Former FIFA Head Blatter Says Iran Should Be Barred From World Cup

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November 11, 2022

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter talks to the media as he arrives before a commemoration service for the former coach of the Swiss national soccer team Koebi Kuhn at the Grossmuenster church in Zurich, Switzerland December 13, 2019.

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter thinks Iran should be barred from the World Cup amid widespread protests in the Islamic Republic sparked by the death of a woman in the custody of morality police, a Swiss paper quoted him on Friday as saying.

“Iran should be excluded from the World Cup,” the Blick tabloid reported, saying Blatter at a talk at its publisher’s headquarters had demanded harsh consequences and that he would have removed Iran from competition had he still been in charge.

The protest in Iran pose one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran has accused foreign enemies of fomenting unrest raging since the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest for allegedly flouting Iran’s strict dress code imposed on women.

The Blick paper cited Blatter as saying it was incomprehensible that FIFA head Gianni Infantino had not taken a clear position on Iran.

Blatter, 86, had made waves this week by saying it had been a mistake to award Qatar the hosting rights to the World Cup, which begins on Nov. 20.

Diplomatic Breakthrough As Direct Tel Aviv-Doha Flights Will Operate During World Cup

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Emenike Agu

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November 11, 2022

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FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Arrival – United States team arrives in Doha – Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar – November 10, 2022 United States players arrive at Hamad International Airport

Direct charter flights will operate between Israel and Qatar, which do not have formal diplomatic ties, during the upcoming World Cup in Doha, FIFA said on Thursday, facilitating attendance by eligible Israeli and Palestinian fans.

Soccer’s world governing body said it brokered the deal that would allow holders of match tickets and a valid Hayya fan ID on flights from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv to Doha’s Hamad International during the one-month event.

A Qatari official told Reuters the agreement applies to all Palestinians, including those living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

“With this deal, Israelis and Palestinians will be able to fly together and enjoy football together,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

The agreement requires Palestinian ticket holders and media “to travel on these chartered flights with no restrictions as they have an equal right to enjoy the tournament”, an unnamed spokesperson for Q22, Qatar’s tournament operator, said in FIFA’s statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a separate statement that negotiations over several months led to an agreement to open “an Israeli office in Qatar to provide services to fans coming for the World Cup”.

Israel’s foreign ministry added in a statement that “it was agreed that an Israeli consular team will provide consular services to the Israeli citizens (attending the World Cup)”.

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters the Israeli consular team would be based in Qatar during the tournament, the first to be held in the Middle East and which runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18. Asked to provide details on the consular team, the spokesperson said they would be Israeli citizens with expertise in the field.

When asked for comment on Israel’s consular plans, the Qatari official pointed Reuters to the FIFA statement which said that a Doha-based travel company would, in coordination with Israel’s foreign ministry, provide consular assistance to Israeli visitors in Qatar during the World Cup.

In June, when Israel announced that citizens could attend the World Cup in Qatar, Lapid, who is also foreign minister, said it “opens a new door for us to warm ties”.

The agreement on direct flights does not change Qatar’s stance on normalising relations with Israel which is linked to Palestinian statehood, the Qatari official said.

“This is part of Qatar’s commitment to FIFA’s hosting requirements and it should not be politicised,” the official said. “Because of this agreement, Palestinians will now be able to enjoy the first World Cup in the Arab and Muslim world.”

The Qatari official later added that Doha had conveyed to Israel “that any escalation in Jerusalem, Gaza or West Bank during (the World Cup) will risk the cancellation of the agreement including the direct flights.”

Israeli passport holders can usually only travel to Qatar on special visas issued for sports fixtures or conferences. There are no existing direct flights between the two countries.

A source familiar with the agreement, who declined to be named due to sensitivities, said there were talks with Royal Jordanian Airlines to operate the World Cup charter flights.

The flight arrangement is “subject to Israel’s security requirements and operational capabilities”, FIFA said.

At least 8,000 Palestinians and 3,900 Israelis have applied for a Hayya card, the source said.

Qatar’s Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged ties with Israel under U.S.-brokered pacts in 2020.

ASUP Seeks FG Approval To Award Degrees, Masters

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 11, 2022

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The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Anderson Ezeibe, has urged the Federal Government to empower polytechnics to award ‘Bachelor of Technology’ to end the Bachelor of Science and Higher National Diploma dichotomy.

