Hurricane Ian Forces American Space Agency To Shelter Artemis Moon Rocket

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September 26, 2022

The American space agency is to pull its Artemis-I Moon rocket off the launch pad in Florida because of an approaching hurricane.

Nasa says the Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle will be rolled back into its engineering workshop to protect it.

Hurricane Ian is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday.

High winds and heavy rain are forecast for the Kennedy Space Center.

Although the spaceport will probably escape the worst of the storm’s impacts, Nasa can’t risk its multi-billion-dollar rocket being damaged.

The return to Kennedy’s famous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) likely now moves the maiden flight of the SLS to November.

Nasa had hoped the storm’s track through the Gulf would take it sufficiently westwards so that the rocket could stay out on the pad, enabling a lift-off to take place sooner.

But the medium-range forecast models have, in recent hours, seen the expected track shift eastwards, putting the west coast of Florida, or its panhandle, directly in the firing line.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has already declared a “state of emergency”.

NASA has one of its giant tractors on standby at the pad, ready to initiate the roll-back.

The slow speed at which this Crawler Transporter moves means the 6.7km (4.2 miles) journey to the VAB takes the best part of half a day. Engineers will therefore want to get it under way as soon as possible.

The retreat is expected to begin at 0400BST (2300EDT).

Artemis-I is the first in a series of missions that will eventually see humans return to the lunar surface after an absence of 50 years.

The initial flight of the SLS is uncrewed: it’s billed as a safety demonstration of the hardware and will send a capsule called Orion out to and beyond the Moon before coming home to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Assuming everything works as it should, astronauts will then climb aboard the next scheduled SLS-Orion outing in 2024. This again will do a simple loop around the Moon.

It’s on Artemis-III, possibly in late 2025, that astronauts will make the trip down to the lunar surface.

Once Upon A Time – Sept. 26 – 1901 – Great Britain Annexes The Ashanti Kingdom, Places It Under Governor Of Gold Coast (Ghana)

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Angel Gimalo

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September 26, 2022

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1580 Francis Drake completes circumnavigation of the world, sailing into Plymouth aboard the Golden Hind

1687 Acropolis in Athens attacked by Venetian army trying to eject Turks, damaging the Parthenon

1687 City council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange’s invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution

1815 Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the Holy Alliance

1901 Great Britain annexes the Ashanti Kingdom and places it under the governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana)

1918 Beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, more than 1 million American soldiers in the largest and most costly offensive of WWI

HISTORICAL EVENTS TODAY

TODAY IN FILM & TV

1968 “Oliver!” directed by Carol Reed and starring Mark Lester and Ron Moody premieres in London (Best Picture 1969)

TODAY IN MUSIC

1969 Apple Records releases The Beatles 11th studio album “Abbey Road”, their final recordings as a quartet; tops the charts in 11 countries

TODAY IN SPORT

1983 Australia II wins America’s Cup yacht race – 1st non-US winner

MORE FACTS…

1960 Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivers a 4 hour and 29 minute long speech at the United Nations

1983 Soviet military officer Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by judging supposed missile attack from the US an error

FAMOUS WEDDINGS

1861 Political cartoonist Thomas Nast (21) weds Sarah Edwards (20) in USA

1919 German chancellor Konrad Adenauer (43) weds Auguste Zinsser in Cologne, Germany

1931 Earl Claus von Stauffenberg marries Freiin Nina von Lerchenfeld

Association Speaks On Issues Relating To Fertility

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 26, 2022

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The Association of Fertility and Reproductive Health, has addressed topical issues relating to fertility at its 12th Annual International Conference.

According to a statement released by the AFRH, the conference titled, Maximising ART successes with a sub-theme, Individualised controlled ovarian stimulation, which held on September 22nd and 23rd in Lagos, helped address topical issues relating to fertility and factors responsible for the highest level of infertility.

The conference also beamed light on how to improve fertility services, how to reduce the cost of treatment and how to handle ultrasound services among other issues.

The second vice chairman and local organising committee chairman, Dr. Adewunmi Adeyemi-Bero stated that, “Infertility has continued to cause a lot of anguish for couples over the years, adding that the trend appears to be worsening. A lot of research is being done to provide solutions for people experiencing this emotionally and financially draining condition. The association is therefore geared towards the promotion of quality education and other areas of need for service provision in reproductive health, with emphasis on fertility services.”

The first vice chairman, AFRH, Dr. Preye Fiebai, stated that while fertility care was very expensive all over the world, the AFRH is focused on promoting affordability without compromising success rates.

The hybrid meeting featured series of educative and interactive lectures by very experienced international and local speakers.

Medical Practitioners Receive Training From Anambra’s Ministry Of Health

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 26, 2022

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Anambra State Ministry of Health has organized trainings for doctors and nurses for effective and efficient service delivery. The training which had as its theme “Achieving Universal Health Coverage Through The Health Worker Attitudinal Change” drew participants across all medical fields of the state.

Addressing the participants, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike said that the state government wants to reform the health care sector through training and retraining of doctors.

