Scrap NUC now – ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), yesterday, called on the federal government to scrap the National Universities Commission (NUC).
ASUU, in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, by the chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter of the union, Dr Segun Ajiboye, also asked the National Assembly to beam its searchlight on the activities of NUC.

The statement said: “NUC has failed to reposition Nigerian universities as shown by the NEEDS assessment report carried out by genuine academics, which contradicted NUC’s accreditation exercises, which gave a “controversial” clean bill of health to most universities’’.
The statement maintained that there was no way the NUC or any of its leaders could absolve themselves from the rot in the university system, having emphasised the proliferation of universities in the country at the expense of sound education.

According to the statement: “Enough they say is enough. Time is now for the government to beam a searchlight on the activities of the NUC. The education committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives have an arduous task to do here. Nigerians are calling for dismantling of an omnibus body that has done the country more harm than good. NUC must go’’.
The statement said that the ASUU cannot be blamed for the controversial NUC accreditations, adding, “Rather than blaming the union, Professor Julius Okojie, should take full responsibility for all the deeds in the NUC”.

On the ongoing lecturers’ strike, the statement said that ASUU would not allow itself to be fooled again with “promissory notes” of the federal government which had never worked in the past.
It maintained that the strike would not be suspended on any “promissory note” by the federal government, adding that this time around, “ASUU will not allow itself to be deceived again’’.




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NIGERIA: Curfew bars Christians, Muslims from worship in Kafanchan

The 24-hour curfew imposed on Kafanchan town in Jema’a local government area of Kaduna state has barred Muslims and Christians from going to their places of worship on Friday and yesterday, respectively.

Thousands of residents prayed in their homes as armed soldiers and police were stationed in strategic locations, watching over the troubled town and ensuring strict compliance to the security arrangement.

The 24-hour curfew was imposed on Friday morning, following the crisis that broke out in the town between the ‘Hausa-Fulani’ community and ‘indigenous’ southern Kaduna ethnic groups.

About five persons were said to have lost their lives, while several others sustained injuries, leading the chairman of the local government, Hon. Dan Amos, to impose a 24- hour curfew on the town so as to avoid escalation of the situation.
A resident of the area, Mr. Peter Garba, told our reporter that the town was still very quiet.
He said: “We are still indoors. There was no Juma’at prayers for Muslims in Kafanchan town on Friday, and yesterday, being Sunday, it was the same thing for Christians.

He added that hundreds of people were trapped in the town. Some, he said, were in hotels.
The chairman of the local government could not be reached for his comment, but a serving councillor II of Fadan Kagoma Ward, Hon. Nehemiah Madugu, confirmed that the curfew was still in force.




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LinkedIn denies harvesting user email accounts without permission

LinkedIn denied over the weekend charges that the company breaks into the email accounts of its members without permission to harvest contacts' addresses.

A class action complaint by four users has charged the professional networking site with hacking into their external email accounts and downloading addresses of their contacts for monetary gain by repeatedly promoting its services to these contacts.

Paul Perkins, Pennie Sempell, Ann Brandwein, and Erin Eggers charged LinkedIn with breaking into "its users' third party email accounts, downloading email addresses that appear in the account, and then sending out multiple reminder emails ostensibly on behalf of the user advertising LinkedIn to non-members."

The so-called hacking of the user's email account and download of addresses is done without "clearly notifying the user or obtaining his or her consent," which is likely to emerge as the crux of the case.

LinkedIn does not access a user's email account without the user's permission, and claims that it hacks or breaks into members' accounts are false, Blake Lawit, senior director of litigation at LinkedIn wrote in a blog post on Saturday. LinkedIn never deceives by "pretending to be you" in order to access the user's email account, Lawit wrote.

"We never send messages or invitations to join LinkedIn on your behalf to anyone unless you have given us permission to do so," he added.

New users signing in to LinkedIn are asked for the external email address as their user name, though they aren't told what it will be used for, according to the complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

If a LinkedIn user leaves an external email account open, LinkedIn is said to pretend to be that user and downloads the email addresses in that account to LinkedIn servers, according to the complaint. Linkedln is able to download the addresses without requesting the password for the external email accounts or obtaining users' consent, according to the complaint.

