic for which more than 500 individuals have testified of using the online institution satisfactorily.
Over 1000 people have freely been screened for Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS with several referred for medical attention. She’s the first youth to have established an online clinic in Cameroon, which won her the best innovative project in the country.
Lesbey was distinguished among other 10 winners, to claim the coveted FALA 2022 Star Prize Award during the 31st Dec. New Year’s Eve Service with Pastor Chris which comes with a well-deserved award 25,000 USD cash prize
Alongside Lebsey Lebaga were 9 other young leaders who were also honored with awards at the night’s event. With different exemplary humanitarian acts, these young leaders distinguished themselves as true future African leaders.
Also celebrating their FALA Award, with a 10,000USD cash prize following astonishing feats accomplished throughout 2022, were the following winners: Grace Lekwuwa from Benin Republic, Portia Manyaya from Ghana, Azariah Tendayi Chidzungu from Malawi, Bakaki Yusuf from Uganda, Hidaya Tlemcani from Morocco, Elizabeth Aguil from South Sudan, Victor Eyo from Nigeria and Gracious Mazivanhanga from Zimbabwe.
The Future Africa Leaders Foundation has continually recognized the efforts of young Africans who take up diverse leadership roles, resolving seemingly insurmountable challenges in academia, agriculture, and different sectors of the economy across Africa. These young champions have since continued steadfastly in their problem-solving ventures, proffering solutions to diverse problems faced by many in the African continent.
In the UK (or Great Britain and Northern Ireland), families often celebrate Christmas together, so they can watch each other open their presents!
Most families have a Christmas Tree (or maybe even two!) in their house for Christmas.
The decorating of the tree is usually a family occasion, with everyone helping. Christmas Trees were first popularised the UK by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.
Prince Albert was German, and thought that it would be good to use one of his ways of celebrating Christmas in England.
Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are also sometimes used to decorate homes or other buildings.
Most villages, towns and cities are decorated with Christmas lights over Christmas. Often a famous person switches them on. The most famous Christmas lights in the UK are in Oxford Street in London.
Every year they get bigger and better. Thousands of people go to watch the big ‘switch on’ around the beginning of November.
Like a lot of countries, Nativity Plays and Carol Services are also very popular at Christmas time.
The Church that I go to always has a Carols by Candlelight Service where the church is only lit up by candles.
It is a very special service and always makes me feel very Christmassy! Lots of other British churches also have Carols by Candlelight and Christingle services.
The most famous UK Carol service is the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols which is broadcast on Christmas Eve at 3.00pm from the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.
In the UK, the main Christmas Meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon on Christmas Day. It’s normally roast turkey, roast vegetables and ‘all the trimmings’ which means vegetables like carrots & peas, stuffing and sometimes bacon and sausages.
It’s often served with cranberry sauce and bread sauce. Traditionally, and before turkey was available, roast beef or goose was the main Christmas meal. One vegetable that is often at Christmas in the UK are brussel sprouts.
Dessert is often Christmas Pudding. Mince pies and lots of chocolates are often eaten as well!
Trifle is also a popular dessert at Christmas. It’s made in a large bowl and consists of a layer of sponge cake (or sponge fingers) at the bottom of the bowl (which is often soaked in sherry or brandy) then there’s a layer of fruit (normally suspended in a fruit flavored jelly) and it’s topped with a layer of custard and then whipped cream.
In Scotland there’s a variation called ‘Tipsy Laird’ which uses whiskey to soak the sponge and the fruit are raspberries.
The dinner table is decorated with a Christmas Cracker for each person and sometimes flowers and candles.
The UK is also famous for Christmas Cake – some people love it and some people really don’t like it! It’s traditionally a rich fruit cake covered with marzipan and icing – and often top with Christmas themed cake decorations like a spring of holly.
The residents of Dhaka are hoping 2023 heralds an end to the city’s notorious traffic congestion after the Bangladeshi capital this week opened its first metro line.
A 2021 study by Khulna University put the annual cost of traffic jams in the city of 20 million people at $4.2 billion, adding that commuters spent an average of two hours a day traveling 5-10 km.
The new metro service is operated by the state-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Co. Ltd. and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Developed with funding from Japan, construction began in 2017. An initial 12-km section of the planned 20-km Line 6 connects Dhaka’s northern suburb of Uttara to Agargaon in the city center.
“We have initiated this mass rapid transit project aiming to address two major areas: reducing traffic congestion and environmental pollution,” M.A.N. Siddique, DMTCL’s managing director, told Arab News on Saturday.
“This is hugely timesaving for the passengers.”
While there are currently no stops between Uttara and Agargaon, new stations are scheduled to open in March, and by the end of the year the service is set to be expanded to Motijheel, Dhaka’s business and commercial hub.
“Currently, it takes around three hours to travel from Urtara to Motijheel, which will be reduced to 38 minutes when this metro rail service is fully operational,” Siddique said.
“Every day it will carry 500,000 people, which will automatically reduce the number of small vehicles and private cars on the streets.”
Uttara resident Abdur Rahman said he was delighted to have a metro service in his city.
“I have experienced metro rail services abroad but now I am enjoying this service in my country. I used to spend two hours traveling to my office in Mohammadpur area. Now it takes only 50 minutes. This service brought a huge benefit to me,” he said.
