The official death toll from the devastating Cyclone Idai in Mozambique is still rising, with 17 more deaths recorded. That brings the total to 518 people since March 31. Accordingto the government, nearly 110,000 houses have also been identified as totally destroyed (59,910), partially destroyed (33,925) or flooded (15,784). More than 146,000 displaced people were sheltering in155 sites across Sofala (116,237 people), Manica (14,047 people), Zambezia (13,203 people) andTete (2,655 people)as of April 1; of whom more than 7,400 were identified as vulnerable, according to the government. The Ministry of Health reported that 1,052 cases of cholera had been recorded,…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
A disturbing report that was presented jointly by the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday finds that around 113 million people in 53 countries including Nigeria, experienced acute food insecurity in 2018, compared to 124 million in 2017. Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, said, “food insecurity remains a global challenge. That’s why, from 2014 to 2020, the EU will have provided nearly €9 billion for initiatives on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in over 60 countries. ‘’Today’s Global Report highlights the…
A seeming hope-inspiring Rael-Science post says artificial wombs are becoming miraculous. The journey to this scientific wonder began In 2017. Then, a team of Australian and Japanese scientists announced a breakthrough that could someday save the lives of countless babies. They used an artificial womb to keep premature lamb fetuses alive and healthy enough for them to be later delivered without serious health complications. This month, that same team announced a leap forward in their technology, now claiming it can keep even extremely premature lambs alive. Their artificial womb is called the ex-vivo uterine environment (EVE) therapy. On its surface, it looks…
A civic group, Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) has punctured some seeming channels of corruption in this year’s budget proposal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. The group is therefore calling on the Executive and the Legislative arms of the Federal Government to promptly review the 2019 budget with a view to eradicating what they described as ‘’the frivolous expenditure lines rife’’ in the budget. Social Action is also tasking the authorities to ‘’plug leakages and eliminate waste by cutting down on security vote. It should importantly also work to cut down the huge shortfall in…
Artificial cells created inside the lab have taken another major step forward, with scientists developing cells that are able to produce their own chemical energy and synthesise parts of their own construction, a Rael-Science post says. That makes these artificial cells a lot more like real, biological cells – cells that can construct and organise their own building blocks naturally. Not only could this help us understand how real cells work and come into being in the first place, it could also be vital for a host of other areas of research – such as ongoing efforts to produce artificial organs and other…
With 29 million customers, 27,000 staff across 592 branches, spanning three continents, and 12 countries, the merger of Access and Diamond banks has produced the largest retail Bank in Africa today by customer base. Stakeholders say the merger created a Nigerian banking powerhouse and a Pan-African financial services champion. Access Bank however, launched her new brand on Monday with 400 branches proudly showcasing the new logo. The visual identity: Fusion (an occasion when two or more things join or are combined; the technique of joining atoms in a reaction that produces energy) The new visual identity fuses together the best of…
Nigeria’s leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to fine-tune the country’s ailing economy with the goal of creating massive jobs for the unemployed youths. The charge came following the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2018 report which listed Nigeria, Venezuela, Iran, Brazil and others among the top 10 miserable countries in the world with Nigeria occupying the sixth position. PDP Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, says his party wants the Buhari administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to shun the thought of a rise in Value Added Tax (VAT), claiming that…
Given her enormous natural and human resources for wealth creation, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State says the big oil state is the best destination for investment in the country, The governor was speakingat a dinner he organised for officials of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) at the Government House, Uyo. While pointing out that there are several industries in the kitty that will soon berth and requested for serious partnership with the investment agency, Governor Udom added, ‘’with viable gateways such as water, air, land and good road infrastructure across the state, there is no business that…
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to save Nigeria from a serious crisis by asserting its independence in concluding the collation process in Rivers State. PDP also wants the electoral agency to respect the will of the people, as expressed at the polls on March 9, by declaring Governor Nyesom Wike as the rightful winner of the election without further delay. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who made this known in a statement said the party is accusing the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami…
A United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reports that deaths on the three main Mediterranean Sea routes have reached 311 individuals, while 11,901 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through March 27. IOM Rome’s Flavio Di Giacomo on Thursday (28/3) reported that a total of 506 migrants have reached Italy by sea in 2019, according to the Ministry of Interior. Since the start of the year, 1,073 migrants have been returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard. IOM Spain reported that 5,537 men, women and children have arrived as irregular migrants since the start…