Ezeibe made the call in Kaduna at an award presentation and farewell ceremony organised by ASUP, Makarfi Chapter to mark transition of Shehu Idris Collage of Health Sciences and Technology, Makarfi into Kaduna State University.

The News Agency of Nigeria, reports that Shehu Idris Collage was merged with KASU to be awarding degrees by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

He said the measure, if adopted, would also ensure full utilisation of a huge number of technical equipment in workshops, laboratories and other facilities in public polytechnics that remained underutilised due to lean students’ population.

The president said that with the transition, Shehu Idris College was no longer a member of ASUP, but now a member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

“ASUP is currently advocating the award of Bachelor of Technology by Nigerian polytechnics system. HND is no longer as attractive as it used to be to Nigerian youths because of the age-long dichotomy.

“Policy makers have made it a rule that once an individual has an HND, he cannot attain the peak of his/her career, then why are they continuing to force it on people, why don’t they phase it out and replace it with Bachelors of Technology?” he queried.

According to him the Nigerian polytechnic system had all it takes in terms of infrastructure and human capital to award bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in the areas of technology.

“In Europe, Germany, UK, America and all parts of the world, polytechnics are not limited to middle level manpower.

“In the new polytechnic act, they are empowered to produce higher level manpower without limit, as we speak, many polytechnics are producing degree holders but in affiliation

“They are doing it with their own infrastructure and staff, why can’t they do it in name of another institution.

“We are on serious advocacy regarding this and we have recently submitted a position paper to the Federal Government on the need to transit from the award of HND to bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in technology with the Nigeria polytechnic system.

“So, if they are not ready to improve HND, they should phase it out and replace it with degrees in technology so as for us to continue to dwell in our own area of competence which is technical education.

15 Nigerian Students Develop Service Robot For Hospitality Industry

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 11, 2022

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A team of 15 students from Federal Government College (FGC), Rubochi, in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory has developed a Robot prototype that can be used for humanitarian and hospitality activities.

The lead team member, Okpara Ephraim told journalists in Abuja while presenting the robot to the Federal Ministry of Education that the robot, named “Ruby Waiter-Bot” can render services in hotels, motels, restaurants, hospitals, offices and event centers, among others.

He further disclosed that the robot was made of 70percent local materials as well as available recycled items around the team.

The robotic innovation project was presented to the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja on Tuesday.

The project was facilitated by the First Lego League (FLL) and Coderina Education Technology Foundation with the support of Federal Ministry of Education.

Lego League (FLL) is an exciting and powerful experiential project based learning Programme that uses robotics to engage younger children, between ages 9-16 in playful and meaningful learning within the elements of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Arts and Mathematics).

Coderina Education Technology Foundation, with Federal Ministry of Education have been training teachers of FUCs since 2020 on Robotics, Coding and Intelligence.

These teachers in return have engaged in training and retraining of students for both local and international competitions.

Speaking while presenting the students to the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew David Adejo, the principal of the school, Roseline Micheal Inyang said training the teachers received from Coderina has birthed the teams of students that can now compete with any student at their level in the world.

Responding, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo commended the students for the innovation and the partners on the project.

Adejo said a major challenge facing innovation in Nigeria was the inconsistency of the country to link research to development.

He challenged the students to move step further by producing a robot that would move files from one office to another, saying that some of the innovation can be commercialized, if they work well.

“Some of these things can be commercialised but the problem with Nigeria is that we don’t link research to development, where the world is going now is no longer about the degree but what an individual can do with their brains that is what matters Artifical intelligence is where we are going,“ he said.

“Don’t let this get into your head, you are just starting. Be yourself, you have more work to do,” he charged the students.

One of the students, Ogbole Goodluck, a pioneer team member on the project said the idea was birthed from hospitality business of one of their parents who is into catering services and the students collectively thought of ways to ease her business.

Bamaiyi Onyoche, and Ogbole favour, also members of the team said ideas of building of robot were not only peculiar to science students explaining that Ruby Waiter provided opportunity for students in other fields away from sciences to also express themselves.

The students insisted that the ruby waiter bot was developed to facilitate and to help not to replace the human beings.

