About 10,000 light years away from Earth, a black hole is engaged in a stellar feast

About 10,000 light years away from Earth, a
black hole is engaged in a stellar feast,
devouring the gases of a nearby star -- and
we've been watching.
The stellar-mass black hole, around 10 times
more massive than our sun, was discovered
after a humongous X-ray flare in March 2018.
It was originally detected by a specialized
instrument aboard the International Space
Station, operated by the Japanese Aerospace
and Exploration Agency, known as the Monitor
of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). After the X-ray
burst captivated astronomers, researchers at
MIT, the University of Maryland and NASA
swung another instrument on board the station
to watch what happened to the black hole,
nicknamed J1820.
It's embarrassing when people watch you eat,
but J1820 was none the wiser as NASA swung
the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer
(NICER) to monitor its buffet. NICER continued
to detect waves of X-ray light bouncing away
from the black hole, called "light echoes",
which demonstrated how the black hole's size
and shape was changing over time.
"NICER has allowed us to measure light echoes
closer to a stellar-mass black hole than ever
before," said first author Erin Kara.
The research, published on Jan. 10 in Nature,
provides some tantalizing new evidence about
the way a black hole evolves once it gobbles
up a star. The major takeaway for the team
was the the black hole's corona was shrinking.

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In the face of public embarrassment, Woolworths has withdraw from sale a lookalike product a Cape Town entrepreneur says it stole

In the face of public embarrassment,
Woolworths has withdraw from sale a lookalike
product a Cape Town entrepreneur says it stole
from her, then started to manufacture in China.
Woolworths says it apologised sincerely to
Shannon McLaughlin and is deeply committed
to the development of small businesses in
South Africa.
McLaughlin detailed the apparent intellectual
property theft online this week, leading to a
hastily-arranged meeting on Wednesday with
senior Woolworths executives.
See also: Oops Woolworse, you did it
again!
Woolworths says it has withdrawn it baby
carriers from sale and has apologised
unreservedly for what it describes as a “failure
of internal processes.”
McLaughlin was alerted to the lookalike
product in mid-December, but initially received
no response from Woolworths when she
reached out to the company.
Some of the Ubuntu Baba team. Shannon
McLaughlin says her business supports the
local economy as her baby carriers are
manufactured locally. (Photo: Ubuntu Baba)
“While there are differences in our baby carrier,
there are striking similarities which we
acknowledge and take responsibility for. This
is not in line with our values and goes against
the very clear policy and creative guidelines we
have in place for our design process,” the
retailer said in a statement.
Two women working for the Woolworths
division that develops new ideas for the group
apparently ordered McLaughlin’s baby carriers
and had them delivered to the group head
office. They appear to have operated as if it
was perfectly normal to acquire promising
ideas from South African manufacturers, make
a few modest changes, and then create their
own line to be manufactured offshore.
This is not an isolated incident involving the
retailer. It also emerged this week that
Woolworths engaged international experts six
years ago in the aftermath of the furore around
its appropriation of the style and ethos of the
Frankies retro drinks brand to prevent this sort
of incident happening again.
Yet later Woolworths was accused of stealing a
private designer’s hummingbird design for a
scatter cushion.
The baby carrier incident makes for a third
allegation that the company steals intellectual
property.
“This lapse in process is being addressed
internally. We are intensifying and strengthening

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Man dies while trying to save girl, 13, from drowning at sea A 29-year-old man has died, while two other

Top news
people have been transported to hospital following
a drowning incident at Wolfgat Nature Reserve on
Wednesday.
"Despite extensive efforts by paramedics to
resuscitate the 29-year-old man, sadly he has
been declared deceased on the scene.
"The 13-year-old female, believed to be a disabled
person, and the man aged in his 30's were
transported to hospital by EMS ambulance in
serious but stable conditions suffering non-fatal
drowning symptoms," National Sea Rescue
Institute’s (NSRI) Craig Lambinon said in a
statement on Wednesday.
Lifeguards at Monwabisi Beach were alerted to the
incident by members of the public and requested
medical assistance from Cape Town Water Rescue
Network upon arrival.
It is believed that the 29-year-old male died while
attempting to save the teen. The other male
attempted to assist and got into difficulty.
"According to reports, an unidentified man went
into the surf and was able to assist them from the
water but he had left the scene before his details
could be obtained," Lambinon explained.
The body of the deceased man has since been
taken into the care of the Forensic Pathology
Services.
Police have opened an inquest docket.

