Good Morning. A man in Italy had a brain tumor removed while he played his saxophone. The man was kept awake during the "very very complex" nine-hour surgery, which was performed by a specialized international team. Awake surgeries such as this are a way to preserve a patient's cognitive abilities.
Staying still for 9 hours playing a sax is genius. Barbers tell some people to keep still every 3 minutes when they're getting a haircut.
France. Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against soaring prices as weeks of strikes for higher wages at oil refineries spurred demands for a general strike. The leader of hard-left party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) marched alongside this year's Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Annie Ernaux. He called a general strike for Tuesday.
England. Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City have suffered their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss to a resurgent Liverpool at Anfield. Sunday’s game was a close affair and was decided by a 76th-minute Mohamed Salah goal. City’s loss at Anfield, coupled with Arsenal’s narrow win over Leeds, opened a four-point gap at the top. Mikel Arteta’s high-flying Gunners stayed on top with the win that came courtesy of a Bukayo Saka goal.
China. Premier Xi Jinping has indicated that China will continue its current policy trajectory. The signal came during Xi's opening speech at the congress of the Communist Party of China, which takes place twice every 10 years. Xi reiterated China's willingness to use force to gain control of Taiwan and called for more support for the People's Liberation Army. The congress is likely to grant Xi a third term in power, making him the first leader to govern for three terms since Mao Zedong.
1960 Classes Start at UNN
Classes begun at University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN with an enrolment of 220 students and 13 members of the academic staff. The opening convocation addresses were delivered by the Chairman of the Provisional Council, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria, and by Dr. John A. Hannah, President of Michigan State University, USA.
NIGERIA
The Story
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced plans to launch a Digital Certificate Platform.
When is the launch?
In a statement by the Council's Acting Head, Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, on Friday, WAEC plans to launch the platform on Thursday, October 20, 2022. Adesina urged stakeholders and the public to take advantage of the Digital Certificate Platform, which was designed to eliminate the bureaucratic bottlenecks currently associated with the manual procedures of certificate issuance and collection.
How's it going to impact things?
When launched, individuals, educational institutions, and organisations would be able to confirm the genuineness of any WAEC certificate on the digital platform. The platform can also help to recover burnt, lost, and damaged certificates. From the statement, the WAEC Digital Certificate Platform can be accessed online via www.waec.org and on its mobile application, which can be downloaded on android and iOS app stores.
"The benefits of this innovation are enormous, as candidates who have sat for the WASSCE in the past and present are able to access and share the original copies of their certificates with ease, the original copies of their certificates, which can be instantly confirmed from a credible and reliable source, regardless of the location", Adesina said. SOURCE
AFRICA
The Story
Ethiopia's government has placed restriction on access to foreign exchange in the country.
What restriction?
The government has ordered banks to not release foreign currency to businesses importing non-priority goods, in an effort to shore up dwindling foreign reserves in the country. "....we are sending a list of goods that will not be allowed forex for an indefinite period of time", Industry Minister Melaku Alebel Addis said in a letter posted Saturday on his Twitter account.
What are examples of the non-priority goods?
The Ministry of Finance stated in a letter to the country's central bank that it had become necessary to limit the use of foreign currency to the importation of only food, medicine and medical supplies, as well as raw materials for manufacturing. The restriction essentially halts the import of dozens of items such as alcohol and automobiles, since businesses must register with banks to obtain the foreign currency needed to bring goods into the country.
How much does the country have in foreign reserve?
No figures have been made public recently regarding the country's Forex reserve. According to The Reporter, a local publication, the National Bank of Ethiopia indicated reserves had decreased to $1.6b at the end of 2021, supporting less than 2 months' worth of imports. In addition to a crackdown on the black market exchange of Forex, where the US dollar could fetch up to twice the official exchange rate amid rising demand, the authorities have also tightened laws on foreign currency holdings for individuals and businesses. SOURCE
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EUROPE
The Story
When Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss assumed office in September, it was clear that the task ahead was not an easy one. The scale of her challenges was, however, not anticipated by many - at least not so soon.
What about her?
In the six weeks that she has been at number 10 Downing street, Truss' economic policies have triggered a financial crisis, emergency central bank intervention, policy U-turns, and the sack of her Treasury chief. And as she strives to contain growing public displeasure brought on by these economic challenges, Truss' nightmare is being complicated by discontent within her conservative party.
What's happening in the party?
