BREAKING: Buhari Presides Over Security Meeting

68 Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging

721 Odo of Aquitaine defeats a Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse

1549 Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England

1815 End of the Congress of Vienna: New European political situation is set

1977 Silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain celebrated with fireworks

2019 Over 1 million people protest in Hong Kong over proposed new extradition laws to China in one of largest-ever protests in the city

Historical Events Today

Today in Film & TV

1934 1st appearance of Donald Duck in a cartoon, “The Wise Little Hen”

Today in Music

1924 “Jelly-Roll Blues” is recorded by American jazz pioneer pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton

Today in Sport

1973 105th Belmont: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 2:24, becoming the 1st Triple Crown winner in 25 years

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1902 1st Automat restaurant opens at 818 Chestnut St, Philadelphia

1650 The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. First legal corporation in the Americas.

INEC Announces Date For Submission Of Presidential Candidates, Running Mates

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June 9, 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pegged the deadline for the submission of list of Presidential candidates and their running mates by political parties at June 17.

The Commission warned the dedicated portal for the submission of list of candidates for national elections will automatically shut down at 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 17th June 2022.

However for governorship and House of Assembly elections, the list of candidates shall be uploaded from 1st to 15th July 2022.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave the hint at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Thursday.

The Commission stressed further that only names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted.

Yakubu said: “All primaries end today Thursday 9th June 2022. For the next one week from tomorrow 10th June 2022, all Political Parties are required to submit their list of candidates for national elections (Presidential/Vice Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives) latest by Friday 17th June 2022.

UK Government Sends Queen Elizabeth Music Box To Celebrate Jubilee

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June 9, 2022

Britain’s government sent Queen Elizabeth a specially-commissioned musical box to mark her platinum jubilee, depicting on its lid the black front door of the Prime Minister’s Number 10 Downing Street office.

The 96 year-old monarch celebrated 70 years on the British throne with an extended public holiday and a series of events that culminated on Sunday in an appearance on the balcony of her palace after a colourful and eccentric pageant in London.

In line with tradition, the government marked the occasion of the Jubilee with a gift, details of which were announced on Thursday.

The platinum mounted, enamel-on-copper musical box also featured portraits of the 14 British prime ministers she has met during her reign. When opened it plays Handel’s ‘Hallelujah’.

“On the inside lid, an inscription including the names of the Cabinet can be found as a token gesture to illustrate their unwavering admiration and respect for her dedication and service to her people and her beloved Commonwealth,” the prime minister’s office said.

Food safety and what Nigerians need to know

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June 9, 2022

A nutritionist, Dr. Mary Mgbekem, has urged Nigerians to seek more knowledge about food safety, noting that the knowledge would help protect them from the risk of food-borne illnesses.

Citing data from the World Health Organisation, the nutritionist stated that unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances can cause more than 200 different diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers,

Speaking with journalist, in commemoration of the 2022 World Food Safety Day on Tuesday, Dr. Mgbekem, who is an Associate Professor, Department of Nursing Science, University of Calabar, Cross River State, said food safety can only make sense when one understands the meaning of food.

The nutritionist noted that food can be regarded as fuel for human life.

She noted that humans can’t live without food and that without it, “our bodies simply can not survive.”

Food safety, the diet expert, said refers to the routines in the preparation, handling, and storage of food meant to prevent foodborne illness and injury, stressing that food offers so much more beyond being an essential requirement for life.

World Food Safety Day is celebrated annually on 7 June to draw attention to and mobilise action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks and improve human health.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is, “Safer food, better health” which highlights the role that safe and nutritional food plays in ensuring human health.

Food safety, nutrition, and food security are inextricably linked, according to the World Health Organisation.

The global health body says an estimated 600 million – almost one in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year, resulting in the loss of 33 million healthy life years.

Dr. Mgbekem explained that from the farm through transportation, handling, preparation, and consumption, food products could encounter any number of health hazards during their journey through the supply chain.

“Food safety is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness.

“The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak”, she noted.

WHO says safe food is one of the most critical guarantors of good health.

“Unsafe foods are the cause of many diseases and contribute to other poor health conditions, such as impaired growth and development, micronutrient deficiencies, non-communicable or communicable diseases, and mental illness.

“Globally, one in ten people are affected by foodborne diseases annually,” WHO says.

Giving insight into the importance of food safety, Dr. Mgbekem said, “Bacteria destroy nutrients in food as the food goes bad, for example, some of the food become soggy, sour, bitter or tasteless.

