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Solar Panel Park To Power Almost 3,000 Homes In UK Town Of Swindon

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A solar panel park capable of producing enough electricity to power a small town is being proposed.

The 40-year scheme near Minety, Swindon, would produce enough electricity for 2,700 homes, according to developers Ecotricity Generation Limited.

The company said it would also help towards the government’s 2050 net zero carbon emissions goal.

Wiltshire Planning Committee will make a decision on the plans on 23 December.

The solar park is to be built on land northwest of Crossing Lane, Lower Moor, Minety and construction would take between three to six months, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The planning application is for a temporary period of 40 years.

The solar park is to be built on land northwest of Crossing Lane on Lower Moor

The plans include solar panels fixed to steel and aluminium structures that will be up to three metres tall.

There will also be perimeter fencing installed along with CCTV monitoring and cables will need to run underground to a power station to the south of Crossing Lane.

Ecotricity Generation Limited said hitting the 2050 target “will depend on the provision of a range of sources of renewable energy across the UK, including solar power”.

Beautiful Nigeria: Baturiya Bird Sanctuary, Jigawa State

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Baturiya Bird Sanctuary is Located in the Kiri Kassma area of Jigawa State, northern Nigeria, Baturiya Bird Sanctuary is a bird watcher’s dream.

This wetland area attracts birds from across the globe – and now, as the United Nations recognizes the sanctuary as a tourist location of international significance, it’s not only the birds that are flocking to Baturiya.

The sanctuary covers an area of 320 square km and is surrounded by a buffer zone of a half kilometer.

The natural wetland habitat is home to around 378 migratory bird species from as far away as Europe and Australia.

Baturiya has been visited by members of the Wildlife Conservation Foundation including Prince Philip and Prince Charles of the British Royal Family.

Baturiya Forest Reserve and Bird Sanctuary is one of the most important wildlife conservation sites not just in the local area, but in Nigeria as a whole.

It is a place where wildlife blossoms and can come and go as it pleases without fear of capture. And it is a place to which increasing numbers of visitors are also returning again and again.

Osprey Pandion halietus was caught on 25/10/2018 at Malam Madori, Jigawa. The bird came from University of Helsinki, Finland.

Available records from the University revealed that the bird was ringed 106 days prior to its caught in Jigawa, and covered 5808 kilometers during it’s migration to winter in Africa, in particular, Nigeria.

The bird were celebrated and successfully released at the Baturiya Wetland Reserve in Jigawa.

Exploring Heydar Aliyev Center, Azerbaijan

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Heydar Aliyev Center is a building complex that can offer many cultural events and space for conferences, located in the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku.

The unique shape of the complex is very interesting due to its distinctive architecture and flowing, curved style that eschews sharp angles.

Confounding context, scale and materiality, to a growing repertoire of prodigious object buildings in the ambitious, oil-rich capital.

The building complex was named after the Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, who was head of the country from 1993 until 2003.

When Azerbaijan got its independence from the Soviet Union, it began investing heavily in modernizing and developing the infrastructure and architecture of Baku, departing from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism.

One of the main structures in the city, which has an important role for the redevelopment, is actually this complex.

It consists of conference hall (auditorium), a gallery hall and a museum. The construction began in 2007, and due to its new-looking style of architecture was finished in 2012.

The architect who designed it is the Iraqi-British Zaha Hadid from the Zaha Hadid Architects company. Even though it is not in the city center, it is close to it.

The 74 metres (243 feet) tall building represents a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the center.

Even though the fluid-like shape of the center connects the three spaces, it also provides each element of the center with its own identity and in the same time privacy.

As the “fluidity” is not a new design to the region, in the historical Islamic architecture rows, grids, or sequences of columns flow to infinity like trees in a forest, establishing non-hierarchical space.

Continuous calligraphic and ornamental patterns flow from carpets to walls, walls to ceilings, ceilings to domes, establishing seamless relationships and blurring distinctions between architectural elements and the ground they inhabit.

As the center folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the center.

Becoming the real new landmark of the city of Baku, as well as Azerbaijan, it is an innovative and cutting-edge design building complex, slowly starts being shown to the world as a masterpiece of the Caspian area.