The health commissioner noted that they want to see a functional and an effective primary health care centres as well as general hospitals in the state. Dr. Obidike also said that they will soon inject more health professionals into the system for optimal performance and results.

Dr. Obidike urged the participants to transfer the knowledge they have gained from the training to their staff in their various hospitals. He manitained that the ministry has established a task force team to checkmate indiscipline, truancy and corruption even as he made it clear that they will take the issue of workers welfare seriously.

A lecturer from the Department of Surgery, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, Dr. Okechukwu Ugwu, who delivered a lecture during the event said that the essence of the training is to empower medical practitioners to be in tune with the ethics of the profession, as well as international best practices.

Some participants commended the health ministry for the training and promised to establish more friendly relationships with their patients.

UNIMED, British Council Partner on Entrepreneurial Training

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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September 26, 2022

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The University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Ondo State has partnered with the British Council to create a centre where students of the institution will learn various skills.

It was gathered that the centre, called, University Co-creation Hub, also known as U-CoHub, was created to train university undergraduates on skills, mentorship, and leadership to expose them to global opportunities in order to become providers of solutions to social and real-life problems.

A statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Tope Oluwatayo, on Monday, said the centre had been inaugurated.

According to the statement, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, explained that the goal of the centre was to provide a platform where students can generate and develop entrepreneurial ideas through a participatory process.

He said, ‘The U-CoHub is an innovation centre that is designed to support students and staff of the university to develop new ideas. For example, if you are a medical student or a nursing student and want to learn about the human body, with this innovation centre, you can see a 3D of human anatomy and dissect the human body in the virtual space using modern technology.”

In his remarks, the Director, Central Office for Research Development of the institution, Prof. Olumide Ogundahunsi, described entrepreneurs as the future of Nigeria in the global space.

“There is a limit to which people can attain their full potential especially when they are confined to established structures but we are changing that with the U-CoHub initiative which has a two-fold impact.”

“First of all, it allows our students to get some resources for innovative drives, and then secondly, it helps the society by providing solutions to problems.”

ASUU Strike Hindered Stipends To Education Undergraduates – FG

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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September 26, 2022

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The Federal Ministry of Education on Monday noted that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has hindered the payment of bursary to students of education in universities.

The permanent secretary of the ministry, Andrew Adejo, made this known during the 2022 World Teachers Day press briefing held in Abuja.

In 2021, President Buhari reportedly promised to release bursaries to students studying education in universities and colleges of education.

“Undergraduates of B.Ed/B.A. Ed/BSc. Ed in Public institutions are to receive stipends of N75,000.00 per semester while NCE students will get N50,000.00 as stipends per semester.

“Federal Government should find the modality through which respective states’ governments could provide automatic employment for NCE graduates at Basic Education level,” Buhari had said through his minister of education, Adamu Adamu.

Speaking to the press, Adejo said, “The implementation of the payment of stipends has commenced.

However, due to the strike, we have not been able to get the data of all the students in universities. We only have 7 per cent of the required data to be processed for payment.”

Speaking further, Adejo said, “I must state here that the national implementation of the New National Teaching Policy has commenced. It is a holistic package that will ultimately address the career path, remuneration, professional teaching standards, qualification, deployment and management of teachers.

“The theme for the year 2022 WTD which is ‘the transformation of education begins with teachers’ strongly stresses the importance of empowering teachers for the effective transformation of education to ensure quality teaching and learning as well as galvanize technological advancements to meet the ever-changing needs for national growth and development.”

Kogi State Begins Distribution Of Response Commodities To Hospitals

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 26, 2022

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The Kogi State Government has commenced the distribution of response commodities to the health facilities, particularly the tertiary health institutions and zonal hospitals.

The State Health Commissioner, Dr. Zakari Usman, who inaugurated the exercise in Lokoja, the state capital said it was meant to keep any disease outbreak in the state under control.

He said the beneficiaries of the health facilities included the State Teaching Hospital, the Specialist Hospital, and the five Zonal Hospitals within the three senatorial districts of the state.

The Commissioner noted that the programme was geared toward assuring the populace that the government was committed to providing quality health care services to its people at all times.

Usman enjoined health workers to always watch for emerging incidents of public health threats at their places of work and report same to the Ministry of Health as early as possible.

He said such vigilance would enable the government to mount an appropriate response to safeguard the health of the populace.

The commissioner, however, implored the benefiting facilities to make good use of the items to improve health care delivery services in their hospitals and Kogi State in general.

Ondo Varsity Announces School Fees Reduction

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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September 26, 2022

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The University of Medical Sciences, Ondo town, Ondo State has announced the reduction of school fees for the students of the institution.

Also, the institution said it had commenced a scholarship scheme tagged, ‘NextGens’ as part of the means to assist the students.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Tope Akintayo, and made available to our Correspondent on Monday.

According to the statement, the scheme was designed to support the development of the next generation of innovation-minded young scientists.

Speaking on the development, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, stated that the initiative would begin from the current admission exercise for the 2022/23 academic session, which will run for three years in the first instance.

