Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, visited Lagos State, Nigeria’s South-west on Tuesday for his first major inspection tour of federal projects in the state.

The site visitation started at outer Marina Road in Victoria Island, a project constructed under the SUKUK financing option by the Federal Government.

He then moved to the newly rehabilitated Eko Bridge, where he was briefed by officials of the ministries and contractors handling the project.

As of press time, the minister is also expected to inspect the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the reconstructed Apapa Oshodi Expressway, the Deep Sea Ports, and other Federal Government projects on the Lagos and Ogun corridor.

According to the scorecard released by the Ministry of Works and Housing towards the end of the previous administration, a total of 8,352.94 km of roads were constructed or rehabilitated between 2016 and 2022.

Lagos Blue Line Rail transport will commence full commercial operations from Monday September 4th, 2023.

This is coming from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Gboyega Akosile.

It will move passengers on return journey from Mile 2 to Marina.

Lagos Rail Mass Transit is a rapid transit system in Lagos State.

The rail system is managed by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

The railway equipment including electric power, signals, rolling stock, and fare collection equipment will be provided by the private sector under a concession contract.

LAMATA is responsible for policy direction, regulation, and infrastructure for the network.

The first section of the network, Phase I of the Blue Line, was originally planned to be completed in 2011, though the construction has suffered many delays caused by shortage of funds and change of government.

In February 2021, the Lagos State Government announced that the Blue and Red Lines would be open by December 2022 but Blue Line is now planned to open in September 4, 2023.

Wallblake House is a heritage plantation house which serves also as a museum annex, located on the British overseas territory island of Anguilla.

As one of the oldest buildings on the island, it has been built in 1787 by Will Blake who was a sugar planter.

It is clear that the house has been built then because of a brick placed in the northern side of the old kitchen and bakery on which the date was carved and it is still faintly visible.

Probably in 1790s, the French have destroyed the house, however the British have rebuilt it and today has been fully restored with its kitchen complex, stables and slave quarters.

The roof of the house if formed with Guyanese hardwood, which is shingled with wooden upper section.

The house has been completely refurbished in 2004 with an official cost of around $92,000, which made it one of the ten places to be seen and popular on the island.

Even though it is a private house, serving as a living quarters for the priest from Saint Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church, people can go in and see the premises, and from time to time serves as a museum annex and venue for art shows, flower shops and marriage receptions.

Airlines in the United States canceled more than 1,000 flights on Wednesday as Hurricane Idalia slammed into the Big Bend region of Florida, but the storm’s power ebbed as it headed toward Georgia.

Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) canceled more than 220 flights, while Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) canceled 157 flights, as of 12 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.

Airports at Tampa, Clearwater and Tallahassee shut down operations and were monitoring the status of the storm.

Drawing strength from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, Idalia unleashed destructive winds and torrential downpours that were forecast to cause coastal flooding up to 16 feet (5 m) deep along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Idalia grew from a tropical storm into a hurricane early on Tuesday, a day after passing west of Cuba, where it damaged homes, knocked out power, flooded villages and prompted mass evacuations.

“With Tampa Airport closing at midnight Tuesday, we canceled everything there through at least afternoon today and we’re awaiting a decision from the airport as to when it will re-open to commercial service,” Southwest Airlines said on Wednesday.

The airline also ceased operations for the day at Jacksonville International Airport.

American Airlines (AAL.O) said it had suspended operations at multiple airports in Florida including Tampa, Sarasota and Tallahassee, and canceled 167 flights as of Wednesday morning.

Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday slammed into the Big Bend region of Florida, where millions of residents had evacuated or hunkered down in anticipation of a dangerous surge of tidal water, but the storm’s power ebbed as it headed toward Georgia.

Drawing strength from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, Idalia unleashed destructive winds and torrential downpours that were forecast to cause coastal flooding up to 16 feet (5 m) deep along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Idalia came ashore at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT) at Keaton Beach, a town of 13,000 people in Taylor County, in the center of the Big Bend region, where the state’s northern panhandle curves into the Florida Peninsula.

“It’s just ripping through Taylor County now. Hope all is safe,” County Commissioner Jamie English said by telephone. “Winds gusting. Terrible power outages all over. Debris flying everywhere.”

The storm’s most dangerous feature would be a powerful surge of wind-driven surf that is expected to flood low-lying areas along the coast, officials said.

Surge warnings were posted for hundreds of miles of shoreline, from Sarasota to the western end of Apalachicola Bay. In some areas, the surge could rise as high as 16 feet, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

“If you end up with a storm surge that even approaches 16 feet, the chances of surviving that are not great,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said. “You would need to be in a three-story building because it is going to rise very, very high.”

There were few early reports of flooding available. By midmorning, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitoring station in Steinhatchee, 20 miles (32 km) south of Keaton, showed waters reaching 8 feet, well above the 6-foot flood stage. Stations in the more densely populated Tampa area showed water levels at a “minor flooding” stage at 10 a.m.

Archaeologists are monitoring a York hotel’s building works to prevent the loss of any Roman burial finds.

The Ibis Hotel on The Mount is constructing an extension, but planners said the site is close to a Roman road and previous cemetery finds.

Roman burials were usually located beside roads outside a town’s boundary wall.

Any finds indicating burials would be fully recorded and investigated but would be left in position.

SRC Construction and Paving Ltd received planning permission for a 16 bedroom extension at The Ibis Hotel, subject to archaeologists monitoring the works.

A Roman legionary fortress was established in York in AD71 and developed into the town known as Eboracum.

“The settlement persisted into a city during the medieval period, receiving a circuit of walls which corresponds approximately to the surviving walls of the modern city, and which lies approximately 0.7km to the northeast of the site,” planning documents state.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the hotel is close to an old Roman road which ran from the city to Tadcaster.

“Its exact alignment is unknown, but it is believed to follow along or close to the line of Blossom Street and The Mount and probably within 50m of the site.”

They said the hotel lies northeast of one Roman cemetery and could be “part of a larger cemetery, or a series of cemeteries” either side of the Roman road.

“In 2005-2006 extensive excavations took place to the southwest and southeast of 89 The Mount in advance of redevelopment and revealed several burials, including an in situ stone sarcophagus coffin.”

As a result, the documents stated: “Should significant archaeological remains be identified, a full programme of archaeological excavation and recording may be required.”

The biggest and brightest Moon of the year will be visible on Wednesday and Thursday from around the world.

It will be a rare chance to see what is known as a blue supermoon – the last one was in 2009.

A blue Moon happens when the pattern of days in a year means there are 13 full Moons instead of the usual 12.

If the skies are clear, the best time to see the spectacle in the UK will be in early hours of Thursday morning.

This blue Moon is also known as a supermoon and will appear larger and brighter than usual. That is because the Moon is near the closest point in its orbit around Earth.

But anyone hoping to see the Moon tinged the colour blue will be disappointed.

The name of the Moon has nothing to do with colour but instead is so called because it does not fall in the usual scheme of named Moons.

Cultures around the world including Native American societies give names to full Moons.

A full Moon generally occurs once a month, meaning that an average year has 12. But the phases of the Moon actually take 29.5 days to complete, or 354 days for 12 cycles.

That falls short of the 365/366 days in a calendar year, so roughly every two and half years, a 13th full Moon is seen.

It is thought that the rarity is where the phrase “once in a blue Moon” may come from.

The last blue Moon was in August 2021 and the next one will be in 2026.

But the combination of a blue Moon and super Moon is much rarer and we will have to wait until 2037 to see it again.