South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize has been placed on special leave over a corruption scandal involving an irregular government contract where $11 million was paid to a company connected to two people who used to work for him.
The move was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a statement from his office, stating that Mkhize was placed on special leave from his job to attend to allegations and investigations around the issue
Zweli Mkhize has been spearheading the COVID-19 response in South Africa, which reportedly has the most cases and deaths in Africa.
South Africa’s Special Investigative Unit is still probing the contract and hasn’t released a report, although Mkhize’s own health department has already found that the contract was “irregular.”
Mkhize has denied that he personally benefited from the contract and claimed he wasn’t involved in its awarding.
Mkhize’s former personal assistant and former spokeswoman are now connected to the Digital Vibes company, which was paid the money to organize media briefings for the minister during the coronavirus pandemic
There are new allegations that Mkhize’s son personally benefitted from the contract and it is one of multiple corruption scandals that have tainted the South African government’s virus response.
In the meantime, South Africa’s minister of tourism would step in as acting health minister,
Former Nigerian President Good luck Jonathan has held a meeting with the head of Mali’s junta Colonel Assimi Goita in Bamako in a desperate attempt to save the country’s fragile transition.
The trip was Jonathan’s second in two weeks who is ECOWAS’ envoy for Mali. Goita has vowed to stick to the old transition schedule, which prescribes elections next February.
Goita was sworn in Monday as the country’s President, two weeks after he removed transitional President Bah Ndaw, attracting suspension and condemnation by the African Union.
the commitment of ECOWAS has accompanied the transition process so that elections are held according to the schedule that has already been established by the Malian authorities.
The Sahel country’s second coup in nine months threatens to upset a return to civilian rule. Activists and political parties have warned that the army is keen on dominating power with little interest in a democratic dispensation.
A new English Heritage exhibition unveiled on Wednesday aims to shine a light on figures traditionally forgotten by England’s cultural history.
Painting our Past: The African Diaspora in England draws together new portraits of six historical figures – spanning Roman Britain to the 20th Century – that reflect the long history of African people in England.
The figures include Septimius Severus, an African-born Roman emperor who strengthened Hadrian’s Wall, and James Chappell, a black 17th Century servant at Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire who saved the life of the then owner, Sir Christopher Hatton.
The paintings are on display at the English Heritage-linked forts, abbeys, historic houses and barracks where these individuals lived, visited or worked. This includes the return of the portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria’s African goddaughter, to Osborne House, Victoria’s seaside home on the Isle of Wight.
Anna Eavis, English Heritage’s curatorial director, said: “African figures from the past have played significant roles at some of the historic sites in our care but many of their stories are not very well known.
“Placing their portraits on the walls of those sites is one way we hope to bring their stories to life and share them with a wider audience.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, says her country has facilitated 28 million dollars scholarships for Nigerian students to study in U.S institutions in the past one year.
Leonard said this on Thursday at the commemoration of the Student Visa Day organised by the U.S Mission in Abuja.
She said that the scholarship process was facilitated by the Education U.S.A programme of the embassy which was keen on enabling Nigerian students pursue their academics and a future in the U.S.
The Ambassador said with over 13,700 students fulfilling their American education dreams, the United States welcomed more Nigerian students enrolled than ever before.
She added that Americans view university study as an investment in a professional future.
Leonard expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Education USA team which she says has helped Nigerian students apply for and receive more than 28 million dollars in scholarships and other educational funding to pursue their future.
She recognised the tremendous community impact that results when these ambitious students return to apply their knowledge and skills, as a result of the over 8,000 education and exchange programme alumni in Nigeria.
The envoy also noted that beyond studying in the U.S, the programme provides the opportunity for Nigerian students to meet with U.S citizens and other nationals which will help in strengthening bilateral ties.
She said that with more than one million students from 220 countries and territories, the United States hosts more international students than any other country in the world.
Clean and natural makeup is a category many love right now. In the last several years, brands have really stepped up their game, gone are the days of underperforming formulas and lackluster hues. Clean makeup options range from the bold and pigmented to elegant washes of color. And the formulas have efficacy and staying power. Truly, if you have not made the switch to clean makeup, I sincerely don’t know what you are waiting for.
