Women journalists seek prosecution of policeman, another for allegedly raping minors

The Nasarawa State Chapter of
Nigerian Association of Women
Journalists, NAWOJ, has called for
the prosecution of two men,
including a policeman, for
allegedly raping two minors.
In a statement by the NAWOJ
chairperson in Nasarawa State,
Tina Cyril, the association
expressed disgust over the
alleged rape of the nine-year-old
and the five-year-old by the
suspects.
The NAWOJ leader said it would
monitor the handling of the two
cases to logical conclusions and
expressed its commitment to the
protection of the rights of women
and children.
She advised parents to monitor
the movement of their wards and
report any case of abuse to
relevant authorities.
She lamented the increasing
cases of rape of young girls
across the country and urged
authorities to bring the suspects
to justice.
Ms. Cyril said that NAWOJ would
continue to collaborate with
others in the fight against child
and women abuse in the country.
(NAN)

Read More »

Boko Haram : VSF Earmarks N 120 m To Empower 7, 000 Widows

The Executive Director, Victims
Support Fund, (VSF), Prof.
Sunday Ocheche, said the
organisation had earmarked
N120 million to support 7,000
widows and other vulnerable
women affected by Boko Haram
insurgency.
Ocheche made this known at
the inauguration of the project
held in Maiha Local
Government Area of Adamawa
on Wednesday.
He said that the beneficiaries
were those in Adamawa, Borno
and Yobe states.
Ocheche said that the
development was to assist
improve livelihood and create
business opportunity for the
widows who lost their
husbands to Boko Haram
insurgency.
“As part of the organisation’s
humanitarian intervention in
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe,
about 7, 000 widows and other
vulnerable women would be
assisted with unconditional
cash grant.
“Each beneficiary will receive
N20, 000 cash to restart a small
business of her choice,”
Ocheche said.
The executive director said that
the programme started last year
with 1,000 Internally Displaced
Women living in some camps in
Maiduguri.
He added that after the
successful outcome result of the
exercise, the organisation
decided to expand it to reach
more women and cover
additional affected states.
He explained that due to the
dynamic nature of the project,
it would be extended to cover
other affected states in the
region in the future.
In her remark, Prof. Nana
Tanko, the Director of the
Programme of VSF, said that
Borno had the highest number
of beneficiaries of 3,500 and
would be given N50 million
grant.
She said that Adamawa with the
total of 2,000 widows would
follow with N40 million while
Yobe with 1,500 beneficiaries
would have N30 million.
Tanko said that the
beneficiaries were contacted
and intensively selected
through their local cooperative
groups by some recognised Civil
Society Organisations (CSOs)
working in the three affected
states.
She said that in Adamawa four
local government areas: Maiha,
Mubi South, Mubi North and
Michika were selected by the
state government to participate
in the programme.
She said that Borno had five
local government areas:
Chibok, Askira-Uba, Gubio,
Mafa and Kaga, while in Yobe,
Gujba and Gulani local
government areas were
selected.
In their separate responses on
behalf of the beneficiaries,
Governors Muhammadu
Jibrillah and Kashim Shettima
of Adamawa and Borno
respectively, thanked the VSF
for the wonderful
“humanitarian assistances.’’
They were represented by
Hajiya Maisaratu Bello and
Hajiya Fanta Baba-Shehu,
Adamawa Permanent Secretary,
ministry of Women affairs and
Borno commissioner of Women
Affairs respectively.
The two governors, however,
warned the beneficiaries to
judiciously use the fund for the
purpose intended to better their
lives.

Read More »

Neymar shames team-mate on Instagram for forgetting his passport

The Brazil star saw the funny side after Barca youngster Marlon missed his flight, leaving him a doubt for the match at the Etihad Stadium


Barcelona starlet Marlon Santos nearly missed Tuesday's crunch Champions League match at Manchester City after a passport mishap– and Neymar is in no hurry to let him forget the gaffe!

Brazilian centre-back Marlon missed Barca's flight and was left stranded at El Prat airport after forgetting a piece of his luggage, with his passport inside!

Luckily, the Barcelona B player, who is one of three youngsters in Luis Enrique's squad due to injuries to Gerard Pique, Jeremey Mathieu and Jordi Alba, was able to board a later flight.It must have been nervy for 21-year-old but his teammates saw the funny side, judging from this cheeky Instagram post from Neymar!

