The Nigerian senate has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening the judiciary towards entrenching the rule of law, institutionalising access to justice, protecting of the freedoms provided for in d constitution, and improving access delivery in the administration of justice.
The Chairman of the senate committee on judiciary human rights & Legal matters Senator Opeyemi Bamidele stated this when the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami appeared before the senators to defend his ministry’s 2023 budget.
The Attorney General also applauded the contributions of the National Assembly in fulfilling Nigeria’s commitment to International conventions.
In another development, the Senate is worried that the reawakening of the aviation industry in terms of passenger traffic is not corresponding with the revenue accruing to Nigeria through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN. The Senators’ position is coming in the light of Nigeria’s latest rating as 2nd best in the world for aviation sectors recovering in the wake of a covid-19 pandemic.
However, the FAAN has confirmed that the recent improvement in the sector may not reflect on the revenue because the rating only happened in the last 2months & not from the start of this year. MD of FAAN capt. Rabiu Yadudu, also confirmed that 18.1b naira has so far been remitted to the federation account as of September 30, 2022.
Zimbabwe has announced the launch of its first nano-satellite into space in a bid to help collect data to monitor disasters, boost agriculture and enhance mineral mapping.
A rocket carrying the tiny satellite, dubbed ZIMSAT-1, successfully launched from Virginia in the United States alongside Uganda’s first satellite as part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) multi-nation project.
“History unfolding.#ZimSat1 now space bound!” government spokesman Nick Mangwana wrote in a tweet. “This is a scientific milestone for the country.”
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) tweeted Monday the rocket “will carry experiments about plant mutations and mudflow structure, as well as satellites from Japan, Uganda & Zimbabwe”.
Zimbabwe’s plans to launch the satellite started in 2018, less than a year after President Emmerson Mnangagwa came into office following the removal of veteran ruler Robert Mugabe through a military coup.
He created the Zimbabwean National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) to promote research and innovation in the embattled southern African nation.
The launch of the satellite — barely the size of a shoebox — sparked much debate on social media with some hailing the government for the achievement while others mocked the effort.
“Launching a satellite when the economy is fragile is stupidity. Poverty has for the past 5yrs increased. You can’t buy a car when your family is starving,” tweeted @patriot263.
The cost of the satelite has not been divulged.
In late September, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected Zimbabwe’s economic growth to slump to around half of last year’s levels due to growing fiscal instability and a drop in agricultural output.
Zimbabwe’s economy has been struggling for two decades forcing many citizens to emigrate in search of greener pastures.
Government blames the economic woes on Western-imposed sanctions, but critics fault Harare’s mismanagement and corruption.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has described the payment of 18days salaries for the month of October, to lecturers as an aberration and contravention of all rules of engagement for academics all over the world.
In a statement made available to Journalists in Abuja, the ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke said an emergency meeting of the ASUU’s National Executive Committee (NEC), held on Monday, 7th November, 2022, the Union deliberated on developments since the suspension of the strike.
The National Executive Council of ASUU noted with dismay, that paying academics on “pro-rata” basis, like casual workers, is unprecedented in the history of university oriented labour relations and therefore condemned the attempt to reduce Nigerian scholars to casual workers in its entirety.
ASUU stated that the suspension of it eight months strike was a display of manifest trust in the judiciary and other institutions and organs of government to always put national interest above all other considerations.
According to ASUU, ” This, we believe, as a union of thinkers, intellectuals, and patriots, will not only aid the process of amicable resolution of the crisis, but will also set the tone for smooth industrial relations between Government and Nigerian workers at large”
The Union added that the response of government towards ASUU’s demonstration of trust was what it described as the “so-called ‘pro-rata’ payment for eighteen days as the October 2022 salaries of academics thereby portraying them as daily paid workers.
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its eight-month strike on 14th October, 2022, in obedience to the order of the National Industrial Court and in further consideration of intervention efforts of well-meaning Nigerians, including the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila”
“The action of the Union was a display of manifest trust in the judiciary and other institutions and organs of government to always put national interest above all other considerations. This we believe, as a union of thinkers, intellectuals, and patriots, will not only aid the process of amicable resolution of the crisis, but will also set the tone for smooth industrial relations between Government and Nigerian workers at large,” he stated.
ASUU NEC however commended the membership of ASUU for their perseverance for what it described as untold hardship and unwarranted provocation by some notorious agents of the ruling class.
NEC further appeals for the understanding of Nigerian students, parents and other genuinely concerned individuals and groups.
He adds that the union continues to pursue positive resolution of this avoidable crisis within the ambit of legality without compromising the interests and welfare of Nigerian intellectuals.
Norway is viewed as the most sustainable and responsible destination, according to WTM London’s survey of the travel industry’s top decision-makers, with Costa Rica coming a close second.
WTM London’s Industry Report 2022 asked travel executives: “Which destination do you most perceive as a model for sustainability and responsibility?” and 15% opted for Norway, while 14% said Costa Rica.