“I think in the new year, people will enjoy the benefits more and more and it’s expected that the traffic congestion in the city will be reduced.”
The new metro is also expected to make traveling in Dhaka safer, especially for women, many of whom fear being sexual harassed on the city’s roads.
Standing on the waterfront at Belem near the mouth of the River Tagus is located the Torre de Belém, which is arguably the most iconic symbol of Lisbon.
Originally conceived as a lighthouse, the tower was eventually built as a defensive fortress on the orders of King Manuel I.
Built in 1515 as a fortress to guard the entrance to Lisbon’s harbor, the Belem Tower was the starting point for many of the voyages of discovery, and for the sailors it was the last sight of their homeland.
It is also known as the Tower of St. Vincent. Belem tower is located in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the era of the Age of Discoveries.
The tower was commissioned by King John II to be part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus river and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.
The structure was built from lioz limestone and it is a prominent example of the Portuguese Manueline style.
Belem is composed of a bastion and a 30 m (100 feet), four floors tower. It has incorrectly been stated that the tower was built in the middle of the Tagus and now sits near the shore because the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In fact, the tower was built on a small island in the Tagus River near the Lisbon shore.
The architect, Francisco de Arruda, had previously worked on Portuguese fortifications in Morocco, so there are also Moorish-style watchtowers and other Moorish influences.
Facing the river are arcade windows, delicate Venetian-style loggias, and a statue of Our Lady of Safe Homecoming, a symbol of protection for sailors on their voyages.
The interior of the bastion, with a circular staircase at the north end, has two contiguous halls with vaulted ceilings supported by masonry arches, as well as four storage lockers and sanitary facilities.
On the ground floor bunker, the floor is inclined towards the outside, while the ceilings are supported by masonry pilasters and vaulted spines.
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Gothic rib vaulting is evident in this casemate, the rooms of the tower and the cupolas of the watchtowers on the bastion terrace. Peripheral compartments on the edges of the bunker allow the individual cannons to occupy their own space, with the ceiling designed with several asymmetrical domes of various heights.
The ancillary storerooms were later used as prison cells. The tower is about 12 meters (39 feet) wide and 30 meters (98 feet) tall.
The first floor interior contains the Sala do Governador (Governors Hall), an octagonal space that opens into the cistern, while in the northeast and northwest corners are corridors that link to the bartizans.A small door provides access via a spiral staircase to the subsequent floors.
On the second floor, the Sala dos Reis (King’s Hall) opens to the loggia overlooking the river, while a small corner fireplace extends from this floor to the third floor fireplace in the Sala das Audiências (Audience Hall).
The ceilings of all three floors are covered in hollow concrete slabs. The fourth floor chapel has a vaulted rib ceiling with niches emblematic of the Manueline style, supported by carved corbels.
406 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia
1744 English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth’s nutation motion (wobble)
1775 Battle of Quebec: American Continental Army led by Richard Montgomery is defeated trying to take the British stronghold of Quebec City in the American Revolutionary War, General Montgomery is killed and Benedict Arnold is injured
1861 22,990mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in India in 1861, a world record
1958 Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista tells his Cabinet he is fleeing the country
Historical Events Today Events In 2022
Today In Film & TV
1923BBC begins using Big Ben chime ID
Today In Music
1879 Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “Pirates of Penzance” premieres in NYC
Today In Sport
1989 Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year
1904 First New Year’s Eve celebration held in Times Square, New York City
1994 This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
Famous Weddings
1910 Editor Maxwell Perkins (26) weds Louise Saunders at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in North Plainfield, New Jersey
1940 Actress Bette Davis (32) weds New England innkeeper Arthur Farnsworth at 15,000-acre ranch in Lake Montezuma, Arizona
1950 World heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano (27) weds Barbara Cousins in Brockton, Massachusetts
Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on a deal that runs until 2025.
The Portugal captain is a free agent after leaving Manchester United following a controversial interview in which he criticised the club.
Ronaldo will reportedly receive the biggest football salary in history at more than £177m per year.
The 37-year-old says he is “eager to experience a new football league in a different country”.
Al Nassr – nine-time Saudi Pro League champions – described the signing as “history in the making”.
The club said it would “inspire our league, nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves”.
In the summer, Ronaldo turned down a £305m deal to join another Saudi team – Al Hilal – because he was happy at United.
Earlier in November, the striker spoke out in an interview with Piers Morgan for TalkTV in which he said he felt “betrayed” by United, did not respect manager Erik ten Hag and was being forced out of the club.
Ronaldo, who scored 145 goals in 346 appearances for United, left Juventus to rejoin the Old Trafford club in August 2021 – 11 years after he departed to join Real Madrid.
He had just over seven months remaining on his £500,000-a-week contract with United but his immediate exit was “mutually agreed”.
A day after he left the club, he was banned for two domestic matches for knocking a phone out of an Everton fan’s hand after United’s defeat at Goodison Park in April.
He will serve the ban at domestic level with any new club – in England or abroad – although it does not apply at continental club level, such as the Champions League.
Ronaldo recently returned from playing for Portugal at the World Cup in Qatar, where he made history by becoming the first man to score at five different Fifa World Cups with his strike in his side’s opening win against Ghana.
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