Once Upon A Time – November 29 – 1951 – 1st Underground Atomic Explosion At Frenchman Flat In Nevada

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526 – A possible date for the Antioch earthquake in present-day Syria (then the Byzantine Empire) which killed 200,000 people

1745  – Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army moves into Manchester and occupies Carlisle

1877 – US inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time

1935 – Physicist Erwin Schrödinger publishes his famous thought experiment “Schrödinger’s cat”, a paradox that illustrates the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics

1951 – 1st underground atomic explosion at Frenchman Flat in Nevada

More Historical Events

November 29 in Film & TV

1945 – “The Lost Weekend”, based on Charles R. Jackson’s novel, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1946)

November 29 in Music

1994 – “My Life” second studio album by Mary J. Blige is released (Billboard Music Award Top R&B Album 1995)

November 29 in Sport

1987 Joe Montana of SF 49ers completes NFL record of 22 consecutive passes

More Facts

1972 – Co-founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell releases Pong, the 1st commercially successful video game, in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California

1781 – Crew of slave ship Zong murder about 142 African slaves by dumping them into the sea, to claim insurance

Famous Weddings

1916 – Erwin Rommel marries Lucie “Lu” Mollin

1927 – Theodor Geisel [Dr. Seuss] (23) marries first wife fellow author and editor Helen Palmer (28)

1934 – Prince George, Duke of Kent, weds princess Marina of Greece and Denmark

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Health Sector Reforms Must Target Free, Affordable Healthcare- VP Osinbajo

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Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday that the ultimate objective of reforms in the country’s healthcare system should be the provision of free or affordable and good healthcare for the people.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this at the opening of a two-day Presidential Health Reform Committee Retreat, holding at the Muhammadu Buhari Conference Centre at the Nigerian Intelligence Agency Complex, Abuja.

Calling for clarity in the vision and objectives of reforms in the country’s health sector, the Vice President insisted that the target of most societies in their reform of the health sector is to provide citizens with either free or affordable and good healthcare system.

He pointed out that universal health coverage remains the key objective of the reform process.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, the Nigerian government has made some significant efforts to lay some important building blocks for reforms in the healthcare sector.

These include the signing of the bill establishing the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in 2018 and the signing into law the National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said all of these events and others were points of progress which must now coalesce into one central programme.

The Vice President said the overarching principle of the process of Nigeria’s health reform has been inclusivity.

He said this was reflected in the membership of Presidential Health Reform Committee, which includes representation from the states, professional healthcare bodies, private sector and distinguished medical academics.

He explained why he approved the co-option of additional ministries, department and agencies and other stakeholders in the Presidential Health Reform Committee.

He urged participants at the two-day retreat to use the opportunity to define a trajectory for the future of proposed recommendations for reform and expressed hoped that a draft document should be ready by January 2023.

He said the participants should set the broad parameters and vision for the health care system desired for the people and to adopt a flexible approach, that enables government to track and incorporate other reform initiatives.

In his remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire emphasized the need to prioritize health as a country and agree on how to raise funds to reach 95% of the country’s population with standard minimum package of health services.

Three papers were presented at the opening of the event by the Director, Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Ngozi Azodoh; Coordinating Officer, Presidential Health Reform Committee; Dr. Assad Hassan and a Research Consultant, Development, Research and Projects Centre, Dr. Michael Turnwait.

In his presentation, Turnwait called for institutional reforms that would ensure that the federal government takes care of tertiary health facilities, while the states and councils handle secondary and primary health facilities respectively.

European Union Divided Over Energy Price Cap

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An emergency meeting of energy ministers only showed how the energy crisis tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine has divided the 27-nation bloc into almost irreconcilable blocs.

The price of gas and electricity has soared in much of the European Union in the past year. According to the European Council, gas prices in the bloc rose by more than 150% between July 2021 and July 2022.

All of this is a huge burden for industry and private households. Much of the bloc is now braced for recession in the coming months.

The Commission came up with a plan to avoid exceptionally high gas prices in the future, but the proposed price ceiling is strikingly high: €275/Megawatt-hour (MWh).

European Union nations failed to bridge bitter disagreements over natural gas price cap as they struggle to effectively shield 450 million citizens from massive increases in their utility bills.

An emergency meeting of energy ministers only showed how the energy crisis tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine has divided the 27-nation bloc into almost irreconcilable blocs.

Czech industry minister Jozef Síkela, who chaired the meeting where ministers could not agree on when and how a price cap on gas purchases should kick in says there are very divergent views.

A massive August spike in natural gas prices stunned all but the wealthiest in Europe, forcing the bloc to look for a cap to contain volatile prices that are fueling inflation.

But the EU is deadlocked between nations demanding cheaper gas to ease household bills — including Greece, Spain, Belgium, France and Poland — and those like Germany and the Netherlands insisting supplies are at risk if a cap stops EU countries from buying gas above a certain price.

Germany and the Netherlands not in favor of a price cap

But the 27 member states did agree in principle on a joint gas purchasing platform for next year and the acceleration of permits for renewables — two much less controversial measures; However, formal adoption of these two policies would have to wait until the price cap question is settled.

