At maximum capacity, the Kogi Rice Milling Plant located on 800 hectares in Ejiba, Yagba West Local Council, Kogi State is expected to create 6,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The rice mill, now completed, is part of the projects embarked upon by the Yahaya Bello administration and is billed to be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of the activities marking the 28th anniversary of the creation of Kogi State on August 27, 2019.

The Guardian gathered that the plant could easily run over 3000 tons of rice per month and over 36,000 tons per year. This is equivalent to the production of over 720,000 50kg rice bags per year.

Currently, the Industry has 800 hectares nucleus rice farm that feeds the processing plant. While the 800 hectares produce around 3200 tons of paddy rice yearly, the processing plant will consume the 3,200 tons in just a month meaning that expanded rice cultivation is encouraged to meet the feedstock.

The industry will purchase paddy from local farmers across the state and also increase the capacity of its nucleus farm to meet up with the rice milling plant production capacity per year.

The Kogi rice milling process will not only produce finished international standard quality rice but also by-products such as rice bran, brown rice, rice husk and broken rice, among others. It also operates on independent power generation plant in excess of 300kwh.

Kogi State Commissioner for Agriculture, Kehinde Oloruntoba who spoke to The Guardian on the potentials of the industry said: “As at today, the farm is currently generating 300 direct jobs, which comprises of farm staff, hunters and equipment operators. The industry can also generate over 5000 indirect jobs through its Out-Growers empowerment program. Last year, it empowered 150 local farmers through the office of Kogi State Governor.

He said: “As a catalyst for direct, indirect and general employment, once the rice mill commences operation, the industry will be employing other hundreds of staff, as its plans to run the plant at the maximum capacity on two-session day and night shift per day. Each shift will produce over 50 tons of finished Confluence Rice.

“The Kogi Rice Milling industry, through its processing operation, gives more nutritive food and conserves rice by way of recoveries. It also increases the shelf life of rice.

A water recycling plant could be built in Hampshire in a bid to ease pressure on rivers during a drought.

The new facility, proposed for a site south of Havant, would turn treated wastewater into purified, recycled water.

New underground pipelines could also be built as part of the plans put forward by Southern Water.

The company has said it is developing new sources of water so less is taken from the River Test and River Itchen.

It comes after the firm became the first water company in the UK to announce a hosepipe ban, following the driest July since 1935.

According to the new plans, the water recycled at the plant near Havant would be transferred via a new underground pipeline to the Havant Thicket Reservoir, where it would mix with water from underground springs.

Another new pipeline would then transfer water from the reservoir to the Otterbourne Water Supply Works, where it would be treated further to become drinking water.

The proposals are yet to be approved and further public consultations are planned for next year.

The plans are separate from the approved plans for Havant Thicket Reservoir, Southern Water said.

Councillor Alex Rennie, leader of Havant Borough Council, called for the proposals for the reservoir to be reconsidered after it was revealed it would use recycled water.

As it prepares to expand to serve a population now exceeding 20 million, the Cairo metro has recruited Egypt’s first female train drivers, a novelty in a country where few women have formal jobs.

Since April, commuters on the network’s newest line have seen women take the controls in the driver’s cab, with reactions ranging from raised eyebrows to outright disapproval, according to the two pioneers.

Egyptian women have had the right to vote and stand for office since 1956, but patriarchal legislation and a male-dominated culture have severely limited personal rights.

The Cairo metro itself provides reserved carriages for women who do not wish to ride with men in an attempt to provide protection against sexual harassment.

Launched in 1987, the Cairo metro is the oldest in the Arab world but it has fallen behind other Arab countries in providing employment opportunities for women.

Moroccan Saida Abad became the first female train driver in Africa and the Arab world in 1999.

Firefighters have managed to stabilise a wildfire that has ravaged vast swathes of land in eastern Spain, allowing officials to lift all remaining evacuation orders.

The blaze, which started on Monday near Bejis in the eastern Valencia region, has destroyed over 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of land and spurred the evacuation of around 2,200 people.

Reconnaissance flights on Sunday showed it “no longer had any active fronts”¨and can be considered “stabilised”, regional interior minister Gabriela Bravo told reporters.

Firefighters said reduced winds, cooler overnight temperatures and higher humidity levels had allowed them to contain the blaze.