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency, says they are addressing the humanitarian needs of populations affected by Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe, Malawi, in addition to the ongoing response in Mozambique after an appeal was launched earlier last week. The hardest hit province is Manicaland where Chimanimani and Chipinge districts remain inaccessible due to heavy rains, strong winds, earth sliding which has damaged roads and main access bridges; so far, 181 deaths have been reported since the hit Zimbabwe. Plans were underway to provide technical support for improved Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM). IOM plans to support…
Biafra agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, may be right. About Nigeria… Being a zoo. Some scientists, according to a Rael-Science post, are thinking all human beings are living in a vast computer simulation contrived by an advanced alien intelligence. But not METI scientists. The truth, they say, is much simpler than that. Members of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), a San Francisco-based research organisation, convened in Paris the previous week to discuss aliens. Or rather, the complete and utter lack of them, seemingly anywhere, despite decades of their searching the skies. In a nutshell, this conundrum is known as the Fermi Paradox: the riddle as to why, with billions…
A Rael-Science post says a major advancement in pioneering technology based around the use of an artificial womb to save extremely premature babies is being hailed as a medical and biotechnological breakthrough. The post adds that the breakthrough was recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The study presents world-first data demonstrating the ability of an artificial placenta-based life support platform to maintain extremely preterm lamb fetuses (600 to 700g); equivalent to a human fetus at 24 weeks of gestation. Head of WIRF’s Perinatal Research Laboratories, Associate Professor Matt Kemp, said that whilst previous research had demonstrated the…
Not less than 75,000 pregnant women are caught up in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, with one in 10 is at risk of serious complications that will require skilled delivery care if mother and baby are to survive. Since the storm struck Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe on March 14, their lives hang in the balance. The storm’s high winds and torrential rains caused severe flooding, destroyed infrastructure, forced families from their homes, killed hundreds of people, and cut off access to health care. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is on the ground providing life-saving supplies to ensure clean deliveries and…
A global rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has charged Tunisia to bar entry to or arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is a fugitive from international justice. A Sudanese news source reported on March 21, 2019 that al-Bashir intends to attend the League of Arab States summit, which will be held in Tunisia, a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on March 31. Al-Bashir is sought on two ICC warrants for alleged genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur, Sudan. “Tunisia should demonstrate its commitment to international justice by barring President al-Bashir or arresting him if he sets foot in…
The lives and livelihoods of farmers and fishers in the three Southern African countries hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai are under severe threat, with communities in Mozambique bearing a particularly heavy burden. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday that for a country where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture, keeping animals alive, rehabilitating damaged land and rebooting food production will be critical as the waters recede. Significant swathes of the cropland were flooded on the eve of the April-May maize and sorghum harvest. Most of losses are expected in Mozambique’s Manica and Sofala provinces, which…
The secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) has created a bank account for donations as part of the emergency procedures instituted to help the victims of the devastating Cyclone Idai. Voluntary technical, logistical and financial donations to address the immediate needs of the people to recover are requested. To register interest in making contributions in any currency donations for victims of the cyclone, ACP requests that her secretariat be informed at info@acp.int or contact Dr. Natallie CORRIE-KORDAS, Expert -Humanitarian Matters & Civil Society, T: 02 743 06 38. However, on March 27, UNHCR announced that it had donated relief items from its global…
The seeming delay in the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by member states is currently a matter of serious concern for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). AfCFTA is a trade agreement between 49 African Union member states, with the goal of creating a single market followed by free movement and a single-currency union. It was signed in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018. But, signing the Agreement does not yet establish the African Continental Free Trade Area. It will function as an umbrella to which protocols and annexes will be added. Once all documents are concluded and ratified by 22 states,…
Presently, the Government of Zimbabwe is developing their National Migration Policy with support from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency. They are doing so through the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. Zimbabwe has a long history with cross border mobility and has also witnessed a significant brain drain in the past two decades. Highly-skilled and semi-skilled Zimbabweans emigrated to countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, South Africa and Botswana in search of greener pastures. The country has also witnessed increased internal and border migration resulting in an upsurge in irregular…
Wonderful developments are springing up everywhere. The latest Rael-Science post is simply amazing. Virginia Tech researchers, Margaret Couvillon and Roger Schürch, have recreated the Tower of Babel origin myth of sorts. For them, the genesis of the world’s many languages holds great meaning. The two assistant professors and their teams have decoded the language of honey bees in such a way that will allow other scientists across the globe to interpret the insects’ highly sophisticated and complex communications. In a paper appearing in April’s issue of Animal Behaviour, the researchers present an extraordinary foundational advance—a universal calibration, or for science fiction…
