#2016resolution

No matter what you do or what you try or how nice you are to them. You just can't please everybody... See you in the new year.

Chelsea' s Atmosphere' much better now than under Mourinho - Mikel

   Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder John Mikel Obi says Chelsea is much more happier under Guus Hiddink and have a better atmosphere in the team than under former manager Jose Mourinho, who was removed by the club owner, Roman Abramovich, before Chelsea's 3-1 victory over Sunderland on 19 December. Obi said;
"We’ve moved on and the atmosphere has improved since the change of manager. It’s fine now, we’ve just not been getting results. José is a fantastic manager and will always be a fantastic guy. But sometimes football is a cruel game and you have to move on.

Liver hormone could tame our love of cakes and booze

  Love a sugar hit? Your sweet tooth may hail from an unlikely source: your liver. A hormone made by the organ appears to control how much carbohydrate and sugar we want to eat, and helps slow us down when we are overindulging.

The hormone, called FGF21, has already been found to help obese mice lose weight and regain their sensitivity to insulin. A modified form is currently in clinical trials to test whether it has the same effect in people with diabetes.

Our bodies break down carbohydrates into sugars such as sucrose, glucose and fructose. Recent genetic studies have suggested that people with altered levels of FGF21 consume more carbohydrates.

To find out more, a team co-led by Matthew Potthoff at the University of Iowa observed the eating habits of mice with either abnormally high or low levels of the hormone. They found that mice genetically modified to lack the hormone chose to drink much higher levels of sugar-sweetened drinks than normal mice. Those given an extra dose of the hormone, on the other hand, reduced their sugar intake.

Eating when we should be sleeping may havoc on our brains

   WHETHER it’s a post-party kebab or a midnight fridge raid, we are all guilty of eating when we should be sleeping. As well as ruining our waistlines, a study in mice suggests our brains may suffer too.

Mice are nocturnal and eat throughout the night. To find out what happens when this pattern is disturbed, Dawn Loh and her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, fed one group of mice between 9 pm and 3 am, while another group only had access to food between 9 am and 3 pm. The mice ate this way for two weeks.

Although both groups slept for the same amount of time, the mice that fed during the day had more frequent, shorter bouts of sleep. Their circadian rhythms were out of sync, which affected levels of proteins including one important for learning and memory. The “misaligned” mice also performed less well on memory tests (eLIFE, doi.org/97j).

The study is the first evidence that the timing of meals might affect learning and memory. It is too soon to say whether those of us who indulge in late-night eating will suffer the same effects, although Loh thinks her findings might apply to people. Night-shift workers, for example, have been shown to perform less well on cognitive tests.

Apple is demanding another $180m from Samsung

 Just over a week after Samsung paid Apple more than $548 million for infringing the patents and designs of the iPhone, Apple has asked a U.S. court to force its biggest smartphone rival to cough up even more.

In court papers filed on Wednesday, Apple said Samsung owes nearly $180 million in supplemental damages and interest.

Sleep isn't needed to create long term memories-Just time out

Need to remember something important? Take a break. A proper one – no TV or flicking through your phone messages. It seems that resting in a quiet room for 10 minutes without stimulation can boost our ability to remember new information.

The effect is particularly strong in people with amnesia, suggesting that they may not have lost the ability to form new memories after all.

“A lot of people think the brain is a muscle that needs to be continually stimulated, but perhaps that’s not the best way,” says Michaela Dewar at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK.

US drops lifetime ban on gay men donating blood

   Blood donation guidelines in the US are becoming more inclusive.

On 21 December, the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that gay and bisexual men should be permitted to donate blood – provided they haven’t had sex in over a year. Although clinics can still decide whether to follow the recommendations, the change brings the FDA into line with regulatory bodies in the UK and Australia.

Men who have sex with men have been “indefinitely deferred” from donating blood in the US since 1983.

Despite blood banks screening all donations, the controversial policy was brought in as a response to the risk of HIV transmission via transfusions.

The FDA cited recent epidemiological data as the motivation for the change.

“We have taken great care to ensure this policy revision is backed by sound science and continues to protect our blood supply,” said the FDA’s Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff.

New Kind of Moon Rock Found by Chinese

  There’s still a lot to learn about our closest neighbour. China’s Yutu moon rover has discovered a new kind of rock on the lunar surface. The find suggests the moon’s make-up is more diverse than previously thought, and will help interpret future satellite-based observations.

