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Good morning. Krispy Kreme will give anyone who shows their vaccination card a free glazed donut, any day, any time, for the rest of the year. It’s one of the more enticing of the freebies that some businesses are offering to promote vaccines.
It’s nice to see Krispy Kreme promoting public health, but free diabeetus and obesity with your vaccine? ?
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P.S.: You currently have referrals. You can invite more people by giving them your link www.freshlypressed.ng/?r=
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☕️QUICK BITES
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| Youtube. On Tuesday, Youtube announced it will begin to test hiding the dislike count on videos from public view. Creators will still have access to a video’s like and dislike counts. The company says that users will still be able to utilize the dislike feature to shape their recommendations. |
| Syria. The European Union, United States, and dozens of other nations pledged $6.4B to help tackle Syria’s ongoing humanitarian and economic crises. The pledge comes up short of the $10B the United Nations had hoped for. According to the United Nations, an estimated 13.4 million Syrians need assistance. |
| Space. In a study published on Monday in the journal Circulation, scientists reported that the largest chamber of the heart of Scott Kelly, who spent nearly a year on the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016, shrank in mass by more than one-quarter by the time he returned to Earth. But a smaller heart did not appear to have any ill effects on Mr. Kelly. |
| Myanmar. The Biden administration is pushing actions to punish Myanmar’s ruling military junta. The military commemorated Armed Forces Day by killing 140 people, including six children, across 44 cities following widespread peaceful protests. Thousands of people have sought refuge in neighboring Thailand as the military junta has killed around 500 people since their takeover |
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RECOMMENDED
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This class comes up this Saturday. Cost is N20,000. Get a seat here.
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ONTHISDAY
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1453 Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29
1513 Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida
1872 US engineer George Brayton patents an internal combustion engine (Brayton Cycle)
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HEALTH
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Buhari's Medical Trip Abroad Before Doctor Strike
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Image Source: Punch
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The Story
Six years into his eight years tenure, and a global pandemic which restricted international travel for almost a year - in the process reemphasizing the need to fix the country's health sector- President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that the health and wellbeing of Nigerians are of little or no interest to him.
How do you mean?
President Buhari travelled to London for a “routine” medical check-up two days before the country’s doctors go on strike over unpaid salaries. Buhari, 78, left the country Tuesday after meeting the country’s security chiefs. The trip will last until the second week of April. It’s Buhari’s first medical trip abroad since the pandemic, which stripped much of Africa’s elite of the option of flying to Europe and Asia to see a doctor.
But why are the doctors going on strike?
While Buhari consults with doctors in London, millions in Africa’s most populous country will be left without access to medical treatment from 1 April, first day of the doctors' strike. They’re complaining about the non-payment of medical interns for months and demanding an upward review of hazard allowances and Covid-19 care incentives, according to a statement issued by the National Association of Resident Doctors on 29 March.
Exodus of Nigerian medical doctors and a worsening health sector.
Nigerians have for decades suffered from an inadequately funded health-care system, squalid clinics and hospitals, and poorly paid and overworked health care workers who frequently move abroad for employment. There are at least 8,178 medical doctors of Nigerian origin working in the U.K., according to data on the U.K. General Medical Council website, a 50% increase from 2015. The exodus has worsened health care in a country that has one doctor for every 5,000 people, according to the Nigeria Medical Association. SOURCE
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SECURITY
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Ebonyi imposes curfew on belligerent communities
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Image Source: Anaedo Online
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The Story
Ebonyi has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Effium and Ezza-Effium communities in a bid to end a surge in violence that has rocked both settlements.
What's the cause of the violence?
The state’s Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe, announced the curfew in Abakaliki on Wednesday. The two communities which are located in Ohaukwu Local Government Area have been embroiled in a deep crisis, leading to the loss of life and destruction of property. Media reports say the crisis is linked to a leadership tussle in the local chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
How will the curfew end the problem?
Igwe said military and police operatives had been deployed to the communities to enforce law and order. “Miscreants and hoodlums, including mercenaries hiding in the forest and bushes, are advised to vacate the communities immediately. We are saying this in their own interest because security agencies will leave no stone unturned in a bid to root them out", he said.
"Also, those in the habit of raising a false alarm to distract and divert the attention of security agents are by this announcement advised to desist from such acts. Such persons will be tracked, arrested, and prosecuted as one of those promoting the crisis", Igwe added. SOURCE
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AFRICA
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Niger foils coup attempt days before inauguration
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Image Source: Yahoo
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The Story
A military unit tried to seize the presidential palace in Niger’s capital Niamey overnight in an attempted coup but it was pushed back and order has been restored, the government said on Wednesday, days before a handover of power.
Have they identified those behind it?
“On the night of March 30-31, an attempted coup was thwarted,” the government said in a statement, condemning “this cowardly and regressive act which sought to threaten democracy and the state of law”. The assailants, from a nearby airbase, fled after the presidential guard met their attack with heavy shelling and gunfire, three security sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Have any arrests been made?
Government spokesman Abdourahamane Zakaria said several people had been arrested while others were still being sought, but that the situation was under control. “There were some arrests among a few members of the army who are behind this attempted coup." President Mahamadou Issoufou is stepping down after two five-year terms.
How is the President-elect?
"The presidential guard retaliated, preventing this group of soldiers from approaching the presidential palace,” a security source told the AFP. The sources did not comment on the whereabouts of president-elect Mohamed Bazoum, who is due to be sworn in today after an election victory disputed by his opponent Mahamane Ousmane. A former US envoy to the Sahel, J. Peter Pham, tweeted that both the president and president-elect were safe. SOURCE
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INTERNATIONAL
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Looking at the past for the future
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The Story
Scientists are looking at the past to prepare for the future.