Ladies these days always love the feel of a clean, effortless glowy makeup; here are some easy expert’s tips for a refreshing and easy glow:
Find your go-to products
If you’re hesitant to try clean makeup brands for fear they will not hold up to their traditional counterparts makeup experts say to just experiment.
Embrace “Imperfections.”
Many wear makeup to primarily cover up any perceived flaws. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to tend to these areas with makeup but embracing skin that is not perfect is fast becoming acceptable and is here to stay. One positive side of social media has allowed for body positivity for all kinds of outliers like blemishes or birthmarks are not seen as imperfections. a lot of brands have made it cool to not need to cover up your face with foundation or concealer. The makeup is not about perfecting the skin but it’s about the artistry of drawing on your face.
Get clean Mascara.
Adding a layer of mascara can help brighten and open up the eyes, as well as make them appear larger. There is a lot of good mascara in the market. And there are real reasons to make the switch to clean, especially for mascara: Research has shown that using clean eye products may be the most critical. This is because the eye area has been shown to most readily absorb the chemicals that come into contact with the area. One study found that participants who used traditional mascaras had significantly higher levels of endocrine disrupters, like parabens and phthalates, in their systems.
Use multiuse Balm
It is advice to get a clean lip balm in particular because it’s something that you’re usually putting on a couple of times a day. While you’re at it, find a clean option that can achieve multiple purposes.
So just find something that looks good on you and that you like, and then just swipe on your cheeks, swipe on your eyes swipe on your lip. And it’s so easy to wear. It’s totally great on your pocket.
Embrace Shine.
In the age of video calls and social media photos, shine is your friend: It helps add dimension and glow. You can really load it up and you can’t go wrong—you want to lean into highlighter or lean into it if you have a lot of natural face oil. If you have oily skin, use it, enjoy it, and embrace it! And for those of who have dry skin, it is advice to use Skin Food.
Just put them on the high plains of your face, bridge of your nose, and your Cupid’s bow.
So there you have it, just go right ahead and GLOW
A 1933 Double Eagle, America’s last gold coin struck for circulation, sold for a record-shattering $18.9m at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Tuesday, and the world’s rarest stamp raked in a whopping $8.3m.
The coin, the only 1933 Double Eagle ever allowed to be privately owned, was expected to pull in somewhere along the lines of $10m to $15m at the auction but sold for far beyond that.
With a face value of $20, the Double Eagle was the last gold coin produced for intended circulation in America.
But it was never issued as President Franklin D Roosevelt withdrew the US from the gold standard, in an effort to lift the country from depression.
Most of the coins were then destroyed and declared illegal to own – with the exception of the one sold on Tuesday.
It had belonged for a time to King Farouk of Egypt, and was later seized in a secret service sting operation in New York City.
On Tuesday, the privately owned 1933 Double Eagle coin was sold by American shoe designer and collector Stuart Weitzman to a bidder whose identity has not been revealed.
The Double Eagle has an image of Liberty on one side and an American eagle on the other.
The coin also smashed records the only time it previously came to the market, 19 years ago.
Sotheby’s said that on Tuesday, Weitzman also auctioned off a British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp, issued in 1856, for $8.3m. That price solidifies the stamp’s position as the most valuable in the world.
The world leading arts broker is quoted as saying “No stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, a unique yet unassuming penny issue from 1856, which has been heralded as the pinnacle of stamp collecting for more than a century,”.
Weitzman bought the precious stamp in 2014 for $9.5m.
In line with the tradition of its past owners, Weitzman made his mark: a line drawing of a stiletto shoe and his initials.
Sotheby’s says the buyers of both the 1933 Double Eagle and the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp wished to remain anonymous.
In addition, a plate block of the 24-cent “Inverted Jenny” stamps, issued in 1918 for the first US airmail letters, sold for $4.9m, making them the most valuable US stamps.
The Inverted Jenny, which was last sold at auction some 26 years ago for $2.9m, has a unique printing error in which its biplane design appears to be upside down.
The auction house described it as “the most well-known and sought-after American stamp rarity”.
Sotheby’s revealed that the stamp block was bought by David Rubenstein, a co-founder of private equity company The Carlyle Group.
Thirty serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have emerged as winners in the fifth edition of Unity Bank Plc’s flagship business plan competition, Corpreneurship Challenge, which held across ten states last week.