World Ranking: Covenant University Tops UNILAG, UI, Others

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 11, 2022

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Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, came ahead of the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos in the latest 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

A look at the ranking parameters indicates that Covenant is leading all Nigerian universities in Research and currently ranks 562 globally.

A statement by the university stated that Covenant University, with a score of 24.8, led the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos, who scored 21.8 and 14.0, respectively, in their research engagement.

Speaking on the feat, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abiodun Adebayo, said the research was one of the University’s Management topmost priorities, adding that with active support from the Board of Regents of the institution, it would continue to give appropriate support to members of faculty, staff, and students with genuine and impactful research ideas to conduct quality and ground-breaking research.

“Covenant University has supported numerous conferences and publications and has given research grants to the tune of hundreds of millions of naira in support of this. The university has been supporting the publication of articles by faculty members in high-impact journals in millions of foreign currencies over the years,” Adebayo said.

According to him, over 20 members of faculty and staff have won numerous grants in the last two years.

He explained that the University management is committed to investing in research and training, in pushing the frontiers of knowledge by addressing local issues from global perspectives.

Adebayo said apart from the funding from the proprietor-base of the University, Covenant was a beneficiary of a plethora of huge research grants.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings uses 13 metrics, which are grouped under 5 pillars (Teaching-30%, Research-30%, Citation-30%), International Outlook-7.5 and Industry Income-2.5%) in universities’ rankings around the world.

Once Upon A Time – November 11 – 1975 – Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Becomes 1st Elected PM Removed From Office In 200 Yrs

By

Angel Gimalo

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November 11, 2022

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1620 Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod, the 1st framework of government in the territory that is now the USA [N.S. Nov 21]

1675 German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function

1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army enters England

1918 WWI armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”

1975 Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam removed from office by Governor General Sir John Kerr – 1st elected PM removed in 200 yrs

1992 The Church of England approves the ordination of female priests

2004 Yasser Arafat’s death through unidentified causes confirmed by Palestine Liberation Organization, Mahmoud Abbas elected PLO chairman minutes later.

Historical Events Today

Today in Film & TV

1985 1st AIDS theme TV movie – “An Early Frost” screens in US on NBC

Today in Music

1925 Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five begin their first recording session

Today in Sport

1946 New York Knicks play their first Basketball Association of American (BAA) home game at Madison Square Garden; lose, 78-68 to Chicago Stags in overtime

1880 Australian Bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol

1807 Washington Irving’s Salmagundi periodical published – first to associate the name “Gotham” with New York City

Famous Weddings

1100 Anglo Norman King Henry I marries Princess Matilda of Scotland at Westminster Abbey

1838 Emma Wedgwood accepts English naturalist Charles Darwin’s marriage proposal

1858 20th US President James Garfield (26) weds Lucretia Rudolph (26) in Hiram, Ohio

Igbinedion University To Honour Rev. Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

By

Zoe Maven

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November 10, 2022

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The Management of Igbinedion University, Okada (IUO), has announced it has concluded arrangements to honour and confer a Degree on the President, Loveworld Inc., also known as Christ Embassy, Rev. Dr. Chris Oyakhilome, Dsc. D.D, for his humanitarian contributions to societal development.

Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, who disclosed this to newsmen at a press conference to formally announce the convocation said the honour will be bestowed during the institution’s 20th convocation ceremony.

According to Ezemonye, out of the 691 that will be graduating, according to him, 13 bag first class honours degree.

He said Oyakhilome and the founder, Rosula Foundation, Princess Rosemary Osula Mku-Atu, have touched the lives of many through their foundations and also provided scholarships for indigent students across the country.

The duo, according to him, would be conferred with the institution’s honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of their outstanding contributions to humanity and societal development.

The vice chancellor, who described the duo as deserving personalities for the honour, said the institution remained committed to academic excellence as it had enhanced her infrastructural and staff development towards providing quality education in the country.

In reeling out the Institutions achievements and projects, Ezemonye said, “The infrastructural development of the university has continued to receive top priority. A massive upgrade of the classrooms, hostels and laboratories is ongoing. Similarly, a new auditorium with 3,000 sitting capacity is nearing completion, while an ultra-modern hotel complex to serve the needs of the university guests and visitors to Okada is also ongoing.

