Arik Air Suspends Flights To Dubai

Arik Air Suspends Flights To Dubai

By eMiracle   07:28:00   No comments:

Nigerian carrier Arik Air has announced a temporarily sus­pension of further flights from Lagos via Abuja to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The flights from Lagos airport via Abuja to Dubai were started by the airline nine months ago. However, Arik Air announced the suspension of the service on April 29, 2015, Wednesday.
The company also informed that the recent flight delays and cancellations being experienced by the airline’s passengers in the last few days were due to the scarcity of aviation fuel (Jet A1) in Lagos.

Why the route is suspended from May 4, 2015, Monday.

The reasons given by the company are:
– a challenging wider economic environment in Nigeria;
– increasingly stringent travel regulation controls in the UAE;
–  the inability of the airline to compete on the route with Emirates and Etihad, which many air travellers see as the major players on the route (unofficial, from a source close to a company).

With the suspension, Arik Air became the second Nigerian carrier to stop operations to the UAE few months after commencement. Air Nigeria had suspended operations into the route a few months after starting them due to unhealthy rivalry between it and Emirates Airlines.
When Air Nigeria began the route then, the UAE carrier brought down its fares astronomically, which affected the revenues of the Nigerian airline.

No aviation fuel = problems of the passengers?!

The company requires a daily supply of between 600,000 and 800,000 litres of aviation fuel. However, scarcity hit Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, with the first signs appearing on April 23, 2015, Thursday. As a result:
– flights were delayed or cancelled in cases where the destination airport had no airfield lighting;
– flights were diverted to other airports outside Lagos where the Jet A1 was readily available.
In its statement, Arik Air apologised to its passengers over the inconvenience, describing the cause as “circumstances beyond the control of the airline.”
It will be noted that cancellations and the bad attitude to customers by the staff of the company has recently resulted in tensions at the MMIA, Lagos. See more in the video below:

Source: Naij news :http://goo.gl/L2d9jH

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Igbinedion has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for N25bn money laundering offences

Igbinedion has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for N25bn money laundering offences

By eMiracle   07:19:00   No comments:

Reports getting to us from Naij news has shown that the  younger brother of ex-Governor of Delta state, Lucky Igbinedion, Michael, has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for N25bn money laundering offences by a Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State on Thursday.

Micheal Igbinedion

An aide of the ex-governor, Patrick Eboigbodin, was also jailed for 20 years for the same of offences.
The Punch however reports that governor’s brother has an option of paying N3m or N1m for each of the three counts on which he was found guilty to avoid going to jail. Eboigbodin’s sentencing on Thursday is without an option of fine.
The four companies are Gava Corporation Limited, Romrig Nigeria Limited, PML Securities Company Limited and PML Nigeria Limited.
Justice A.M. Liman found Michael guilty on counts 79, 80 and 81 of the alleged charges while Eboigbodin was found guilty on counts 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the assets of PML Limited to the Federal Government. The company will also pay N250,000 fine.
Liman noted that the prosecution had proved the alleged collaboration by the accused beyond reasonable doubts but he discharged them all on the other count charges on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations.
The judge further explained that the prosecution only proved suspicion but failed to prove illicit origin of funds deposited in the named banks.
The convicts were arraigned on 81-count charge bordering on money laundering. The  offences were committed between 1999 and 2007 when Lucky Igbinedion was the governor of Delta state.

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How to find out instantly if a battery is dead: this myth will suprise you

How to find out instantly if a battery is dead: this myth will suprise you

By eMiracle   06:43:00   No comments:

In the above video, BuzzFeed demonstrates how to find out if you have a fully-juiced AA battery: Rest the battery upright atop a table, pick it up with two fingers (not too far off the table) and then gently drop it. “New batteries tend to stay upright,” says the BuzzFeed video, “Used ones tend to bounce and fall down.”

I did simultaneous battery drops to see if, like the video said, the full battery would stand tall while the empty battery wobbled and fell over. The first time, the batteries did just that:

But the very next time, I guess I didn’t do a good drop because both batteries fell over:

On the third try, the batteries again did as expected: the fully charged one stayed up while the other teetered and fell:

Source: Yahoo news

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Jonathan Questions Buhari’s Victory: Encourages PDP members

Jonathan Questions Buhari’s Victory: Encourages PDP members

By eMiracle   02:49:00   No comments:

Jonathan and Buhari

The Punch reports that President Jonathan has on Thursday questioned the results of the March 28 presidential election, saying “the Peoples Democratic Party couldn’t have got those kinds of scores” it had in some places.


Jonathan said, “The problem is not whether we lost the elections, that is history, but how do we consolidate our party and move forward? If we are committed and we work hard, definitely the PDP will bounce back. The PDP is still the dominant party. If you look at the results, the difference is just 2.5 million votes and if you look at the areas where it is perceived that the PDP scored so low, the PDP couldn’t have got those kinds of scores but the elections are over, so the country first.
“It is not as if Jonathan alone made the sacrifice, it is all of us. I made the pronouncement but some of us are paying the price. Some people pay more price than I do, I know how some of you are already being persecuted and the kind of situation facing you. The key thing is that we must continue to unite, as a party; we must continue to work hard so that as we go into subsequent elections in 2019, 2023 and so on and so forth, the PDP will continue to come up strong. Even in the interest of the nation, we need the PDP.
“I still believe, though we have lost presidential election, some National Assembly elections, governorship elections especially in the North, the PDP is still the dominant party. Let us not judge the PDP by the results of the elections for the presidential election. Our duty is to go back and identify areas of challenges so that the party will come up strong and play the role as a very strong party. The PDP is still the most organised party, is still the party that is not owned by anybody, is still the party that whatever you are, you can get to any level with your competencies and so on.”