If the LinkedIn user has logged out from his email applications, the network requests the user name and password of an external email account to ostensibly verify the identity of the user, and then, without notice or consent, attempts to access the user's external email account to download email addresses, according to the complaint.

Linkedln does not inform its users that email addresses harvested from a user's external email account will be sent multiple emails inviting the recipient to join Linkedln with the user's endorsement, the complaint said. Users have complained to Linkedln about its "unethical harvesting" of email addresses and repeated spamming of those addresses, according to the complaint, which asks the court for damages and an order prohibiting LinkedIn from continuing its "wrongful and unlawful acts."


PCWORLD



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Understanding a new kind of magnetism

Researchers use low-frequency laser pulses to probe the properties of a kind of fluctuating magnetism known as a spin-liquid state.



(photo): A sample of the mineral herbertsmithite.

Using low-frequency laser pulses, a team of researchers has carried out the first measurements that reveal the detailed characteristics of a unique kind of magnetism found in a mineral called herbertsmithite.

In this material, the magnetic elements constantly fluctuate, leading to an exotic state of fluid magnetism called a “quantum spin liquid.” This is in contrast to conventional magnetism, found in materials called ferromagnets — where all of the magnetic forces align in the same direction, reinforcing each other — or antiferromagnets, where adjacent magnetic elements align in opposite directions, leading to complete cancellation of the material’s overall magnetic field.

Although a spin-liquid state has previously been observed in herbertsmithite, there has never been a detailed analysis of how the material’s electrons respond to light — a key to determining which of several competing theories about the material is correct.

Now a team at MIT, Boston College and Harvard University has successfully carried out these measurements. The new analysis is reported in a paper in Physical Review Letters, co-authored by Nuh Gedik, the Biedenharn Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at MIT, graduate student Daniel Pilon, postdoc Chun Hung Lui and four others.

Their measurements, using laser pulses lasting just a trillionth of a second, reveal a signature in the optical conductivity of the spin-liquid state that reflects the influence of magnetism on the motion of electrons. This observation supports a set of theoretical predictions that have not previously been demonstrated experimentally. “We think this is good evidence,” Gedik says, “and it can help to settle what has been a pretty big debate in spin-liquid research.”

“Theorists have provided a number of theories on how a spin-liquid state could be formed in herbertsmithite,” Pilon explains. “But to date there has been no experiment that directly distinguishes among them. We believe that our experiment has provided the first direct evidence for the realization of one of these theoretical models in herbertsmithite.”

The concept of quantum spin liquids was first proposed in 1973, but the first direct evidence for such a material was only found within the last few years. The new measurements help to clarify the fundamental characteristics of this exotic system, which is thought to be closely related to the origins of high-temperature superconductivity.





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Johannesburg – Jeppe Girls High School lets lesbian pupils take same-sex partners

Johannesburg – Jeppe Girls High School in Johannesburg agreed to let lesbian pupils take same-sex partners to last night’s matric farewell dance – despite fears that this would be disallowed.

According to the Sunday Times, one mother said a teacher had allegedly warned pupils that female partners would be barred. The mother said she then emailed the school requesting permission for her daughter to bring her girlfriend.

This came after a pupil said a teacher allegedly warned them that the practice of taking same-sex partners would be stopped and that female dates would be escorted out of the venue in Fourways, Johannesburg.

But the headmistress, Dina Goncalves, denied the allegations. She said Jeppe had not denied anyone access to the dance.

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Ibadan: ASUU blasts NUC, says strike continues

The Academic Staff Union of Universities said the existence of the National Universities Commission has not brought improvement to the standard of education in the country.

The union also said that it would not call off the strike because of the mere promise made by the Federal Government to provide revitalisation fund for the university system.

ASUU also called on the National Assembly to investigate the activities of NUC with a view to determining the continued relevance or otherwise of the university supervisory body.

If found irrelevant, ASUU said it should be scrapped.

Chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, who spoke in Ibadan noted that the NUC boss, Prof. Julius Okojie, had concentrated the effort of the university regulatory body on quantity rather than quality while issuing accreditation to universities.

Ajiboye said, “Okojie should take full responsibility for all his deeds in the NUC. Nigerians should be proud of ASUU in its efforts at repositioning public universities in the country.”

