Hamburg on Thursday became the first German city to impose a partial ban on diesel vehicles as part of the country’s much-debated move to improve air quality. The port city blocked a 600-metre stretch of the Max Brauer Allee and a 1.6-km stretch of Stresemannstrasse in the Altona-Nord district for older diesel cars and trucks from midnight (2200 GMT Wednesday). Meanwhile signs marking the restrictions and diversions have been put in the place over recent weeks in the Altona-Nord district. All diesel vehicles that do not meet the Euro-6 emissions standards are affected by the Hamburg ban. “Less than a…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
American and Chinese scientists have found that an antimicrobial ingredient commonly used in hand soaps and toothpastes could have adverse effects on colonic inflammation and colon cancer by altering gut microbiota, the microbes found in people’s intestines. A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine revealed that short-time treatment with low-dose triclosan led to low-grade colonic inflammation, and exaggerated disease development of colitis and colitis-associated colon cancer in mice. “These results, for the first time, suggest that triclosan could have adverse effects on gut health,” said Zhang Guodong, assistant professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,…
There are around 1.1 billion smokers in the world today, the same number as at the turn of the century, according to latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO’s ‘Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of Tobacco Smoking 2000-2025’, which coincided with World No Tobacco Day 2018, observed every May 31, warned that smoking is a habit that destroyed the hearts. The report states: “Tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by manufacturers. “WHO has estimated that tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) is currently responsible for the death of about…
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has trained 35 youths as technical assistants to monitor clean-up of oil impacted sites in Ogoniland, an official said. HYPREP’s Head of Communications, Mr Isa Wasa, on Wednesday in Goi community, Gokana local government area of Rivers state, said the training was in collaboration with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He said the training aimed to equip indigent Ogonis with requisite skills and experience to work with firms that would handle the clean-up exercise. “Training of the 35 youths, who are all graduates of environmental sciences was the second series. HYPREP has already…
People should start getting screened for colon cancer at age 45 instead of at 50, the American Cancer Society said Wednesday. The group lowered its guidelines after research clearly showed people are getting colon cancer at younger and younger ages in the U.S. It’s not clear why, but the trend is so clear that the group wants people to start checking sooner. “People born in the 80s and 90s are at double the risk for developing cancer of the colon and four times the risk for developing cancer of the rectum compared to people born decades earlier like the 40s…
The Snake Bite Treatment Centre in Kaltungo town of Gombe state, Nigeria has alerted people, particularly farmers to be vigilant as a result of increased number cases recorded in the hospital. The officer in charge of the centre, Dr Abubakar Balla said on Monday that 70 snake bite patients were on admission in the hospital, adding that the hospital admits nine to 10 persons daily since the beginning of the rains, unlike during the dry season when two or three people were treated daily. “We discharge people daily and admit new ones; the situation is bad, and people need to take…
The Federal Government says it is targeting the production of eight million tonnes of paddy by rice farmers across the country in 2018 wet season. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh said on Monday in Abuja, while reeling out the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the past three years. He said that the country was currently producing between 5.8 million and six million tonnes of paddy, adding that it was targeting the production of nine million tonnes by 2019. Ogbeh said the rice revolution was the most outstanding achievement recorded in the Buhari-administration’s economic diversification…
The World Bank has said that it was working on a Central Pivot System (CPS) in Lagos under the FADAMA III (Additional Financing) project to promote irrigation and sustainable farming. The CPS of FADAMA III (AF) is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. The bank’s Tasking Leader to Lagos State, Dr Adetunji Oredipe who made the disclosure in an interview on Monday in Lagos, spoke against the backdrop of the 9th Joint World Bank/Federal Government Implementation Support Mission to the state. He said that the challenge to the full…
The Chief Executive Officer and Country Manager of Dizengoff West Africa (Nigeria) Ltd., Ritvonen Antti, has said that Nigeria was behind in the area of agricultural mechanisation. Identifying the challenge in an interview on Monday in Lagos, he said that finance to drive mechanisation was the country’s major challenge. According to Antti, “Nigeria is far behind and in the very early stage of mechanisation, there is so much more tractors needed,” adding that Nigeria had the potential of developing mechanisation in agriculture, but was behind other Africa countries. “There are two major challenges in the development of mechanisation in Nigeria; one…
The Global Environmental Facility-Small Grant Programme (GEF-SGP) has given Nigeria a $4.9 million grant to fund 141 environmental projects in 25 states between 2009 and 2017. GEF-SGP National Coordinator, Mrs Ibironke Olubamise disclosed this in Abuja, saying that the grant was an additional fund to complement the environmental projects in the states. She said that the grant was used to fund projects on biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants and international waters. GEF-SGP provides grant, technical and coordination support to poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities. This is through national Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Corporate Body Organisations (CBOs) to…