Norway, an all-year-round destination for adventure and outdoor lovers, incorporates sustainability into the nation’s everyday life, with its energy primarily powered by hydropower; a sustainable transport network and speed limits that are lower than many other European countries.
It encourages visitors to do the same, inviting tourists to travel like a local.
Its capital, Oslo, consists of two-thirds wood and water and was named European Green Capital of 2019.
Costa Rica, meanwhile, has become a top destination for global travellers seeking wellness, health, relaxation, adventure and reconnection with nature.
The country is home to over 6% of the planet’s biodiversity and has become a pioneer in ecotourism, creating national parks, wildlife reserves and conservation projects in order to become as sustainable as possible.
World Travel Market London Exhibition Director, Juliette Losardo, said:
“More people are looking for sustainable travel options and countries such as Norway and Costa Rica are shining a light on what is possible and making it easier for people to travel in a sustainable way.
“The binding element to such countries is that sustainability is at the heart of the nation’s lifestyle and it follows that people living in these destinations, who want to retain their natural wealth, are encouraging visitors to be environmentally and socially responsible too.”
China on Tuesday showed off its first domestically produced large passenger jet after the aircraft was approved by regulators, unveiling the C919 at a major airshow.
The sleek, narrow-body aircraft took to the runway at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, circling through cloudy skies over the southern city of Zhuhai before touching down in front of hundreds of onlookers.
Chinese authorities hope the C919 — built by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) — will challenge foreign models like the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320.
Beijing also hopes its first homegrown jetliner with mass commercial potential will cut the country’s reliance on foreign technology as ties with Western countries deteriorate — though most of the plane’s parts are sourced from overseas.
Chinese regulators approved the C919 in September, with President Xi Jinping hailing the project’s “gratifying achievements” and calling it “an effort freighted with the will of the country”.
State carriers have enthusiastically backed the jet despite it still not having received licences from US and European regulators or the green light to enter mass production.
China Eastern Airlines, the country’s second-biggest carrier by passenger numbers, said in May it planned to incorporate four C919s into its fleet, with domestic media reporting that the aircraft would go into operation during the first quarter of 2023.
COMAC has said over 800 orders for the C919 have been placed by dozens of customers.
China formally announced longstanding deals for Airbus jets worth $17 billion during a visit last week by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Boeing 737 MAX has been grounded in China since 2019 after two fatal crashes, though Boeing said in July that it may be approved for delivery by Chinese regulators this year.
However, lingering US-China trade tensions and China’s worst commercial air disaster earlier this year involving a Boeing 737-800 have slowed progress.
The Moon was bathed in red on Tuesday during a total lunar eclipse visible from North America to the Pacific but not in Europe.
The eclipse’s totality, where the Moon is entirely in Earth’s shadow – lasted between 10:17 and 11:42 GMT.
It was seen across North and Central America, parts of South America, and Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
It wasn’t visible in Europe, which will have to wait until the next total lunar eclipse on March 14, 2025.
A total lunar eclipse is seen over the roof of Sensoji temple at Asakusa in Tokyo
During a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red because the only sunlight reaching the Moon passes through Earth’s atmosphere, Nasa said in a specially dedicated page on its website.
“The more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the Moon will appear. It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon,” Nasa said.
The Goronyo Dam impounds the Rima River in Goronyo local government area of Sokoto State in the northern Nigeria.
It was completed in 1984 and commissioned in 1992. The dam is a sand-fill structure with a height of 21 m and a total length of 12.5 km. It has a storage capacity of 976 million cubic meters.
The dam will be important in controlling floods and releasing water in the dry season for the planned Zauro polder project downstream in Kebbi State.
In August 2009 Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko urged the Federal Government to hasten completion of the irrigation project.
The Minority Leader of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Alhaji Bello Goronyo, said that N4 billion was needed to complete canalisation, but only about N600 million was provided in the 2009 budget.
In late August 2010 rainstorms caused the dam to fill to dangerous levels. In an attempt to reduce the risk of failure, the gates were opened on 1 September 2010, causing major flooding in the downstream village of Kagara.
On 8 September the spillway from the dam completely failed, causing much more widespread flooding.
The storm that caused the flooding may be part of a climate change pattern, with rising temperatures and more intense rainfall in the rainy season.
Tiwanaku is an archaeological site which is considered to be among the largest ones, dating back from the Pre-Columbian era, and it is located in the western part of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
Being in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca, this former settlement was the place where the Tiwanaku Empire grew for approximately 500 years from a small one that was focused on mainly agricultural activities to a thriving ritual and administrative capital of a major political state.
As a matter in fact, the precise location between Lake Titicaca and the dry highlands made for the settlement to be a great place for agricultural farming, making it a desirable base for the Tiwanaku people.
The surface of the urban area covers some 4 square km (2 square mi), and some of the archaeologists are suggesting that the peak was some time around the year 800 when the population was between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants.
Today, what remains from this pre-Hispanic center is a proof that the monumental remains were part of a cultural and political center that had quite the big significance in the region.
Distinctive from the other empires in the Americas from that period, the settlement was organized spatially with orientation from the center towards the cardinal points, while throughout can be seen some impressive ashlars stones that were carved accurately and equipped with a complex system of underground drainage which was controlling the flow of rain waters.