He also explained that “the initiative entails a 45 per cent discount in school fees for students who gain admission into UNIMED to study chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics, animal and environmental health science, community health science, and human nutrition and dietetics.”

Explaining further, the VC said the school fees for the students, either indigene of Ondo State or non-indigene, in the listed programmes would only be N100,000 per academic session and the scholarship would be tenable till graduation as far as the students maintain a minimum grade of second class lower in each session.

He stated further that the graduates with first class or second class upper are eligible for a 50 per cent school fees discount to study the specialised areas of health sciences such as medical physics, environmental physics, medicinal chemistry, analytical and environmental chemistry, molecular biology, health statistics and mathematical biology.

“Science is the bedrock of development, and the future of health development nationally and globally lies largely in advancing the foundational basic sciences. Also, COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for Nigeria to significantly grow its scientific abilities. Our goal is to provide a platform and an avenue for the advancement of science in our country by growing and supporting innovation-minded and science-inclined young people.

“We also see this as an opportunity to support the education of highly intelligent and interested candidates who may have limited economic support to pursue a career in these important fields,” Fatusi stated.

Nigerian Govt Orders Varsities To Reopen, Commence Lectures

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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September 26, 2022

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The Federal Government through the National Universities Commission has ordered vice-chancellors to re-open schools and allow students resume lectures.

This was made known in a letter signed by the Director, Finance and Accounts of the NUC, Sam Onazi, on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Abubakar Rasheed.

The letter which was made exclusively available on Monday was addressed to all vice-chancellors; Pro-Chancellors and chairmen of governing councils of federal universities.

Ensure that ASUU members immediately resume/commence lectures; Restore the daily activities and routines of the various University campuses”, the letter partly reads.

The national industrial court of Nigeria on Wednesday ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off its ongoing nationwide strike.

ASUU had been on strike since February 14 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.

Several meetings between ASUU and the Federal Government have ended in a deadlock.

Consequently, the Federal Government went to court to challenge the strike.

The government through its counsel, James Igwe, prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction restraining ASUU from taking further steps as regards the strike, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The counsel to the Federal Government James Igwe on Wednesday prayed the court to order the striking varsity lecturers to in the interim, return to work, pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.

He maintained that the matter was not only urgent, but of a great national interest as millions of students have been at home for over seven months.

“Sections 47 of the Trade Dispute Act, TDA, gives your lordship the power to direct that no worker should continue to embark on strike pending when the applications are heard and determined,”,

Igwe argued.

Igwe said there was need for the matter to be expeditiously determined to enable university students to return to school, adding that failure to call off the strike would cause irreparable damage to not only the students but also to the nation.

According to him, since the dispute between FG and lectures was already before the court for adjudication, it would be proper and in the interest of justice for the strike to be suspended.

In his ruling, Justice Hamman held that the application was meritorious and deserved to be granted by the court.

While dismissing objections ASUU raised through its lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, the court held that the strike action was detrimental to public university students that cannot afford to attend private tertiary institutions.

“The balance of convenience tilts in favour of the applicant.

“I hold that this application is meritorious and this application is granted”, Justice Hamman ruled.

The court, thereafter, issued an order, restraining ASUU, “whether by themselves, members, agents, privies or howsoever called, from taking further steps and doing any act in continuance of the strike action, pending the hearing and determination of the suit filed.”

ASUU had since filed 14 grounds of appeal to challenge the order.

Saudi Arabia Launches 5 Renewable Projects, To Produce 3,300 MW Energy

By

Angel Gimalo

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September 25, 2022

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Saudi Power Procurement Co. has launched five projects to produce electricity using renewable energy, with a total capacity of 3,300 megawatts, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The launch includes three wind energy projects and two solar projects. The wind energy projects, located in Yanbu, Al-Ghat and Waad Al Shamal have a total production capacity of 1800 MW, with 700 MW, 600MW and 500 MW distributed respectively.

The total capacity of production from the two solar energy projects amounts to 1500 MW. The projects are based in Al Hinakiyah and Tabarjal and have capacities of 1100 MW and 400 MW respectively.

The launch of the projects is part of the fourth phase of the Ministry of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Program.

In line with Saudi Vision 2030, the program is part of the Kingdom’s aims to reach the optimal energy mix for electricity production from renewable energy sources.

In August, Saudi Arabia’s Ministries of Finance and Energy fully nationalized the Saudi Power Procurement Co. after buying up shares in one of the firm’s subsidiaries.

The ministries announced the government had acquired the Saudi Electricity Company meaning Saudi Power Procurement Co. is wholly owned by the state.

This acquisition is part of the Kingdom’s plans to restructure the electricity sector and introduce financial and organizational reforms, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

The Saudi Power Procurement Co. is responsible for planning and putting forward projects to generate the country’s required electric power.

It is also responsible for concluding electric power purchase and wholesale agreements, developing energy trading markets and purchasing fuel for the company, the statement added.

Also, in August, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry signed a power purchase agreement for the 80 MW solar photovoltaic independent power producer project, according to MEED.