The UK Environment Agency is advising people not to swim from the beach at Weston-super-Mare because of a pollution risk warning.
Nearby Sand Bay and Uphill Slipway beaches are also under the warning.
The Environment Agency, which assesses the quality of the water at bathing sites, said the increased risk of pollution is due to weather and “other predictable factors”.
The forecast is valid up to midnight on Wednesday 17 August.
The American space agency NASA has rolled out its giant new Moon rocket to prepare it for a maiden flight.
Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle was moved to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the expected lift-off on 29 August.
The debut outing is a test with no crew aboard, but future missions will send astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years.
The near 100m-tall (328ft) SLS rode an immense tractor to the pad.
It started moving from its assembly building at Kennedy just before 22:00 on Tuesday, local time, and had completed the 6.7km (4.2 miles) journey by just after sunrise on Wednesday morning.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Niger Command, has arrested an 18-year-old student, over an alleged attempt to kidnap the Provost of his institution, College of Fisheries, New Bussa.
A statement on Wednesday in Minna by the command spokesman, ASC Nasir Abdullahi, said the suspect, who is a student of the college, was arrested on Aug. 10.
He said that the suspect, conspired with one other person, now at large, to allegedly write a letter threatening to kidnap the provost if he failed to pay ransom.
Nasir however said that the suspect did not demand for any particular amount before he was arrested by detectives from the command.
The spokesman said the suspect has been arraigned before a Chief Magistrates Court on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and intimidation.
The Caicos Conch Farm is the first and only commercial conch farm in the world which is located on the Providenciales Island which is part of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Owned and operated by Trade Winds Industries Limited, (TWI) a Turks & Caicos Islands Registered Company, it has been operating since 1984 which was developed with a vision of pioneering conch mariculture that would benefit the region by providing jobs, stimulating economic growth, supplying a low-cost source of protein and protecting wild conch stocks from exploitation.
The conch, which is the common name to a number of large-sized sea snails and their shells, plays a major role in the local community, as it provides not just the locals with the very needed jobs, but also it teaches the tourists with a brief biology lesson and a description of the technology and methods developed at the Caicos Conch Farm during the past 29 years for the process of cultivating the Caribbean Queen Conch.
This cultivation process entails the eggs hatching, later seen through metamorphosis and the post-larval stages of life.
The most common conch raised on the farm is the Caribbean Queen Conch, which according to the company is “The World’s Only Sea Farm that raises Caribbean Queens fit for a King”.
The company is located on the far eastern side of the Providenciales Island, looking towards the Mangrove Cay Island with an area of some 4 hectares (10 acres) of land and additional 26 hectares (65 acres) of sub-sea pasture under lease from the TCI Government for 97 more years.
The scientific name for the Queen Conch is Strombus gigas, which has been the staple of the Caribbean diet for at least a thousand years, and its meat provides a major source of protein for the region, while its shell had been used for tools, weapons, jewelry, ceremonial objects and as a construction material.
It was necessary for the farm to be opened, due to the overgrowing demand of the conch, and also must be mentioned that the wild stocks of conch has depleted, making it a commercially endangered species. Despite quotas on harvesting wild conch the remaining conch population continues to decline rapidly as over-fishing is continuing to occur.
The Caicos Conch Farm is the prime example how we should start carrying for the nature and the wildlife, which in fact is a revolutionary and state-of-the-art form of environmentally conscious commercial fish farming referred to as off-shore deep water submerged cage farming, which every visitor of the Turks and Caicos Islands should visit and learn more.
As part of efforts to actualise the dreams of making Abuja a medical hub in the West Africa sub region, the FCT Executive Committee (EXCO) has set up a high-powered committee to look into all issues surrounding the abandoned Utako District Hospital in the Phase II of the Federal Capital City, Abuja.
The FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, who chaired the FCT Executive Committee meeting held in Abuja, approved the establishment of the high-powered committee, after a presentation on the activities and programmes of the Health and Human Services Secretariat.
Bello restated the commitment of his Administration in ensuring that the Hospital project is revived and completed to further improve health service delivery in the Territory.
The Minister noted that Abuja is growing geometrically in its population and therefore, requires diligent planning for the provision of healthcare facilities to cater for the fast-changing demographic growth.
He stated that he has personally visited the hospital project site to ascertain what was hindering the completion of the project.
Bello said the Administration’s desire to revive the hospital was in the best interest of the residents and charged the committee to ensure that all matters that led to the abandoning of the hospital project are identified and brought to the attention of the EXCO within two weeks.
The Utako District Hospital is a 220-Bed hospital conceived to provide qualitative healthcare services to the residents of the Federal Capital Territory especially those residents within the area.
The committee, which has 14 days to summit a comprehensive report to the EXCO, is chaired by the FCT General Counsel/Secretary, Legal Services Secretariat, Muhammad Umar. Other members of the Committee are Secretary, Health & Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Abubakar Tafida; Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shauib; and the Director, Public Building (FCDA), Architect Adebowale Ademo; while the Legal services Secretariat will provide the Secretariat for the Committee.