Unfortunately, the demise of this glorious place is believed to began some time around the year 950 when a substantial shift in the climate changed the entire region, which also brought a significant drop in precipitation causing for the agricultural production to dry up.
The first written record of Tiwanaku was noted in 1549 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León, who were told that the ruins were either raised by giants or perhaps from an agnostic population whom Deity got converted into stone since they refused to house the messenger.
Since then, Tiwanaku continues to represent an intriguing enigma that is constantly puzzling archaeologists who are trying to solve it.
From the uncovered structures which were excavated by researchers there are several structures which are visited by the general public.
The Akapana is a pyramidal structure which is some 17 meters (56 feet) tall, and unfortunately almost destroyed by looters that were slowly looting and destroying this interesting structure.
Originally with seven superimposed platforms with stone retaining walls, only the lowest of these and part of one of the intermediate walls survive intact nowadays.
The Akapana East is considered to be the boundary between the ceremonial center and the urban area, constructed from a thick, prepared floor of sand and clay, which supported a group of buildings.
The Pumapunku is a stepped rectangular platform which is faced with megalithic blocks, and it is 167 meters (548 feet) wide and 117 meters (384 feet) broad. The Kalasasaya represents a large courtyard that is more than 91 meters (300 feet) long, and it is interestingly outlined by a high gateway.
The researchers are still puzzled with Kalasasaya, because since the late 20 century they have theorized that this was not the original location, and that it was most likely moved.
Furthermore, the Semi-Subterranean Temple is a square sunken courtyard that is unique for its north–south rather than east–west axis, which walls are covered with tenon heads of many different styles which imply that the structure was reused for different purposes over time.
Made up from 48 pillars in red sandstone, this small semi-subterranean temple is considered to be the place of a practice where the Tiwanaku people were exposing the severed heads of defeated enemies.
Still, there are quite many other impressive gateways, some of which are having a monumental scale and show iconography of the Staff God.
Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, the ruins of Tiwanaku are still being excavated with some restoration work carried out, with hope that the archaeologists will find some more precise sources which will point to the glorious history of the Tiwanaku Empire that ruled the region.
In that way more people will know about the mysterious history that Tiwanaku still holds back and does not want to reveal.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 20: President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks at the 2016 Concordia Summit - Day 2 at Grand Hyatt New York on September 20, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)
392 Roman Emperor Theodosius declares Christian religion the state religion
1519 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico
1701 William Penn presents Charter of Privileges, guaranteed religious freedom for the colony in Pennsylvania
1734 Vincent la Chapelle, master cook to various nobility and royalty, forms Free Masons Lodge in Netherlands
1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays
2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”
2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia, the first woman to lead an African country
2016 Republican Donald Trump is elected 45th President of the United States of America, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton, with an Electoral College victory of 304- 227; Clinton received just under 2.9 million more popular votes [1]
Historical Events Today
Today In Film & Tv
1966 Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California
Today In Music
1999 Tenor Andrea Bocelli releases his “Sacred Arias” album, the world’s best-selling classical album by a single artist
Today In Sport
2017 Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa breaks the world record for surfing the biggest-ever wave at 24.4m at Nazaré, Portugal
1602 The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened
1974 British peer the Earl of Lucan disappears and is never seen again after his nanny is found murdered in London
Famous Weddings
1766 Future Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck (28) weds Dorothy Cavendish (16)
1975 NBA legend Larry Bird (18) weds highschool sweetheart Janet Condra
1985 Author Ken Follett (36) weds politician Barbara Hubbard (42)
In recent years the art world has seen a huge rise in the number of “immersive exhibitions” popping up around Europe – bringing to life the work of some of the world’s most celebrated artists in large spaces with huge light installations.
We’ve seen this with the likes of Van Gogh, Tim Burton, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.
And it doesn’t seem like that trend is going away anytime soon, as Madrid has unveiled a new show dedicated to the prolific and revolutionary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.
The exhibition titled Imagine Picasso is being hosted at the IFEMA MADRID and it’s the largest immersive exhibition ever carried out in Spain, and the first dedicated to Picasso.
More than 200 of Picasso’s most famous paintings, including Guernica and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, are being projected on the walls, the floor and some gigantic polyhedral structures inspired by the origami pieces that Picasso made for his children.
This artistic experience was created by Annabelle Mauger, pioneer of immersive art, and Rudy Ricciotti, winner of the Grand Prix National d’architecture, and was inspired by Picasso’s tender gaze on childhood.
The projections are accompanied by music from some of Picasso’s greatest contemporary composers, including Debussy, Satie and Ravel, as well as traditional French children’s songs.
Aside from admiring the stunning painting projections, visitors can learn about the different periods and themes of Picasso, such his early work, the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African Period, Cubism, Neoclassicism, Surrealism, as well as his later work.
Mauger has described Imagine Picasso as “the impossible exhibition”, since the use of digital technology makes it possible to bring together in the same space, albeit virtually, works found in different museums around the world.
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