President Jonathan has also told the pdp defectors that they will return with empty stomachs since APC will first settle their party members before remembering the PDP defectors and that by then the food may have finished. However, he urged all the faithful party members to remain committed to the PDP, adding that even if it was difficult in the beginning, their aim would be achieved eventually. The president said, “I encourage members of our party to remain loyal to the party; not to be so disillusioned because we lost presidential election and decide to go where they think they will fill their stomachs or something. It is not easy. I have been here for five years plus, you hardly satisfy even 15 per cent of those who work for you.
“So, those people running and those already cross-carpeting, they will come back on an empty stomach because they will touch the primary members of their party before they get to them. They know you are coming because you are hungry; and before it will get to you, the food will be gone. So, let us be committed to the party, yes we will have challenges at the beginning but surely we will get to where we want to be.”
The President has also said that his congratulating the president elect was a step he tok on behalf of the PDP.
“Yes, I did not consult anybody before I made that phone call (to Buhari) but I made that phone call on behalf of all of you and on behalf of the PDP, “ he said.
Jonathan likened the 2015 elections to the nation’s civil war, saying people would give different accounts of the event depending on the angle from where they were reporting.
However, he said that because of his privileged position, he knew about the elections more than any other person. He said the most important thing was not about his electoral loss, but the need to consolidate the party and move forward. He said, “The issues of this 2015 elections will be similar to the civil war because different people gave different accounts of the civil war.
“The first book on civil war that I read was ‘My Command’ by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, which is his perspectives on what he saw and observed. I recall (Chukwuemeka) Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s own was ‘Because I’m Involved.’ I know that the issues of the 2015 general elections, may be after few years when political scientists will write, we will get different perspectives.
“If you ask the various observer groups, each will give you a different perspective. Even among ourselves whenever we talk sometimes I laugh when people draw some of their analysis but by my privileged position, I know a little more about the elections than others.
“But the key thing is not whether we lost or won but that Nigeria as a nation must move forward. Political parties can only thrive when there is peace and stability in the country. If there is military intervention all the parties will disappear.”

The president further encouraged the members saying that despite the loss that the PDP had suffered in all the elections, it remained the dominant party in the country. He also expressed joy that countries that brought ships to Nigeria and were waiting to evacuate their citizens in case post-election crisis broke out did not have any reason to do so.
Attributing the PDP’s loss to conspiracies and betrayals from people trusted by the party chiefs, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, said, “There is a lot to be done. We need a very vibrant and strong party that can stand in as a strong opposition party; a party that can stand well in the next election. That party has to be put in place now. I believe that we are on the right path.”
Senator Ali said the lessons learnt from the elections would be used to wrest power from the APC in 2019. He said it was sad that the PDP lost despite all the energy it put into the electioneering. He also said the report would provide a road map for the PDP to move forward. Ali described the campaigns in the 36 states of the federation as largely successful except for a few incidents in some states.

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bat-winged dinosaur discovered in China

bat-winged dinosaur discovered in China

By eMiracle   02:33:00   No comments:

this will really fascinate you, to hear of this Chinese amazing discovery   (a new dinosaur with bat wings)  i came across this new discovery on CNN

(CNN)Chinese scientists say they have discovered a new dinosaur species, with bat-like wings, that sheds light on how dinosaurs may have evolved into birds.

Based on a fossil specimen discovered in China's Hebei province a decade ago, scientists estimate the bird-like dinosaur existed for a very short time 160 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, according to a new paper published in scientific journal Nature on Wednesday.

The flying creature weighed about 230 grams and was 63 centimeters in length.

Xu Xing, a paleontologist with China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and lead author of the report, told CNN the dinosaur's fossilized remains highlighted the complexity of evolution.

Named Yi qi, or "strange wing" in Chinese, Xu said it was one of the earliest dinosaurs to show some capacity for flight -- even though it wasn't very successful.

Only known specimen of the new dinosaur Yi qi.

Unlike other bird-like dinosaurs, its wings were made from membranes -- like a bat -- rather than composed of feathers.

It didn't become the birds we see today -- it tried but failed.

"It's a failed experiment, it's an evolutionary dead end," Xu said.

"Over the last 30 years, there were so many discoveries made that demonstrate birds are really descendants of dinosaurs," he said.

"It's a great example showing how dinosaurs evolved into birds."

Artist reconstruction of dinosaur Yi qi.

Even though the dinosaur had wings, Xu said it's unclear whether it could flap them and most likely moved through the air mostly by gliding.

He told CNN the fossil is now held in a museum in Shandong Province, and the next step would be trying to find more fossils of the same species to be able to better understand, for example, its flight capability.

Thanks to a robust economy, China has become a major center for dinosaur discovery and research.

"We have more funding for paleontological expeditions," he said. "So now there are more expeditions in this country than 30 years ago, which means you can find more fossils.

Widespread construction work also helps to expose more rocks and fossils, he added.

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