Wilbur-By-The-Sea: Multiple Coastal Homes Collapse, Beach Houses Closed

By

Angel Gimalo

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November 10, 2022

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Tropical Storm Nicole sent multiple homes toppling into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday and threatened a row of high-rise condominiums in places where Hurricane Ian washed away the beach and destroyed seawalls only weeks ago.

“Multiple coastal homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea have collapsed and several other properties are at imminent risk,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a social media message.

He said most bridges to the beachside properties had been closed to all but essential personnel and a curfew was put into effect.

Wilbur-by-the-Sea is an unincorporated community on a barrier island with only beachfront homes.

Next door in Daytona Beach Shores, a strip of high-rise condominiums were evacuated ahead of Nicole’s landfall, and while they remained standing after the storm, their future depends on safety reviews.

County manager George Recktenwald said during a news conference that officials assessing damage had already identified nearly a dozen compromised structures in Daytona Beach Shores and Wilbur-By-The-Sea, and they expect to find more.

“Structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented,” Recktenwald said. “We’ve never experien

Once Upon A Time – November 10 – 1969 – “Sesame Street” Premieres On PBS TV

By

Angel Gimalo

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November 10, 2022

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1619 René Descartes has the dream that inspires his “Meditations on First Philosophy”

1674 Dutch formally cede New Netherlands (New York) to the English

1885 German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveils the world’s first motorcycle

1918 Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe stating on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air

1989 Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1969 “Sesame Street” premieres on PBS TV

2010 Alan Menken, famous Disney composer, receives the 2,442nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Today in Sport
1991 South Africa’s 1st cricket international since 1970 – one-day v India

MORE FACTS…
1871 Henry Morton Stanley encounters David Livingstone at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, with the immortal words ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’

1940 Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives.

Famous Weddings
1926 Belgium crown prince Leopold weds princess Astrid Bernadotte of Sweden

1963 Actress Doris Roberts (33) weds novelist William Goyen (48)

1965 Netherlands 2nd Chamber accept marriage of Princess Beatrice & Claus von Amsberg

Throwback Thursday – World’s First Motorcycle Was Unveiled By Daimler

By

Angel Gimalo

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November 10, 2022

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November 10, 1885 – World’s first motorcycle was unveiled by German engineer Daimler on this day in 1885.

The motorcycle, which is also known as Einspur or ‘single track’, was a motor vehicle made by Daimler with Wilhelm Maybach.

Daimler is often also called the ‘father of the motorcycle’ for this invention.

Even though three steam-powered two-wheelers preceded Reitwagen, it still remains the first gasoline internal combustion motorcycle and the forerunner of all vehicles, land, sea and air, that use its overwhelmingly popular engine type.

Daimler had visited Paris in 1861 and had spent time observing the first internal combustion engine developed by Etienne Lenoir.

His experience in France had helped him as he later also joined the Nikolaus August Otto’s company.

Otto’s company had created the first successful gaseous fuel engine and in later years the firm had also succeeded in creating a compressed charge gaseous petroleum engine due to the direction of Daimler and his plant engineer Maybach.

Otto had no interest in making engines small enough, so he along with Maybach then moved to the town Cannstatt where the duo began work on a ‘high-speed explosion engine’.

The goal was achieved in 1883 with the development of their first engine, a horizontal cylinder engine that ran on Petroleum Naptha. The next year Daimler and Maybach developed a vertical cylinder model which is called the Grandfather Clock engine and achieved 700 rpm and soon 900 rpm was achieved.

In 1884, Maybach and Daimler then built an engine into a two-wheeled test frame which was patented as ‘Petroleum Reitwagen’.

The test machine demonstrated the feasibility of a liquid petroleum engine which used a compressed fuel charge to power an automobile. It was in 1885 that the pair then pattered the first motorcycle.

The Daimler Reitwagen had a 264-cubic-centimetre single-cylinder Otto-cycle four-stroke engine mounted on rubber blocks, with two iron tread wooden wheels and a pair of spring-loaded outrigger wheels to help it remain upright. Its engine output of 0.5 horsepower at 600 rpm gave it a speed of about 11 km/h.

Daimler’s 17-year-old son, Paul, rode it first on November 18, 1885, going 5’12 kilometres from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim, Germany.