“Secondly, when bacteria gain entrance into the body, they destroy body organs and cause illnesses or foodborne illness.

“Thirdly, some infections may eventually lead to death. Finally, there may be a waste of money on drugs and hospitalisation.”

The nutritionist said access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food was key to sustaining life and promoting good health.

She pointed out that some practices make food unsafe for consumption in Nigeria, noting that people should avoid them.

Some of the practices, she said, include the cross-contamination of food through the use of equipment.

“For instance, the use of equipment for different purposes. For example, a knife used for cutting meat, fish, onion, and vegetables can lead to the transfer of harmful bacteria.

“Poor kitchen hygiene, poor personal hygiene, and poor food storage/ preservation”, she added.

Listing ways of ensuring food safety, the nutritionist said home managers, caterers, and food vendors should ensure proper personal hygiene, especially hand washing under running water before food preparation.

She also urged them to go for a routine medical examination to prevent foodborne diseases.

Dr. Mgbekem also stressed the need to maintain good environmental sanitation in the food preparation areas.

Data from the WHO shows that access to safe and healthy food is a necessity for everyone.

It stated that food safety is important because it helps to reduce the risk of diseases and deaths caused by unsafe food consumption, adding that it also help reduce the burden of financial losses due to foodborne illnesses (such as typhoid, hepatitis A, diarrhoea, and dysentery)

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says foodborne illness (sometimes called food poisoning, foodborne disease, or foodborne infection) is common, costly—and preventable.

Kyiv Theater Reopens, Plays Sell Out: ‘You Continue Living’

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June 9, 2022

A theater in Ukraine’s capital reopened for the first time since Russian forces invaded the country, and tickets quickly sold out.

Theater on Podil was the latest cultural institution in Kyiv to resume operations. Movie theaters and the National Opera opened their doors at the end of May.

“We were wondering how it would be, whether spectators would come during the war, whether they think at all about theater,” said one of the actors, Yuriy Felipenko. “And we were happy that the first three plays were sold out.”

Filipenko said the theater was putting on plays with just a few actors.

His colleague Kostya Tomlyak had hesitated to perform in wartime. But the influx of people returning to Kyiv since hostilities there have lessened persuaded him that it’s necessary “to learn how to live during the war, to live with theater, cinema, cafes. You continue living, although you don’t forget that there is the war.”

Russian forces withdrew from their offensive on the Ukrainian capital in early April, refocusing on the eastern region of the Donbas.

“The main question is how actors can be helpful,” Tomlyak said.

Founded in 1987, the Theater on Podil long has been one of the most popular in Kyiv. In 2017, it moved to a new modern building equipped with state-of-the-art scenery.

Eating egg daily could reduce risk of stroke, heart attack – Study

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June 9, 2022

A new study has posited that eating at least an egg a day could help reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

The new study conducted by researchers from Peking University, Beijing, and reported in Life Sciences, a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal, stated that eating an egg a day cuts the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

The researchers say they found that participants who ate a whole egg every day had higher levels of healthy proteins and good cholesterol in their blood, adding that this also helped to lower levels of bad cholesterol.

The study was performed on 4,778 Chinese adults aged between 30 – 79, according to report.

According to the Daily Mail UK report, participants were asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire about their food consumption in the past 12 months.

The questionnaire also included questions about how often they consumed foods like eggs, rice, wheat, meat, poultry, fish, fresh vegetables, fruits, and dairy products.

They were asked if they ate eggs never/rarely, one-to-three days a week, four-to-six days a week, or daily.

The average score was eating eggs on 2.6 days of the week.

The participants were then subjected to a blood test. The researchers found that people who ate between four and seven eggs per week had high levels of APOA1.

APOA1 is a building block of high-density lipoprotein, the ‘good cholesterol’ that carries the fatty substance to the liver to be broken down.

The scientists also said they identified 14 proteins linked to heart disease, some of which helped protect the disease and some of which contributed to it.

They reported that the participants who ate fewer eggs were found to have lower levels of the beneficial proteins and high levels of the harmful ones, compared to people who ate eggs more frequently.

Professor Canqing Yu, an expert in epidemiology and public health at the Chinese university, who led the study said the findings provide a potential explanation for why moderate egg consumption was good for cardiovascular health.

“Egg consumption is associated with several metabolic markers, which may partially explain the protective effect of moderate egg consumption on cardiovascular disease,” she said.

The researchers however stated that more study is needed to confirm their findings.