The 30 winners who won cash prizes totalling N10 million emerged during the final business pitch in the fifth edition of the contest for NYSC 2021 Batch A Stream II Orientation Course, which took place simultaneously across ten NYSC camps in Lagos, Ogun, Benin, Abuja and Akwa Ibom.
Other NYSC camps where winners emerged also included Ogun, Kano, Sokoto, Enugu and Osun. As in the previous editions, the cash prizes included a N200,000 business grant for each of the second runner ups; N300,000 business grant for the first runner ups and a star prize of N500,000 for each of the ten winners.
Some of the winners included Monday Love Sheba, Adeoye Janet and Essien Nsikak in Bayelsa camp, while Agu Ogechukwu Lilian, Obichukwu Victor and Abiona Elizabeth emerged as the winners in the Akwa Ibom State camp.
In Ogun, Olisa Sofia, Chiamaka Goldleen and Ifeanyi Onoh emerged winners to claim the cash prizes. Ekpenyong Paul Gabriel also emerged as the winner in Sokoto.
The initiative attracted interest among the corps members, as over 1000 applications were received but only 100 were shortlisted for the pitching session from which the thirty winners emerged.
The contestants’ business plans which ranged from fashion, fish production, poultry farming, retail chains, piggery to beverages were assessed on originality, marketability, future employability potential of the product and knowledge of the business.
Recall that Unity Bank debuted the Entrepreneurial Development Initiative in 2019, to specifically target corps members, as part of efforts to contribute to job creation in Nigeria. The initiative has produced 48 winners since 2019 when it debuted.
Speaking during the finale in Akwa Ibom NYSC camp, the Divisional Head, Retail, SME Banking and E-Business Directorate, Unity Bank Plc, Olufunwa Akinmade, said the competition has proved to have a great impact on youth empowerment in the country.
It is no longer news that smoking has terrible side effects on the smokers but what is more worrisome are the effects of smoking on nonsmoker, this is known as Secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke breathed out by smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer
Recently, the World Health organisation’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said tobacco kills half of its users every year and about 1.2 million non-smokers die from exposure to tobacco smoke.
Moeti stated this in her message to the international community to commemorate the 2021 ‘World No Tobacco Day’. She said tobacco harms nearly every organ in the human body adding that smoking one cigarette a day can seriously harm a person’s health.
She further explained that tobacco can lead to lung, mouth, throat, oesophagus, stomach, bowel and other cancers and it increases the risk of chest and lung infections, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other conditions.
So what exactly are the risks of being exposure to secondhand smoke
Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Smoking during pregnancy results in more than 1,000 infant deaths annually. Some of the health conditions caused by secondhand smoke in adults include coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.
Secondhand Smoke Causes Cardiovascular Disease
Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke.
Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30%.
Secondhand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20−30%.
Breathing secondhand smoke can have immediate adverse effects on your blood and blood vessels, increasing the risk of having a heart attack.
Breathing secondhand smoke interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of having a heart attack.
Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood platelets to become stickier. These changes can cause a deadly heart attack.
People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk of suffering adverse effects from breathing secondhand smoke and should take special precautions to avoid even brief exposures.
Secondhand Smoke Causes Lung Cancer
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults who have never smoked.
Non smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20–30%.
Secondhand smoke causes more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers.
Even brief secondhand smoke exposure can damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.
As with active smoking, the longer the duration and the higher the level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer.
Secondhand Smoke Causes SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden, unexplained, unexpected death of an infant in the first year of life. SIDS is the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy infants. Secondhand smoke increases the risk for SIDS.
Smoking by women during pregnancy increases the risk for SIDS.
Infants who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at greater risk for SIDS.
Chemicals in secondhand smoke appear to affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infants’ breathing.
Infants who die from SIDS have higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs and higher levels of cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) than infants who die from other causes.
Parents can help protect their babies from SIDS by taking the following three actions:
Do not smoke during pregnancy.
Do not smoke or allow smoking in your home or around your baby.
Place your baby on his or her back for all sleep times—naps and at night.
Secondhand Smoke Harms Children
Secondhand smoke can cause serious health problems in children.
Studies show that older children whose parents smoke get sick more often. Their lungs grow less than children who do not breathe secondhand smoke, and they get more bronchitis and pneumonia.