The union leader added that the result of the assessment exercise of NUC carried out by the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy should be used to judge the relevance of NUC and its leader rather than the self-assessment of the regulatory agency.

He said some of the accreditations granted by NUC were enmeshed in controversy, wondering why the National Assembly had not taken action on the controversies surrounding the accreditations so far recorded.

He said, “One of the efforts of ASUU to reposition education in the country is the NEEDS Assessment document. This was a product of a rigorous academic exercise carried out by dependable and credible members of our union. Unlike the numerous faulty accreditation reports which had given these universities clean bill of health, the NEEDS Assessment Report stands out as a classical document of reference detailing the rot and decay in public universities in Nigeria.

“All well meaning Nigerians can see the contrast between Okojie’s packaged accreditation reports and a credible job done by ASUU. It has become very clear from the assessment document that Okojie and his people have fooled this country for too long. Time is now for government to beam a searchlight on the activities of the NUC. The education committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives have an arduous task to do here. Nigerians are calling for dismantling of an omnibus body that has done the country more harm than good.”

ASUU also reiterated its commitment to the current effort to gain Federal Government consent to its demand, saying that the strike would not be called off based on mere government promise.

Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation, Do It Right Foundation, has appealed to the Federal Government and ASUU to work hard and resolve the lingering crisis that has shut down the education sector.

In a statement on Sunday, President and National Coordinator of the foundation, Mr. Dixon Jubril, called on the university lecturers to give room for re-opening of the universities in the interest of the students.

“It has become a burden on both the government and ASUU to save the education sector from collapse by finding a common ground for the amicable resolution of the crisis. What both parties to the dispute must have in mind is that while the situation lingers it is the future of the students that is at stake.

“We call on ASUU in particular to shift ground a bit for the common good of the education system. It’s our belief that the time has come for ASUU to devise other means of settling its disputes with government instead of the constant disruption of academic activities with its attendant socio-economic implications.”

Sources: Punch


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Why students performed better in NECO this year — Registrar

The improvement recorded in the 2013 National Examination Council (NECO) results followed the collective efforts of the Federal Government and stakeholders, the NECO Registrar, Professor Promise Okpala, said.

It would be recalled that NECO, on Thursday, released the 2013 June/July Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) with about 70 per cent of the candidates passing both English Language and Mathematics.

No fewer than 69.57 per cent of the candidates that sat for the examinations made at least five credits to qualify them for admission into tertiary institutions.

Okpala told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that it was the concerted efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan, the ministers of education, the National Assembly, commissioners of education, parents and teachers that yielded the improved results.

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25 dead as typhoon hits China, flight chaos in HK

 A woman stands at the counter of a Hong Kong bakery which has tape on its windows to protect them from strong winds, on September 23, 2013. Typhoon Usagi killed at least 25 people after crashing ashore.



(photo): Graphic showing the path of Typhoon Usagi, which left at least 20 people dead

Typhoon Usagi killed at least 25 people after crashing ashore in southern China, throwing the region's transport systems into chaos and leaving tens of thousands of airline passengers stranded in Hong Kong.

Schools and businesses were shut as activity in the normally teeming financial hub slowed to a crawl after Usagi punched a long swathe of Chinese coast with torrential rain and winds of up to 165 kilometres (103 miles) per hour during the night.

The deaths were reported by Chinese state media after Usagi -- which meteorologists say was the world's most powerful storm this year -- made landfall in Guangdong province northeast of Hong Kong on Sunday evening, prompting the highest level of alert from the National Meteorological Center.

The reports by Xinhua news agency and CCTV did not say how the 25 people were killed but said all the deaths were in Guangdong after the typhoon brought down trees and damaged roads.





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Snake on a plane (Qantas Boeing 747) causes chaos

A small snake found on a Qantas Boeing 747 airliner led to 370 passengers being grounded in Sydney overnight, the airline said.


Staff found the eight-inch unidentified snake in the passenger cabin near the door before passengers were due to board at Sydney International Airport for a flight to Tokyo, Qantas said in a statement.

Australia's flagship airline said the passengers were accommodated in hotels overnight and left Sydney on a replacement plane on Monday morning.