Read More »

Bomb-Sniffing Bionic Plants Could Look for Pollution By Edd Gent, Live Science Contributor

Plants embedded with carbon nanotubes could detect explosives and wirelessly relay the information to an electronic device.

Credit: Juan Pablo Giraldo/UCR

Bionic plants that can detect explosives in real time could be the future of environmental monitoring and urban farming, researchers said in a new study.

The spinach plants have carbon-nanotube-based nanoparticles in their leaves that give off infrared lightand are sensitive to the presence of nitroaromatics, key components of several explosives, the scientists said.

If these chemicals are present in groundwater, they are absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves, where they cause the infrared emissions of the so-called "nanosensor" to decrease. [In Photos: World's Most Polluted Places]

A detector that is similar in complexity to a smartphone can then register this change in emissions, the researchers said. In tests with the nitroaromatic picric acid, this dip was detected within 10 minutes of the roots taking up the chemical, according to the study, published today (Oct. 31) in the journal Nature Materials.

The researchers said their "nanobionic" approach is much faster than previous genetic engineering methods that rely on monitoring changes like wilting or de-greening that can take hours or days and aren't easy to detect electronically. The scientists also used a wild breed of spinach rather than special lab-grown varieties. The researchers said they are confident they can replicate the method with a broad range of plant species that are well-adapted to their environments.

"Genetic engineering is very powerful, but in practice there are only a handful of plants where this can be done. We can take a plant in your backyard and easily engineer it" using nanobionics instead of genetics, said study leader Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Diagram showing detection set-up with the nanobionic sensing plant.

Credit: Juan Pablo Giraldo/UCR

Power of plants

Strano said plants make excellent chemical sensors due to the organisms' extensive network of roots and their ability to draw up groundwater using minimal amounts of solar energy. This is thanks to a process known as transpiration, in which moisture evaporates from the leaves, causing water to be drawn up from the roots.

Because the water evaporates, chemicals drawn up along with the fluid that don't easily vaporize get concentrated in the leaves. This means plants can detect very low concentrations of chemicals, the scientists said.

The nanosensor used in the study is sensitive to a broad range ofexplosives and can even detect chemicals that are produced as explosives degrade, the researchers said.

To pick up the infrared signal, the group used a small infrared camera connected to a $35 Raspberry Pi minicomputer, but Strano told Live Science that a smartphone could be easily adapted to the job if its infrared filter was removed.

Testing of the system was carried out at a distance of about 3.3 feet (1 meter), but Strano said the sensor should be capable of a much wider range, which would allow one sensor to monitor multiple plants. This is because a second fluorescent nanoparticle added along with the nanosensor is not sensitive to nitroaromatics, and so provides a constant reference infrared signal to compare against what's being picked up by the nanosensor.

"What we are interested in doing is showing we can make a really robust human-plant interface," Strano said. "The reference signal means you can intercept this IR signal from any angle, at any distance accurately and quickly." [Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas]

Important step

Bogdan Dragnea, a professor of chemistry at Indiana University who specializes in nanotechnology but wasn't involved with the new study, said the work marks an exciting step toward better monitoring of soil contamination.

"A potential caveat is related to possible clearance, and/or biofouling of the transducer by the plant, and the possibility of false positives, but presumably such issues will be addressed further along the road," Dragnea told Live Science.

Strano said his group hopes to increase the number of sensors that can be applied to plants so the instruments can detect a variety ofchemicals in both the air and groundwater. He said he also wants to use nanotechnology to give plants the ability to react to these signals in ways not found in nature.

"A plant can monitor its own environment for pest infestations, damage, drought," Strano said. "They're very sensitive readers of their own physiology, and we're interested in extending this approach and tapping into plants' own complex signaling pathways."

Strano and the paper's lead author, MIT graduate student Min Hao Wong, have started a company called Plantea to look into how to commercialize the technology. Strano said he thinks urban farming is a promising market because these farms need to be ultra-efficient to make the best use of expensive land. Plus, the plants would be in an enclosed space, making them easier to monitor, he added.

Raffaele Di Giacomo, a postdoctoral scholar at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who also works on nanobionics but was not involved with this study, said the approach may encounter some difficulties with calibration and stability, but the system's simplicity and low cost should compensate for this.

"I don't doubt that in the near future we will have commercial sensing plants in our home or offices that will send us directly on our smartphone data about temperature, humidity, oxygen and pollutants," he told Live Science.

Read More »