Wheezing and coughing are more common in children who breathe secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke can trigger an asthma attack in a child. Children with asthma who are around secondhand smoke have more severe and frequent asthma attacks. A severe asthma attack can put a child’s life in danger.
Children whose parents smoke around them get more ear infections. They also have fluid in their ears more often and have more operations to put in ear tubes for drainage.
Parents can help protect their children from secondhand smoke by taking the following actions:
Do not allow anyone to smoke anywhere in or near your home.
Do not allow anyone to smoke in your car, even with the window down.
Make sure your children’s day care centers and schools are tobacco-free.
If your state still allows smoking in public areas, look for restaurants and other places that do not allow smoking. “No-smoking sections” to protect yourself and your family from secondhand smoke.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, has accused entertainers of promoting abuse of women’s bodies by employing vulgar lyrics and depicting female dancers in a most disdainful manner.
Tallen said this while speaking on the theme “My Body is My Own: Claiming the Right to Autonomy and Self-Determination,” at the launch of the State of the World Population 2021 report in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to Tallen, entertainers are frustrating the government’s efforts which include tackling the fear and stigma of survivors of violence, weak community and facility referral systems, lack of counselling services for women and girls and the communities as well as seeking justice for victims.
“It is almost disheartening to note that while we are confronting these obstacles to increase advocacy, the entertainment industry which has a large followership of young minds, continues to indirectly support the abuse of the female body as a sex object through vulgar lyrics and employment of female dancers in compromising customs,” Tallen said.
“This is indeed unacceptable. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to producers and writers to support us so that together we can ensure that Nigerian society is able to guarantee an environment where girls and women are able to make choices about their bodies without the fear of violence or having someone else decide for them.”
The minister promised that the government would continue to provide an enabling environment for the state and non-state actors in the eradication of violence and abuse of women.
Tallen also called on the states that are yet to pass the 2003 Child Rights Act and 2015 Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act which are aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
“This is why we are calling on all the remaining 12 states to domesticate the Child Rights Act of 2003 and the 18 states yet to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, 2015 to immediately do so,” Tallen said.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured several remarkable images of clouds on Mars, a rare occurrence on the Red Planet.
The clouds, which were photographed in March 19, Curiosity’s 3,063rd sol (Martian day) usually only form during the coldest part of the year on Mars’ equator.
The clouds, described as ‘early’ according to the space agency, started forming in early January and are at a higher altitude than normal.
‘Most Martian clouds hover no more than about 37 miles (60 kilometers) in the sky and are composed of water ice,’ NASA wrote in a statement. ‘But the clouds Curiosity has imaged are at a higher altitude, where it’s very cold, indicating that they are likely made of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice.
‘Scientists look for subtle clues to establish a cloud’s altitude, and it will take more analysis to say for sure which of Curiosity’s recent images show water-ice clouds and which show dry-ice ones.’
It’s unclear at what altitude these clouds formed above the Martian surface.
The Curiosity rover also discovered that noctilucent (twilight clouds that change in brightness) and iridescent (mother of pearl clouds that change in color) exist on the planet.
‘Noctilucent clouds grow brighter as they fill with crystals, then darken after the Sun’s position in the sky drops below their altitude,’ NASA explained.
The space agency added that the brightness of the clouds allows scientists to figure out how high they are.
Iridescent clouds are some of the most colorful — reds, greens, blues and purples are not uncommon — on the Red Planet and can be seen with the naked eye.
‘If you see a cloud with a shimmery pastel set of colors in it, that’s because the cloud particles are all nearly identical in size,’ said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. ‘That’s usually happening just after the clouds have formed and have all grown at the same rate.’
‘It’s really cool to see something shining with lots of color on Mars,’ Lemmon added.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has made a number of exciting discoveries since landing on the Red Planet inside the Gale Crater.
Earlier this month, scientists pouring over data sent back from Curiosity found that organic, or carbon-containing, salts are likely present on Mars, which the agency says are chemical remnants of organic compounds.
In November 2020, researchers examined sediment data taken by the Curiosity rover and found that floods of unimaginable magnitude washed through Gale Crater around 4 billion years ago, raising the possibility life once existed on the Red Planet.
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