The snake was taken by quarantine officials for analysis.

The Australian Agriculture Department said in a statement the snake was with entomologists and had not yet been identified.

Neither the department nor the airline offered any explanation of how the snake might have come aboard. No details of its likely fate have yet been made public.

The jet had been on an airport tarmac since it arrived in Sydney from Singapore on Saturday.

While snakes rarely pose aviation hazards, on January a 10ft python clung to the wing of a Qantas flight from the north-east coast city of Cairns to Papua New Guinea.

The python was dead but still attached to the wing when the two-hour flight ended in the national capital Port Moresby.

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NIGERIA: Falcons fall 2-0 in Japan

Women’s world champion Japan eased to a 2-0 win over Nigeria on Sunday in the first of their two home friendly games holding in Japan.

Yuki Ogimi opened the scoring late in the first half and Nahomi Kawasumi added the second to wrap up the victory in Nagasaki on the eve of her 28th birthday.

Japan coach Norio Sasaki said, “Nigeria had a long journey and condition-wise are not at their best yet. They will be much more aggressive in the next match so we will have to increase our efforts.”

The second game will take place at Chiba’s Fukuda Denshi Arena on Thursday.

Japan controlled much of the first half and looked certain to take the lead in the 29th minute, only for Megumi Takase to have her shot cleared off the line by Osinachi Ohale.

But Chelsea striker Ogimi broke the deadlock nine minutes before the break, taking a through ball from Aya Miyama and skipping past Nigeria goalkeeper Ibubelye Whyte to slot the ball between two defenders into the net.

Takase missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 at the start of the second half and substitute Karina Maruyama was denied by Whyte from close range moments later.

It was only a matter of time before Japan doubled the lead and the second goal finally arrived on 53 minutes.


THE PUNCH


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AMIDST ASUU STRIKE: President Jonathan lavish 6 billion naira on UN General assembly trip

Africa most wasteful spending President, Goodluck Jonathan has begun another orgy of lavish spending, as sources have told this reporter on his spending of almost 6 billion Naira 68th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The slow performing President who President Goodluck Jonathan arrived at the JFK International Airport in New York early of Sunday (today) ahead of the 68th session of the (UNGA) is said to have taken with him his

non elected wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, the Minister of State for Works and supervising Minister, National Planning Commission, Alhaji Bashir Yuguda, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Akinwumi Adesina and a ridiculous number of 600 highly influential civil servants drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as team members, two medical personnel. Another set of delegation led by his special adviser on political matter and National coordinator of the fraudulent group, Goodluck Support Group (GSG) had arrived in New York earlier on Friday to make preparations for the trip as well as inaugurate the USA chapter of the group.

the President was received by the supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, the Nigerian Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu and the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S., Prof. Ade Adefuye will be staying in his favorite hotel, The Pierre Hotel across from New York’s Central Park in a presidential suite that will cost Nigeria tax payers money to the tune of at least $10,000 per night. He I expected to lodge at the 39th floor of the massive hotel.
A newyork Journalist who visited the hotel noted that waste spending President Jonathan has booked for five days; which means he will be wasting Nigeria money to the tune of 8 million Naira only for accommodation. The booking is said to have be done by Gulak since Friday. 

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BBM’s Android And iOS Launch postponed!!- FROM BLACKBERRY

BlackBerry trumpeted its intention to deliver the long-awaited Android and iOS versions of its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service this weekend, and so fans around the world eagerly awaited the mobile software’s debut. But debut the apps didn’t, at least not as intended and not for the vast majority of expectant fans.


“Prior to launching BBM for Android, an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was posted online,” reads a statement from its official blog. “The interest and enthusiasm we have seen already – more than 1.1 million active users in the first eight hours without even launching the official Android app – is incredible.”

After that original post, those waiting for the official apps had nothing to go on for roughly 15 hours, followed by the most recent official word on the situation via BBM’s verified Twitter account. The most recent news is no news, however, with simply a restatement of its message from earlier that the company is working hard to restore the rollout.

BBM        ✔ @BBM

We will provide you an update on timing as soon as we can. Teams are working non-stop. Sign up for launch alerts at http://www.BBM.com

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