China’s Chang’e 3 lander mission touched down on the moon in December 2013 and released the Yutu rover to explore the edge of a nearby crater, which was nicknamed “Purple Palace” at the time but is now formally known as Zi Wei.

The landing site was in the Mare Imbrium, a large area on the moon’s northern hemisphere thought to have been formed around 3 billion years ago when lava flooded a giant crater. The more recent impact that formed the Zi Wei crater in the Mare Imbrium exposed the ancient basalt rock that formed when the lava cooled, so sampling here allowed Yutu to look deep back in time.

Kaduna Refinery To Start Fuel Supply Today

  The Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) will from today supply an additional 1.5 million liters of fuel to the domestic market. This additional litres of Fuel means about 50 trucks will be released into the northern part of the country. Production at the refinery was disrupted in September due to pipeline vandalization.

Handle with care: Car seats and newborns

   In 2013, car accidents resulted in approximately 8,500 infants requiring hospitalization or emergency department visits and 135 infant deaths. When used properly, car seats can reduce the risk of infant death and injury by 71%. However, in a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found that most families with newborns made at least one serious error in the use and installation of their car safety seat.

How Big Can A Black Hole Get?

    “She doesn’t have an unkind word to say about anyone” is almost universally understood as a compliment. It is meant to convey how nice a person is. But to me, what stands out is what this person is not saying. They aren’t just being praised for their kindness so much as for their refusal to speak ill of others, for elevating themselves above gossip. I hope no one has ever said it about me.

When it comes to gossip, I borrow my motto from Steel Magnolias’ Clairee Belcher: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me.”


I want rich and messy and complicated friendships and romances and professional engagements. I want to be around people that have and want the same. I want us to want to talk about them, and yes, even gossip about them, in all their complex and frustrating glory.

Gossip is sometimes speculative but it is not inherently untrue and indeed, most of what is characterized as gossip is actually the sharing of opinions rather than facts. We call it gossip when someone has something less than kind to say about someone’s new boyfriend, a friend’s spending habits or a boundary-pushing roommate. I should say, that I make a distinction between it and the spread of rumors or the divulgence of someone’s secrets. The latter two are violations of trust that can have profound impacts on people’s reputations and relationships.

Candy games stimulate appetite

  At least once a week, two thirds of all children of primary-school age will play an internet game that was created to draw attention to a brand. Most of these advertisements are for snacks and candy. Only 6% of these children are aware that such advergames are advertisements. In the meantime, such games do affect their behaviour, discovered Frans Folkvord, and if it were up to him they would be banned. Folkvord, a behavioural scientist at Radboud University, will be awarded a PhD for his work on 13 January 2016.

Four genes discovered that will help you live beyond 100

   Fancyy living to 100? Your chances are boosted if you carry protective variants of four newly discovered genes. They are:

• ABO Determines blood group

• CDKN2B Helps regulate cellular life cycles

• SH2B3 Has been shown to extend lifespan in fruit flies

• One of the HLA genes, which are involved in how the immune system recognises the body’s own cells

Uncovered by searching the genomes of centenarians, the genes join a variant of APOE, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, as the bits of our genome most clearly associated with longevity. They’re tantalising clues to uncovering the mystery of why we age, and could help us find ways to prevent age-related diseases.

“I’m motivated because I really don’t understand why we get old,” says lead author Stuart Kim at Stanford University. “What is the clock that gives us 80?”

Gene trawl
Studies of identical twins suggest that genetic make-up has a significant influence on lifespan. It is common for siblings of the same family to live very long lives. “Those sorts of things argue persuasively that about 20 per cent of lifespan is genetic, possibly more for living to be extremely old,” says Kim.

This is from Bauchi Airport

   See how they used a ladder to help people board this plane at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport in Bauchi. It is well..

Miss Spain emerges as winner of Miss World 2015

  Mireia Lalaguna Royo, a 23-year-old model from Barcelona, won the international beauty pageant, which took place on Saturday in Sanya, China.
 "Just because I am beautiful on the outside does not mean I am not beautiful on the inside, too," she said, after she won.

A total of 114 women competed. Miss Russia, Sofia Nikitchuk, 22, placed second, while Miss Indonesia, Maria Harfanti, 23, came in third place. Miss Jamaica, Sanneta Myrie, 24, and Miss Lebanon,Valerie Abou Chacra, 23, were in the top five.