That's deep.
Sure is. Yesterday, the World Health Organization released its report on the origins of COVID-19. For months, dozens of countries pushed China to let the WHO investigate how the pandemic got started. After a series of delays, China let in 13 WHO researchers earlier this year to do some digging. But there were restrictions. The scientists couldn't access raw data like biological samples. And when writing up the report, Chinese scientists – reportedly affiliated with the government – got a say in the conclusions.
What did the report say?
That there were four ways the virus could have gotten to humans: 1) direct transmission from an animal, 2) transmission via an intermediate animal host, 3) via frozen food, or 4) a lab accident. The report says (2) is most likely – that it jumped from bat to another animal before infecting humans. And dismissed the lab accident as the least likely option. But the WHO director-general said that the lab theory "requires further investigation" and that "all hypotheses remain on the table." It was the WHO's most confrontational comments yet toward China. And came as the US and more than a dozen other world leaders criticized the study for the lack of access to data. But even as the world still reels from COVID-19, leaders are looking ahead.
What do you mean?
Yesterday, the leaders of more than two dozen countries, the European Council, and the WHO released a joint statement calling for an international treaty to address future pandemics. The treaty would take cues from international collaboration after World War II and work to provide universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicine, and PPE – unlike what we're seeing now. Because, as world leaders are warning, the question isn't if we'll see another pandemic, but when.
Focusing on a more important question.
What The world's been waiting to find out the origins of the coronavirus. But with unsatisfying answers, world leaders are now focusing on a different question: 'what do we do when this happens again?' SOURCE
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WHAT ELSE IS FRESH...
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Lagos law enforcement officers to use body camera, says Sanwo-Olu
Apapa gridlock: Lagos, unions parley over E-call up system end in deadlock
15 years after, FG sets Dec. 2021 for completion of Abuja-Lokoja highway
#LekkiLies: Mixed reactions trail US report over alleged killings.
Missing jet: Chief of Air Staff arrives Borno as search continues.
2023: INEC rejects NIN for voter registration.
FG, telcos to meet over court ruling on SIM blocking deadline
N53.36bn spent on pipeline repairs in 11 months – NNPC
PDP, others carpet FG as US alleges massive graft in Buhari regime
Another Umahi’s aide resigns, says gov scuttled father’s burial plans
UK agency fines Oyakhilome’s TV N65.6m over COVID-19 misinformation
Soludo escapes as gunmen kill three policemen
81 Ekiti monarchs write Fayemi, reject ranching for herdsmen
Iran, world powers to discuss US return to nuclear deal
Record number of Filipino lawyers killed under Duterte’s watch
Ukraine accuses Russia of ‘muscle-flexing’ as tensions rise
Ramadan fasting safe in COVID-19 pandemic: UK study
Joy, agony as boat brings Mozambique attack survivors to safety
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PICKS OF THE DAY
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A detailed visualization of the world's shipping lanes here. ShipMap
This AI Can Generate Convincing Text—and Anyone Can Use It. Wired
‘Baddest man on the planet’ is a soft-spoken Cameroonian. Aljazeera
Suez crisis creates victories and losers in the global supply chain. Aljazeera
Zombie’ genes in the brain get to work after you die. Big Think
When Men Started to Obsess Over Six-Packs. Conversation
The mystery of how big our Universe really is. BBC
The Excessive Burdens of COVID-19. The Republic
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TODAY'S TRIVIA
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The Old Lady of Thread Needle Street is a nickname for what:
A. The London Eye
B. The Bank of England*
C. The Houses of Parliament
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QUESTION & ANSWER
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QUORA QUESTION:
What are some mind blowing facts about the internet?
Ryan Phillips
There is a website that makes everything okay
The content of the web in 1993 was just 400 terabytes. It is now 1.5 zettabytes, or one-and-a-half trillion gigabytes
Do you know what Gmail is? Or who it originally belonged to? Garfield, that fat orange cat who loves lasagne. Gmail was used by Garfield fans to talk amongst themselves and Google bought the name from Garfield.com, most likely paying with Italian delicacies
The deep web is not to be mistaken for the dark web, a part of the internet that has some pretty effed-up stuff on it. The deep web is at least 500 times larger than the “surface Web” that consists of web pages indexed by popular search engines like Google or Yahoo. The dark web is used to sell things on the black market such as weapons and even hitman contracts
Speaking of which, the first thing ever to be bought via the internet was a bag of marijuana in 1971
Potatoes absorb wifi radio signals similar to the way that the human body does, meaning airlines were able to test whether or not it was a possibility with sacks of spuds as substitutes. The crew probably got hash browns with their raise, too
Roughly 2,300,000 Gigabytes (2.3 petabytes) of data traffic has been distributed across the internet since you started reading this answer. That’s roughly the same as the estimated storage capacity of the human brain.
From July 2005 to July 2006, Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald bargained his way from a single paperclip to a house in a series of fourteen online trades in scarcely under a year. This incredible series of transactions included trading a movie role for a two-story farmhouse. Gordon Miller, you have a competitor! SOURCE
References:
101 Facts About The Internet
Online highs are old as the net: the first e-commerce was a deal
1 Second - Internet Live Stats
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TRIVIA ANSWER
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The Old Lady of Thread Needle Street is a nickname for what:
B. The Bank of England
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