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The Federal Government of Nigeria has launched another youth empowerment programme called P-YES.

The full meaning of P-YES is Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme. The scheme is structured as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative driven by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Youth and Students Affairs (OSAPYSA).

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The program is targeted at providing solutions to the challenges of youth unemployment, through the execution of direct empowerment initiatives.

In case you're curious, P-YES is like the NPOWER. However, while Npower beneficiaries are posted to publicly owned establishments such as schools, hospitals etc, P-YES beneficiaries will be trained and empowered on certain areas of vocations and businesses.

P-YES GOALS The Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme (P-YES) has been conceived and designed to:
Fight and reduce unemployment among Nigerian youth by creating at least 774,000 empowerment opportunities.
Train and empower youth to have the capacity to empower at least one other youth within his/her immediate community.

Registration for the newly launched scheme has been opened online. Interested applicants may as well apply directly at P-YES office Abuja (see the address below this post)
See also: P-YES Registration: New Youth Empowerment Website, Requirements, Application form and More
Below are the details all prospective applicants should be cognisant of.

Application Requirements and Eligibility
Applicant must be a Nigerian male or female between the ages of 18 and 40.

Applicant must have a means of identification (National Identity card, International Passport, Permanent Voters Card- PVC).
Applicant must provide a Second Level Beneficiary (SLB) to qualify for benefitting from the scheme.

Ability to communicate in Basic English language and or any local Nigerian language.

Provable upright character and a stable mind.

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Applicant must provide a guarantor preferably a community or religious leader.

Ability to secure the endorsement of a local government official.
Beneficiary should posses the capacity to transfer knowledge and mentor pairs within their communities.

Applicants can be literate, semi-literate, SSCE, NCE, OND, HND, Bsc, Masters holders
Nature and Objectives of P-YES Program.

The youth will undergo training in multiple vocations such as agriculture, Information technology, fashion, catering, technology acquisition and many other strategic vocations.

Successful trainees will be equipped with Seed Empowerment Tools (SET)s such as rice mills, poultry accessories, branded mobile kiosks, farm implements, mobile restaurants, tents, photography units etc.

Application Procedures Online.

Visit P-YES application portal (see the link below this post⏬)

On the menu above, click Application and choose “Start your Application”
Read other instructions on the page before clicking the “Apply now” link or go her straight
You will need an active phone number and email to fill the form.
After completing the filling and submission, kindly print your Guarantor form.
P-YES Helps and Supports
Office
Youth and Student Affairs.
5th floor, Wing B Phase 1,
Federal Secretatiat Complex.
Abuja.

Have you found this post useful or inspiring? Do let me know your thoughts by commenting below or you can contact me
 directly if you prefer!
Please feel free to share this post with others who might enjoy it too!

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FG Reached Agreement with ASUU, Releases N15.4bn

The Federal Government has reached an agreement with members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Addressing journalists on Monday evening after the meeting with the striking lecturers in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said the majority of their demands have been met including the release of N15.4 billion for payment of salary shortfalls.

According to him, the Federal Government is also in the process of releasing another N20 billion for payment of earned allowances for university lecturers.

Meanwhile, the ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, said the National Executive Committee of the union will review their decisions based on the new commitment by the government.


According to him, it is only after that meeting of the ASUU leadership that the union will announce its position on the ongoing strike action.

Its been over two months since the union went on strike following the alleged inability of the government to respond to its demands.