Dokpesi Calls For Prison Reform After Stay In Kuje Prison

  Raymond Dokpesi has called for a national prison reform. This comes after his stay in the Kuje prison where he was remanded until he met his N200m bail condition. After his release yesterday, Dokpesi attended the AIT Christmas party where he charged the management of his TV station to make Prison reforms a burning issue. He described the situation of things in the prison as appalling.

As The Year Ends...Have No Regrets

  2015 has no doubt been for me a better year than 2012, 2013 and 2014 combined; and for this reason I am truly thankful.  I stayed out of the hospital more times than I ever did in the last few years. Honestly (not exaggerating) I was admitted over 15 different times for ailments even as little as Malaria in the past years(and No, I do not have the sickle cell trait) This year I saw a doctor twice only! This is my testimony.

It, however, does not go to say that I didn’t make a couple of mistakes, or I didn’t fail woefully at achieving some of the goals I had laid out for myself at the start of the new year. Today I choose to see the silver lining in all of these. I have got life and a far better health. It supersedes all the fails.

Did Saudi Arabia Just Clear The Way For An Invasion of Syria & Iraq?

   And now, a further turn for the absurd...

While it’s still far from common knowledge among the Western public that Washington’s closest allies in the Mid-East are funding, arming, and otherwise enabling the Sunni extremists (including ISIS) battling for control of Syria and working to destabilize Iraq, the massacre that unfolded earlier this month in San Bernardino has managed to focus some much needed attention on the role Saudi Arabia plays in promoting extremism.

Humans Evolved To Get Better Sleep In Less Time

   Insomniacs take heart: Humans get by on significantly less sleep than our closest animal relatives. The secret, according to a new study, is that our sleep is more efficient.

UEFA Champions League Last 16 Draw

  Chelsea has been given a massive task in the champions league after they were drawn against PSG in the draw which took place in Nyon this morning. See the full draw after the cut...

Climate Agreement: The World 'Turning Point'

 "I believe this moment can be a turning point for the world," Obama says
The final draft of the agreement reached at the Paris climate talks has been accepted
Scientists and environmental activists respond with cautious optimism
Paris President Barack Obama praised a landmark climate change agreement approved Saturday in Paris, saying it could be "a turning point for the world."

"The Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis," the President said, speaking from the White House. "It creates the mechanism, the architecture, for us to continually tackle this problem in an effective way."

Bishop Oyedepo Reveals His Plan For Faith Theatre

  Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church unveiled The Faith Theatre, a stadium-like 100,000 capacity auditorium. The new project which was revealed December 12, at the last night of the Shiloh 2015 program, will not only be a sanctuary of worship but will also have a large shopping mall, food court and other businesses. See photo of what it will look after its done..after the cut..

Paris: 5 takeaways about the Climate deal

The195-nationU.N. climate summit concluded with delegates adopting the Paris Agreement, the first-ever global climate deal of this sweep and ambition. Here are five things to know about the accord:

THE 2-DEGREE TARGET

The slogan "For the Planet" is projected on the Eiffel Tower on Dec. 11.
• The world will look to limit global warming  by 2100 to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to pre-industrial levels. It also lists 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as an aspirational goal, but leaves a lot of the decision-making for that goal until a future date. According to climate models, the national climate pledges submitted by countries before the Paris summit will only limit warming to between 2.7 and 3.5 degrees Celsius (4.9 and 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning further action will need to be taken.

See What A Pastor's Son Did To A Girl In Delta

The Delta state Police command have arrested 15 year old Silas Anidi, the only son of the General Overseer of God Pecu­liar Evangelical Ministry, Sapele, Delta State, for beheading 11-year-old Aghogho Igbi and was about to do same to the deceased’s sister, Favour, when neighbours intervened and got him arrested.

According to The Sun, when interrogated, Silas said he was lured to commit the crime by his friend, Christian.

Putin on ISIS?

   Vladimir Putin has warned that a new underwater missile system deployed by Russian submarines in the war against ISIS in Syria could be equipped with nuclear warheads.

The Russian president said that although using nuclear weapons was a possibility, he hoped that they would 'never be needed' in the fight against terrorism.


His warning came as Russia stepped up its barrage on Syrian rebels with its first submarine-launched cruise missile strikes combined with bombing raids from the air.