According to Mayo Clinic – a medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research, a person’s cholesterol levels are an important measure of their heart health. For HDL cholesterol or “good” cholesterol, higher levels are better.

Explaining what good cholesterol is, the non-profit medical centre said, “High-density lipoprotein cholesterol is often referred to as “good” cholesterol.

“HDL picks up excess cholesterol in your blood and takes it back to your liver where it’s broken down and removed from your body.”

Stop consuming adulterated Milk products, Cereals, others – Nutritionist warns Nigerians

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June 9, 2022

pouring milk into bowl of corn flakes, top view

A nutritionist, Adedotun Owolabi, has cautioned Nigerians against consuming adulterated foods, especially milk, milk products and cereals.

The diet expert also urged Nigerians to purchase their foods from known vendors selling genuine products.

Nigerians, he said, should avoid buying foods like milk, milk products, edible oil, sugars, cereals, seasoning cubes, and beverages from bogus sellers, noting that adulterated versions of these food products are now seen more often in the Nigerian market.

The nutritionist was speaking in commemoration of the 2022 World Food Safety Day.

World Food Safety Day is celebrated by the United Nations every June 7 annually. The day is celebrated in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the World Health Organisation and other relevant agencies.

The day, according to the UN is celebrated to “draw attention to and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.”

The UN estimated that 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses are reported annually.

“Unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalised people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict, and migrants.

“An estimated 420,000 people around the world die every year after eating contaminated food and children under five years of age carry 40 per cent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125,000 deaths every year,” the UN stated.

The WHO had also warned that “chemical contamination can lead to acute poisoning or long-term diseases, such as cancer. Many foodborne diseases may lead to long-lasting disability and death.”

Speaking further with our correspondent, the Nutrition Security expert said consuming adulterated foods could result in food-borne diseases and other serious health risks.

He said, “if you consume unsafe foods, you are unsafe. When your food is not safe, it cannot be nutritious.”

He disclosed that more fake food products are being discovered in markets by officials of regulatory agencies, stressing that all Nigerians should be alert to the increase in the numbers of charlatan traders selling these products.

These adulterated foods, Owolabi said, are contaminated with dangerous chemicals during handling, processing, and transportation.

Owolabi stressed that poor food handling at home could also put people at risk of food-borne diseases.

“At home also, food safety rules regularly flaunted are inadequate refrigeration of foods, prolonged handling and improper reheating of cooked food, and food contamination by commercial or household food handlers also puts people at risk of diseases also.

“An example of how foods are contaminated is when contaminated raw and undercooked meat products and milk are consumed. This can transmit E. Coli to the consumers, and this can be a major cause of both bloody and non-bloody diarrhoea. The recommendation is to cook all meat properly.

“Also, L. monocytogenes found in various raw and processed foods, such as milk and cheese, meat, sea foods, and fish can be harmful to vulnerable target groups such as pregnant women, newborn babies, and the elderly,” he said.

New drug trial shows 100% success rate in rectal Cancer treatment

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June 9, 2022

A team of researchers in the United States has reported that a new experimental drug has shown shocking results of a 100 per cent success rate in the treatment of patients who have rectal cancer.

The researchers who are doctors disclosed this in a small trial study report that they recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

According to a report published by New York Times, the researchers in their findings disclosed that cancer completely disappeared in all patients who were part of the study.

They reported that they were unable to detect any trace of cancer in the bodies of the study participants, even after carrying out a series of physical exams, endoscopies, PET scans, and MRI scans.

The study comprised 16 individuals who were administered Dostarlimab intravenously, at a dose of 500 mg every three weeks for half a year.

Dostarlimab is a monoclonal antibody used as a medication for the treatment of endometrial cancer. It is an experimental drug in the class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors. It works by attaching to a protein called PD-1 on the surface of cancer cells, this aids the immune system to identify and attack cancer.

Of the 16 patients in the study, 12 completed treatment with Dostarlimab and have undergone at least six months of follow-up while the remaining four patients have received at least one dose of the drug and continue to receive treatment.

Patients were considered for the study only if they were 18 years and above. Other eligibility conditions included no previous receipt of immunotherapy, chemotherapy, or radiation for the rectal tumour and no active autoimmune disease and active infectious disease.

The doctors while noting that the study is investigator-initiated research, however, noted that a longer follow-up is required to gauge the duration of response.

According to the New York Times report, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said he was not aware of any other study in which a treatment totally removed cancer in all patients.

He said, “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer.”

Alexandre Lacazette: Arsenal Forward Re-Signs For Lyon Five Years After Leaving

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