It seems as our collection of resident gut bacteria changes with age, it increasingly produces harmful metabolites that damage veins and blood vessels, driving disease, a new study posted by Rael-Science suggests. But, why do blood vessels naturally stiffen and degrade as we age, boosting cardiovascular disease risk? New University of Colorado Boulder research has identified a surprising new culprit — and it lives in your gut! “This is the first study to show that changes in the gut microbiome with aging have an adverse impact on vascular health,” said lead author Vienna Brunt, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department…
The worrisome plight of the Ogoni people of Nigeria’s Rivers State is currently a matter of serious concern in Europe as the leaders of the minority group are playing up their allegation of ethnic cleansing against the Nigerian government. At the moment, a factional President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People(MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, is in Brussels, Belgium, where he is holding meeting with the leadership of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisations(UNPO), diplomats at the European Commission and non-governmental organisations, pressing for indigenous and minority peoples’ rights. MOSOP Acting Publicity Secretary, Sunny Zorvah, in an…
The official death toll in the Cyclone Idai ravaging Mozambique, has risen by 21 people to 468 deaths as of March 26, with more than 1,500 people injured, according to the Government. Already, 91,000 houses have been identified as totally destroyed (50,619), partially destroyed (24,556) or flooded (15,784); an increase of nearly 19,000 since March 25. The number of people accommodated in 154 sites across Sofala (114 sites), Manica (26 sites), Zambezia (10 sites) and Tete (4 sites)was nearly 128,000 people as of March 26. The authorities have identified more than 7,400 vulnerable people across the IDP sites. Flood waters are beginning to recede west of Beira City. However, the situation remains critical in the area of Mafambisse, according to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The outflow of flood waters poses…
At the current speed of science and technology, humans in no distant future will be replaced by robots. Soon, robots will be sitting in courts as judges to handle matters. Already, a Rael-Science post says the Estonian Ministry of Justice has officially asked Ott Velsberg, the country’s chief data officer, to design a “robot judge” to take care of a backlog of small claims court disputes, Wired reports. The artificial intelligence-powered “judge” is supposed to analyse legal documents and other relevant information and come to a decision. Though a human judge will have an opportunity to revise those decisions, the project is a striking…
In a seeming world first, a Rael-Science post quotes doctors in Sweden as saying they’ve wired a prosthetic hand directly into a woman’s nerves, thus allowing her to move its fingers with her mind and even feel tactile sensations. Those who know better say the hand is an enormous step up from existing prostheses, which often rely on electrodes placed on the outside of the skin, and it could herald a future in which robotic devices interface seamlessly with our bodies. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and biotech firm Integrum AB created the prosthetic hand as part of DeTOP, an ambitious European…
Nigeria’s Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, has landed in a seeming unending worrisome scandals in the Police. This time, Divisional Police Officers across the country are allegedly abusing the rights of citizens in a bid to meet their target levy for their big boss. Two children of the police chief are said to be preparing to marry. To assist the IGP make the occasions great for them, DPOs are saddled with levies. In Rivers State for instance, each division is to raise N60,000. To raise the levy, some of the DPOs have started to carry out…
The Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration by the European Union (EU) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) appears to be yielding good results. Consequently, the EU-IOM joint initiative is celebrating their second anniversary in the Horn of Africa (HoA). Like they say, two years might not seem a long time, but looking at what was accomplished in just one year warrants the celebration: In 2018 alone, more than 2,500 Ethiopian migrants were assisted to return home from various countries. Reintegration assistance was provided for more than 2,300 returnees, while 1,672 returnees received psychosocial support at the migrants’ transit…
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency is appealing for USD 36.4 million for the next six months, to respond to the humanitarian needs of an estimated two million people affected by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique. “For IOM and the broader international community, this is a massive humanitarian emergency,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino. “The cyclone’s impact caused loss of life and left extensive destruction in its path.” The full impact on Mozambique — where the death toll stands at 446, with over 109,000 displaced — is expected to increase, because of widespread destruction to farmland and fisheries. This…
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State is currently waging a silent health war that is likely to see the state coming tops in Nigeria as Open Defecation Free. The Director General of the state’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Ita Ikpeme, who dropped this hints said the Ayade administration (Peoples Democratic Party) is proud of their latest feat in two local government areas already, and hoping to make Cross River the first to achieve statewide ODF status. According to Ikpeme, ‘’in four years of the Ayade administration, four local governments have attained Open Defecation Free status. This is…
Spending large amounts of time sitting or lounging around during the day is linked to around 50,000 deaths per year in the United Kingdom and the National Health Scheme (NHS) spends in excess of £0.7 billion per year treating the health consequences, suggests research from Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. A Rael-Science post on the research says a large proportion of the UK population has sedentary jobs and leisure activities, and official physical activity recommendations regarding sedentary behaviour are vague. Previous studies have shown that spending large parts of the…