But Bravo cautioned that temperatures were still forecast to be high on Monday, with strong winds that could rekindle the blaze.

Earlier on Sunday Valencia regional president Ximo Puig said all remaining evacuees could return to their homes.

“Now is the time to return to normality, with caution,” he said.

Local officials had on Saturday already lifted evacuation orders in two villages, Bejis and Toras, because the threat from the flames had diminished.

About 20 aircraft were deployed to battle the blaze on Sunday, compared to 42 the day before.

Another major wildfire which broke out last Saturday some 200 kilometres (125 miles) further south in the Vall de Ebo was brought under control on Sunday, Puig said.

It has ravaged some 12,000 hectares of woods, bushes and farmland.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit fire damage on Monday with Puig, the premier’s office said in a statement.

The blazes are among the almost 400 to have broken out in Spain so far this year amid a series of punishing heatwaves and long dry spells that have devastated more than 283,000 hectares of land, more than three times the total area destroyed in 2021.

Areas of neighbouring Portugal have likewise suffered devastation.

The death toll has climbed to at least 43 from wildfires that have raged for days in northern Algeria, with numbers expected to rise further, the gendarmerie said Monday.

Thirteen people have been arrested over suspicion of involvement in starting the fires, it added.

“The latest toll of victims from the fires increased to 43,” from 38 recorded two days earlier, the gendarmerie command said on state radio.

Fires had swept through 14 wilayas, or administrative councils, in the north of the country, with most concentrated in the northeastern El Tarf region near the border with Tunisia.

The gendarmerie, which operates under the defence ministry, added that they are still working on identifying the bodies of the victims.

The death toll is expected to increase, it said, despite earlier reports that the fires had mostly been contained.

Civil protection services said some 31 fires were put out in various parts of the North African country between Saturday and Sunday.

More than 1,000 families were evacuated from various districts over the past few days, the civil defence’s Colonel Boualem Boughlef said on Saturday.

The fires, which have become a yearly fixture due to climate change, have devastated thousands of hectares (acres) of woodland in the mostly-desert country.

Fires last year killed at least 90 people and seared 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of forest and farmland in the north.

The extreme heat and drought that has been roasting a vast swath of southern China for at least 70 straight days has no parallel in modern record-keeping in China, or elsewhere around the world for that matter.

More than 260 weather stations saw their highest-ever temperatures during the long-running heat wave, according to state media reports.

It has coincided with a severe drought that has shriveled rivers and lakes and throttled back some of China’s hydropower production.

This has led the government to cut power to Sichuan’s key industrial hubs, an emergency measure extended on Aug. 21.

Gao reached 110.3°F (43.5°C) while Jianyang and Zigong hit 110.1°F (43.4°C), according to Meteo France meteorologist Etienne Kapikian.

The all-time high temperature of 105.8°F (41°C) in Mianyang on Sunday broke the previous record by 4°F, an unusually large margin for such a milestone.

On Saturday, Chongqing, whose city center is home to 9 million, saw an overnight low temperature that was a few degrees hotter than its typical August daytime high, at 94.8°F (34.9°F).

If verified, it would be the hottest overnight minimum temperature anywhere in China during August, according to weather historian Maximiliano Herrera.

In Beibei, the temperature hit 113°F (45°C) on Aug. 19 and 20, the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in the country outside of Xinjiang.

Threat level: This heat wave has also set records for its geographic reach, with nearly 530,000 square miles within China seeing high temperatures exceed 104°F (40°C).

This is equivalent to the states of Texas, Colorado and California combined.

In China, such a footprint encompasses well over 100 million people.

What they’re saying: “I can’t think of anything comparable to China’s heat wave of summer 2022 in its blend of intensity, duration, geographic extent, and number of people affected,” meteorologist Bob Henson, a contributor to Yale Climate Connections, told Axios.

Henson noted the simultaneous extreme heat events and droughts also occurring this summer in Europe, East Africa and the U.S.

“We know that when drought happens, a warming climate accentuates the impacts, parching the landscape and allowing temperatures to rise even further. We’ve seen the drought-and-heat playbook in action across the Northern Hemisphere this summer,” Henson said.

The bottom line: The human and economic tolls from this event are serious and will become clearer with time. For one, the drought and extreme heat are further slowing China’s economic growth.