Governor Mala Buni of Yobe state has sponsored the enrolment of 100 poor and vulnerable people under Expanded Healthcare Services Scheme in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Lawan Gana, disclosed this at the inauguration of the exercise in Damaturu.
He said the governor inaugurated the Yobe State Expanded Healthcare Services Scheme and made a personal commitment to support enrolment of 100 poor and vulnerable persons.
He said that the scheme targeted all vulnerable people such as disability, poverty, pregnant women, children older than five and sickle cell disease patients, among others.
“In order to achieve universal health coverage, the government could not do that alone.
“There is need for the affluent, philanthropists and organisations to support the government by emulating Buni’s gesture.”
According to Gana, the state government is targeting 80 percent of the population to be covered under the scheme.
Also speaking, Dr Babagana Tijjani, the Executive Secretary, Yobe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (YOCHMA), said the agency was determined to ensure that programmes under the agency commence soon
“We have the formal sector programme, which civil servants of the state and local government are currently benefiting from.
“While other parts of the population benefit from the informal part of the programme.”
Tijjani added that the Equity and Basic Healthcare Programmes, were meant for the vulnerable members of the society.
He enjoined indigenes of the state to join the programme to achieve universal healthcare coverage.
A visually impaired beneficiary, Malam Ali Bukar, lauded the gesture especially to the vulnerable population of the state.
1590 Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1903 Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University & begins the Pulitzer Prizes in America
1945 Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands
1945 Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel
1947 The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed
1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an “improper physical relationship” with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he “misled people” about the relationship
HISTORICAL EVENTS TODAY
TODAY IN FILM & TV
1979 “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, premieres in US theaters
TODAY IN MUSIC
1876 Richard Wagner’s opera “Götterdämmerung” premieres in Bayreuth
TODAY IN SPORT
1933 MLB player Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game
MORE FACTS…
1908 Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl
1957 Baseball player Richie Ashburn fouls and hits fan Alice Roth twice in the same game at bat playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, 1st hit breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher
FAMOUS WEDDINGS
1498 Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte d’Albret of Navarre
1950 Short story writer Dorothy Parker (57) weds screenwriter Alan Campbell (46)
1962 Actor Jack Lemmon (37) weds actress and model Felicia Farr (29) in Paris, France
The Reddington Hospital Group has announced it has established a Bodycare Plastic Surgery Clinic in Victoria Island, Lagos State.
The hospital said the new centre was established in collaboration with Abuja Plastics, a renowned plastic surgery centre in Nigeria.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Reddington Hospital Group headquarters in Lagos, the Chief Operating Officer of Reddington Hospital, Emmanuel Matthews, said the establishment of the centre was in response to the yearnings of Nigerians for a professional and world-class plastic surgery clinic.
“This would reduce the foreign exchange spent by Nigerians on medical tourism to India, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, among other countries,” he said.
On his part, the Medical Director, Bodycare Plastic Surgery Clinic and Founder of Abuja Plastics, Dr. Stanley Okoro, said the cutting-edge medical technology and qualified staff at Reddington hospital provide a perfect synergy between the two partners to make the clinic a plastic surgery destination for Nigerians, Africans and others.
Dr. Okoro, who has won many global awards and has extensive experience in all areas of plastic surgery, said plastic surgery was safe if done by a team of professionals in the right environment.
“There is no need to travel overseas for excellence in cosmetic or reconstructive plastic surgery as the services are very well provided at the Reddington Bodycare Plastic Surgery Clinic,” Okoro said.
Residents of Kaduna have expressed satisfaction with the services rendered by the management of the National Eye Centre, urging for the provision of more branches in the country.
Speaking with newsmen in an interview within the hospital premises in Kaduna, patients at the outpatient department, OPD said additional branches will ease accessibility to health care.
They were of the opinion that, if the Eye centre opens additional units in other states and geo-political zones of the country, it will lessen the burden of traveling far distance to access health care especially with the current insecurities experienced.
“With the level of insecurity in the country, it is risky travelling with patients. We call on government to open branches in states like Benue and Adamawa because people get stressed before arriving the hospital.
“The centre can as well employ more hands, there are a lot of Medical personnels here but since this is the only good and affordable eye care institution in Northern Nigeria, more people are trooping here for treatment.”
One of the patients, Ibrahim Idris however said unlike other hospitals, the staff of the Eye centre attended promptly to patients and rendered services deligently.
Speaking on ailments and treatment particularly at the glaucoma and cataract unit, a patient, Aminu Bello commended the centre for maintaining a moderate cost of operation for the common Nigerians.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has hinted that its University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) might finally have been accepted by the Federal Government as the platform to be used for the payment of salaries of university lecturers.
The salary payment platform has been one of the major areas of disagreement between ASUU and the Federal Government as the lecturers union had rejected the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) which is being used.
This was made known by ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, while speaking on a Television programme, Monday night.
Osodeke said that the strike is not just about their salaries, but has to do with the system, funding, structure, autonomy, and other issues concerning university administration.
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