Speaking on Russian state television today, Putin claimed his military had struck '300 targets of different kinds' in the past three days and helped Syrian special forces recover the black box of a Russian warplane downed by Turkey last month.

4 Must-Have Tech Gifts This Holiday

   Once again, this year’s hot gifts are tech gadgets. These include robotic toys that tie into a blockbuster movie, a smart doll, virtual reality, tablets and a powerful, portable speaker to listen to music, books and make hands-free phone calls. Let’s take a look at what makes them so desirable and how to get a deal.

1. GOPRO'S HERO4
For the outdoor-enthusiast, a GoPro makes the perfect gift. But not just any GoPro. The new GoPro HERO4 is the first-ever to have a built-in touch screen. That makes it really easy to capture footage and play it back to friends and family. Just tap, then swipe. It's that simple!
Of course, adding the new touch screen feature doesn't mean other features were sacrificed. The HERO4 still comes with 1080p60 and 720p120 video, and 12MP photos at 30 frames per second. It's also waterproof, and has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functions, which easily connect to the GoPro App, Smart Remote. It's available on Amazon for $317.

FG Proposes N6tn Budget for 2016, Pegs Oil Benchmark at $38

 Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma

 Retains exchange rate at N198/$1, remains mute on subsidy removal
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) met for the first time monday since its inauguration three weeks ago, during which it approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for 2016 to 2018 and proposed a N6 trillion budget for 2016.
Briefing State House correspondents after the council meeting, which was convened solely to consider the MTEF/FSP and lasted for over four hours, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said the MTEF/FSP that was approved would provide the fiscal policy direction of the government in the next three years.
He added that the council, in the proposal, pegged the oil benchmark for the 2016 budget at $38 per barrel, a peg, he said was considered conservative and sustainable.

Fashola reveals his plans during a press conference

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, addressed a press conference in Abuja where he reeled out his plans for the revitalization of Power, Works and Housing projects in Nigeria. He said the focus on roads is to complete those already at some level of completion.

Traffic robber caught at Ozumba Mbadiwe, VI, Lagos this afternoon

This happened this afternoon along Ozumba Mbadiwe road, in Victoria Island, Lagos. A robber who smashed a car window to steal in traffic was caught by a mob. 

Change Your Story To Change Your Life

  Whenever we undertake a new change in our lives — whether it’s starting a new job or business, or changing a new habit — we tell ourselves a story about it.

We’re the hero of our story. Unfortunately, it’s not usually a very good story — it involves the hero not believing he or she can do it, wanting to give up and give in to the easy route.

Imagine if the great stories of all time went along the lines of our stories:

Asa & Praiz Perform as MTN reveals 100 Top Corporate Customers

   MTN Business, a unit of MTN Nigeria Enterprise, recently launched its MTN Prestige Corporate Loyalty programme to reward its top 100 corporate customers, who have continuously done business with them over the years.

The ICT giant hosted a collection of 100 CEOs and captains of industry at the prestigious Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The esteemed guests were treated to a night of truly beautiful music from an orchestra and the climax of the exquisite evening was a scintillating performance from Nigeria’s music export Asa and R&B singer/songwriter Praiz.

Ben Murray-Bruce Rides In A Boat To Get Across To His Constituency

  Ben Murray-Bruce wants his people to know that he's always with them. He headed out to his constituency today, in the boat pictured above. He tweeted, 'Chilling out with my peeps on my to my Constituency to give account of my stewardship to my ogas the electorate.' When asked why he didn't take a Yatch, see his response after the cut...

Mark Zuckerberg Pledged To Donate 99% of His Wealth To Charity.

   In a very long letter to his new born daughter yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan pledged to donate 99% of his Facebook share currently worth about $45billion to the work of their charitable foundation in her honour. Mark wrote;
As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation. Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities. We will give 99% of our Facebook shares -- currently about $45 billion -- during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others.

Season's Greetings From All of Us At SLB

   This isn't an attempt at formality. It isn't an attempt to form 'familiarity'. It is us with all sincerity of heart wishing you a great month ahead. The sun is still enough to dry your clothes. There is still time to achieve those goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year. You can still drop thos habits, pick up those skills and do all of those things you promised yourself. Quit being cynical and pessimistic. Think positive.Think possibility. See it come to fruition.

Happy new month once again. We love you and we believe in your potentials. BELIEVE in it too...