Spain, France, Poland, and Greece were among the many with harsh words for the Commission’s plan , rejecting the proposal

Around half the bloc’s 27 member states want a price cap, saying intervention is necessary to protect households and businesses facing untenable bill increases in the wake of the war in Ukraine. Russia, previously Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas, slashed deliveries to the bloc in response to EU sanctions of unprecedented scale, which were imposed on Moscow in support of Kyiv.

Canadian Conservatives Slam Liberals On Carbon Tax Extension – Analysis

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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, January 25, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

In the summer of 2018, the Canadian government passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, which established a carbon tax system. The act dictated that provinces that did not already have a carbon tax arrangement must either design their own or adopt the federal rules.

The Canadian government has established national carbon taxes to reduce carbon dioxide pollution, and Canadian provincial governments each have their own rules or have adapted this federal system of rules to their own policies.

Canada’s government believes carbon taxes are the ideal way to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, while others claim the taxes may damage economies without having a meaningful impact on climate change

Both families and industries are affected by the carbon tax. For regular consumers, the added tax may mean paying more at the gas station and for annual power bills. However, most provinces have a way to offset soaring prices through rebates, tax credits, and lower gas taxes.

Climate action incentive payment (CAIP)

The Climate action incentive payment (CAIP) is a quarterly payment; it is a tax-free amount paid to help individuals and families offset the cost of the federal pollution pricing. It is available to residents of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. It consists of a basic amount and a supplement for residents of small and rural communities.

Analysts have argued why introduce a rebate that is less than what is paid as taxes; as households, businesses and consumers have in recent times seen soaring increase in food and commodity prices. Many have asked what the rationale behind introducing climate incentives?

Gas prices in some provinces in Canada rose as the federal carbon tax increased . Conservatives have asked when will Canada have a tax plan not environment plan? – as high cost of living soars in the country.

Alberta is one of the best provinces for taxes in Canada. It has no sales tax, no payroll tax and no health premium. it also has one of the lowest personal income rates in Canada, at least when you are higher on the pay scale. but it’s a different story now with the climate change policies…

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently, says due to strong fiscal position and balanced budget, the province will offer substantial relief so Albertans and their families to manage through this storm.

Zero-COVID Policy: China Eases Rules As Unrest Spread

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In a rare push-back by citizens, Authorities eased covid-rules in scattered areas Monday after crowds demanded President Xi Jinping resign during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes.
The government made no comment on the protests or criticism of Xi, the most widespread display of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades. There was no official word on how many people were detained after police used pepper spray against protesters in Shanghai and struggled to suppress demonstrations in other cities including Beijing, the capital.


The city government of Beijing announced it would no longer set up gates to block access to apartment compounds where infections are found. It made no mention of a deadly fire that killed 10 people, last week that set off the protests following angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls.
Most protesters complained about excessive restrictions, but some shouted slogans against Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s.
A crowd in Shanghai on Saturday chanted, “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!”

Nigeria Establishing Plants to Refine Gold

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Nigeria has begun the process of refining gold, gemstones and other mineral resources in the six geo-political regions of Nigeria.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, said this when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
According to him, adding value to the country’s mineral resources will go a long way in creating jobs and wealth for Nigerians.


He said six plants were being set up in the various regions to process mineral resources deposited in those regions.
‘We have set out to do six regional projects and one of them is the gold souk in Kano, the North West region.
“Before now, our gold was being exported in its raw form for close to nothing to foreign countries for processing and we end up buying them expensively.
Adegbite said similar plants had been set up in the North-east, Bauchi, for processing kaolin, while in the North-central, Kogi State was chosen for the establishment of a gold smelting plant.
The Minister also said in the South-west, in Ibadan, a gemstone plant had been established while in the South-east, a lead processing plant was established in Ebonyi.

He added the six regional projects were at an advanced stage of completion and would be commissioned soon.
Nigeria imports baryte to the tune of 300 million dollars every year

Ghana Plans to Buy Oil With Gold Instead of U.S. Dollars

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Vice President of Ghana Mahamudu Bawumia has said that in order to protect the country’s fast-dwindling foreign currency reserves, Ghana wants to pay for oil with gold instead of U.S. dollars.
The move is meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with the demand for dollars by oil importers, which is weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs.


Bawumia explained that “using gold will prevent the exchange rate from directly impacting fuel or utility prices as domestic sellers would no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products. The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change,” he added.
The West African country has been facing one of its worst economic crises.
Ghana’s gross international reserves have fallen by about one-third – from $9.7 billion at the end of 2021 to around $6.6 billion at the end of September 2022, according to official data. Ghana produces crude oil, but it has relied on imports for refined oil products since its only refinery shut down after an explosion in 2017.


He said six plants were being set up in the various regions to process mineral resources deposited in those regions.
In Ghana, Artisanal and small-scale mining – a low-tech, indigenous mining subsector supports millions and contributes up to 43% of the nation’s total gold production.