Truss appears to be losing support within the party. Speaking on issues since Truss assumed office, Robert Halfon, a conservative lawmaker, fumed on Sunday that the last few weeks had been “one horror story after another.” “The government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country as kind of laboratory mice on which to carry out ultra, ultra free-market experiments,” Halfon said.
What plans did she have?
During her bid for the job, Truss promised tax cuts as she called herself a disruptor who would challenge economic “orthodoxy.” While her main opponent in the race, Rishi Sunak warned of the potential impact of the proposed tax cuts, Truss argued that her unorthodox economic plan would spur the growth of Britain's economy. Truss proved that her words were not mere campaign gimmick as she and her now-sacked Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng announced an economic plan that included £45b ($50b) in tax cuts, an announcement that sent the Pound, and the financial markets, reeling.
Observers have admitted being surprised that Truss meant what she said in the build up to becoming PM. "Many of us, wrongly, expected her to pivot after she won the leadership contest in the way many presidents do after winning the primaries. But she didn’t do that. She actually meant what she said", said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. Truss has responded to the storm by firing Kwarteng and dumping parts of the economic plan in a bid to reassure stakeholders. But it remains to be seen how long before she gets to still waters. SOURCE
LIFE EXPERIENCES
QUORA QUESTION: What are the weirdest things flight attendants have seen in their line of duty?
RAY LANCASTER: I once chatted with a South-African air stewardess. She was on holiday at a Swiss hotel where I worked in the 1980s.
These were still the dark old days of apartheid in her country. I asked her how this policy affected her job and she explained that it didn’t apply on airplanes in and out of the country.
One day, however, she was working on a packed aircraft about to take off when a passenger barged into the cabin. He was late, out of breath, relieved to have caught the plane and… white.
His relief dissolved as he realised his allocated seat was next to a black passenger. He demanded a change.
The stewardess told him it was impossible because the plane was full.
The passenger refused to sit down.
Stand-off. The only apparent solution was for him to get off the plane.
That’s when he got creative. He opened the toilet door and sat down: « I’ll stay here then. »
This was both dangerous and illegal, but the crew was under pressure to take off. So they let it be.
The white man thus flew all the way from South Africa to Europe on a toilet seat rather than sit beside someone with a different-coloured skin.
Court order is major reason we suspended strike, says ASUU president
Wike upgrades appointment of Special Assistants to 50,000
Zamfara shuts media houses for covering PDP rally
FG says flood killed 603, blames states, LGs
Anambra APC disowns Ngige for not endorsing Tinubu
Oyebanji sworn in as governor of Ekiti
Subsidy: I’m sorry for the next President – Sanusi
Uganda orders 21-day lockdown in bid to contain spread of Ebola
DR Congo colonels get death penalty for murder of Chinese workers
Iran accuses ‘Great Satan’ US of ‘inciting chaos, terror’
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
LL.M Scholarship at University of California
The African Legal Impact Scholarship was developed to encourage enrollment of students from Africa seeking advanced legal education at the University of California, Berkeley. Because funds are extremely limited, the African Legal Impact Scholarship can only be provided to two outstanding applicants each year.
Application Deadline: Nov. 1, 2022. APPLY HERE
10 health dangers of cigarette smoking you need to know. Freshly Pressed
America's strangest roadside attractions. Thrillist
World Bank, China… here are Nigeria’s top five creditors. The Cable
MC Oluomo and 2023 Elections. Medium
POLITICS TODAY
While we are all responsible for Nigeria's current reality, it must, however, be stated that the governments/politicians from 1960 till now, are the major culprits in the mess that Nigeria has been in and will remain until something positive happens...
Nigeria would be the real giant of Africa, proudly leading other African countries in an awe-inspiring march to greatness. But national greatness requires visionary, patriotic, and committed leaders.
Whether it is admitted or not, and despite his own personal flaws (which every human has in one way or another), Obafemi Awolowo is the only one who could be said to have come close to being the kind of leader imagined above.
The role of the Constitution of Awolowo's time cannot be over-emphasized, though, among the factors that enabled Awolowo to be able to do many of the things he did as Premier of the old Western region, for which he is still being commended. Things like the first Television station in Africa (WNTV, now NTA, in Ibadan), the Liberty stadium (Ibadan), and the Cocoa House (also in Ibadan), paid the highest minimum wage at the time.
TRIVIA
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Written by Seun, Mercy, Kingsley, and Tosin.
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