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APC, PDP senators agreed on `cease fire’ - Ndume

[post by samaila umar lameedo]

APC, PDP senators agreed on `cease fire’ - Ndume

- Senator Ali Ndume said lawmakers have agreed to end the crisis in the Senate
- Ndume said both APC and PDP senators, including Senate President Bukola Saraki agreed on 'cease fire'
- The senator added that this has enabled the senators to pass outstanding bills
Members of the eighth Senate have agreed to put aside their differences and work in harmony for the progress of Nigeria, former Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, (APC-Borno South), said on Friday, January 4.
Ndume spoke with State House correspondents after leading the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for Taraba, Sani Danladi, to a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday at the Presidential Villa.
He said that Nigerians had been supportive of the National Assembly and expected so much from it but regretted that leadership crisis made the 8th Senate to perform below the expectations of Nigerians.
“The legislative arm which is supposed to be interdependent was more or less independent and extensively antagonistic; and to some extent, you can say the leadership has been sabotaging the activities of the executive instead of cooperating with the executive to deliver the services Nigerians are expecting from us.
“I am accusing specifically, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, not the leadership so to say; as I have said several times, we elected the Senate leader who turned out to be Senators’ President.
“We have a leftover time of six months and we have agreed on cease fire including the Senate President himself; that we put the interest of Nigerians first.
“That was why when we resumed, we have been able to pass certain outstanding bills and we have agreed to work together; the interest of the nation first before party’s interest or any other individual’s interest.
“Any breach in that agreement that we have, will also send us back to our trenches.’’
On the 2019 budget proposal, Ndume said that timely passage of the budget was important as it was one of the agreements the senators had.
According to him, the budget belongs to Nigerians and Nigerians are expecting that the budget be passed as quickly as possible so that the content of the budget will be delivered to Nigerians.
He said that anybody that tried to stand on the way of the budget would be seen as a saboteur to Nigerians.
Ndume said that APC senators were fully in support of the budget because they had input in it.
“It is a budget of continuity; it is a realistic budget.
“So we are not expecting any hiccup but as usual, the normal dragging will continue but we will resist it and make sure that we are sent to the National Assembly, that is to work for Nigerians comes first before any other interest.’’
On the hue and cry over the appointment of Amina Zakari as head of its collation centre for the forthcoming presidential election, Ndume, said that her relationship with Buhari had nothing to do with her assigned role.
He chided the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) saying the party had resorted to what he described as CCC.
“PDP is now is concentrating on what I call the CCC instead of doing what is the right thing.
"They are concentrating on complaining, criticising and contradicting themselves instead of campaigning.
“We in the APC; we said it initially and we even have a manual of campaign and that is to discuss issues, ideals, integrity and things that will move this country forward but as usual is the main opponent now; that is what makes it easy for APC.
“PDP ruled this country for 16 years; instead of giving Nigerians democracy; they were practicing Kleptocracy; and after Nigerians tasted three years of democracy now, they are struggling to take us back to the period of their kleptocractic governance and Nigerians will not accept that.
“This election is going to be the choice of Nigerians; to choose either to go back to the government of Kleptocracy or continue with government of democracy,’’ he said.
He told the correspondents that he had been appointed the Director-General, Campaign, in the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC for the North-East.
The senator said that with the candidacy of Danladi, a tasted and trusted candidate, APC would reclaim Taraba.
He also expressed optimism that APC would also reclaim Gombe state in 2019 as the party accidentally lost the two states in the North-East in 2015.

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YANDA AKAYI JANA IZAR MARIGANYI SHEHU SHAGARI

Karanta bayanai da labarai game da jana'izar tsohon shugaban Najeriya Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari, shugaba na farko mai cikakken iko wanda Allah Ya yi wa rasuwa a ranar Juma'a.
'Dan Fodio ya wallafa littattafai fiye da 250'
Bayani kan masarautar Sarkin Musulmin Nigeria

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