Kareem's Pick Blog

Senate Presidency; Associates of Ndume debunk social media  rumor alleging his withdrawal Lawan 
By Abdulkareem (Blogger-in-Chief)
A group of concerned Borno stakeholders and associates of Senator Ali Ndume  have on Friday night debunked the rumor trending  on the social media alleging he and  Senator Danjuma Goje have withdrawn from the senate presidency race following a purported meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The news which had  trended on some social media platforms suggested that Messrs Ndume and Goje have stepped down for Senate Leader , Ahmed Lawan.  
A Facebook Page named "Ugo Nwanne Movement for Change and Progress" published a post that read, "Breaking!!! Danjuma Goje and Ali Ndume drops ambition to support Lawan".  
Reacting to the social media rumor, associates of the Borno senator, led by one Alhaji Samaila Ville, told a select journalists in Maiduguri insisting that the news being spread on the social media "was mischievous and fake.&quo…

Soldkjaer, set to return Manchester United to it's glorious old days in the Champions League

By Blogger-In -Chief The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos has expressed concerns about President Muhammadu Buhari's decision not to sign the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill.(#HB490)
The IPC reacted to a statement from the presidency quoted severally by the media in Nigeria  that the President did not sign the bill because it allegedly covered too many technical subjects and "fails to address any of them extensively", especially in the areas of data protection, surveillance, and lawful interception of communications. 
IPC said the president's refusal letter suggested that the bill should be limited to "human rights" within the digital environment to reduce the challenge of legislation and legislative conflicts in the future.  
The media and journalists protection outfit however disagrees with this position because "the Digital Rights Bill clearly provides for the protection of human rights online, protect internet users from infringement of their…

(Culled From Nicki Swift) By Todd Jacobs

In 1989, Halle Berry was living in a homeless shelter in New York City.
 In 1991, she made her big screen debut in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed Jungle Fever, and in 2002, she became the first black woman to win the Academy Award for best actress for her mesmerizing turn in the slow burn Southern drama Monster's Ball.
At the age of 36, Berry was sitting firmly at the top of her profession. So with her acting prowess and a seemingly long career ahead, where did it all go wrong? Let's take a deep dive into why Hollywood isn't infatuated with Berry anymore.
It all started with Gothika

After a few supporting roles in studio tentpole films, Berry's first leading role following Monster's Ball was as a psychiatrist accused of murder in the psychological horror thriller Gothika. 
Although it made a respectable $141.6 million at the box office, the movie was a critical disaster. 
 Empire  called it an "overwrought horror…

Culled FromPhillyVoice
A second male birth control pill showed no safety concerns in preliminary testing, suggesting that a new form of contraception may be available far down the road. The new pill, which works similarly to female contraception, passed initial safety tests and produced hormone responses consistent with effective birth control in the men studied, according to research presented by the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Washington at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, TIMEreports. The new research involved 40 healthy men who received either a placebo or the experimental birth control pill, which is, for now, called 11-beta-MNTDC. The purpose of phase one trials is to gather initial data on a drug's safety, not to test whether it's effective. In fact, the duration of the trial was insufficient to prove the pill's effectiveness as a contraceptive — that would take 60 to 90 days of use, the researchers said. Instead, the hormo…

By Blogger-In-Chief, Abdulkareem Haruna


The United States Government, through it's consulate in Lagos has sponsored 20 young Nigerian entrepreneurs across 10 states to participate in the 2019 edition of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Found,   Efeyinwa Ugochukwu, revealed this at a media briefing held in Abuja ahead the unveling of the 2019 Entrepreneurship Program.
Mrs Ugochukwu also said for the first time, a Nigerian state government has also keyed into the Entrepreneurship Program.

Enugu state is sponsoring 15 young entrepreneurs in the training. Speaking at the press conference, cohosted by the Chairman of the Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, the CEO said the annual Entrepreneurship development program targets 10, 000 youths across the 54 African countries within ten years.
She said what makes the 2019 edition a bit unique is the buy-in of government and other outside sponsors.
She commended the Indorama group for t…

By Blogger Abudulkareem Haruna
The Government of Mozambique, according to latest flash update by the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), has formally requested international assistance as flooding caused by cyclone threatens more life in the East African country.

Already, other sister African countries have shared in the casualty impact as water terrorises the coastal region of the East African Nations.
"The official death toll has risen to at least 242 people, according to the Government," the UNOCHA report said. At least 65,000 people are sheltering in more than 100 collective sites across Sofala (73 sites), Manica (18), Zambezia (10) and Tete (4); the majority are staying in schools and churches.
Nearly 11,400 houses have been completely destroyed and crop losses are extensive​.
What Government is Doing for now The Government of Mozambique is said to have "established a temporary medical centre at the port in Beira to be su…

By Blogger  (Abdulkareem Haruna)
Today  a creme of 30 journalists from across Nigeria converged in  Abuja, Nigeria's capital, under the auspices of Partnership to Engagement, Reform and Learn (#PERL), a non-governmental organisation, to review  strategies for implementation of National Health Act.

At a closed technical session facilitated by +Lauratu Umar and +Edwin Onoja, both of +PERL, the media participants shared their experiences on the respective efforts invested in the last seven months towards echoing the advocacy for adoption and possible implementation of the #NHA.
The Nigerian NHA came into force in 2014 after about four years of rigorous legislative process to address the labrynthine issues that have for years plagued the country's healthcare system. 
Nigeria, according to WHO recent survey, ranked number 187 out of the 190 sampled countries on Global Healthcare Index.  Kareem's Pick Blog investigations revealed that Nigeria, a country of nearly 180 million pe…

By Blogger  At least 48 people have died following Cyclone Idai’s landfall in Mozambique, according to unverified media reports quoted by the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
Reports said the death toll is expected to rise in the days ahead as further information becomes available. Kareem's Pick Blog had earlier reported that the impact of the Mozambique tempest, christened #CycloneIdai, had caused a devastating impact on East African country's neighbours with Zimbabwe recording at least 30 death and over a hundred persons missing as the flooding washes through it's coastal areas. The latest update by UNOCHA indicated that
"there has been significant damage to houses in Beira City – which
has an estimated population of more than half a million people -
according to initial information. "Health and education facilities have also been damaged, with preliminary reports indicating that the Beira Central Hospital emergency …

By Blogger
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has in a flash update, Sunday afternoon, said at least 30 persons have been confirmed death and over 100 missing as the landfall caused by tropical cyclone in Mozambique on Thursday  hit  Zimbabwe. Kareems Pick Blog had earlier reported that 21 deaths and over 70 injured as the circling wild rainstorm tore through coastal areas of Mozambique. According to the latest UNOCHA update, the Mozambique tempest called Cyclone Idai impact is already being felt in the neighboring East African country of Zimbabwe.
Already, the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the impact of Cyclone Idai has put his country "in a state of disaster." The Flash Update said "the Cyclone Idai weather system hit eastern Zimbabwe on 15 and
16 March, with Chimanimani and Chipinge districts in Manicaland
Province hardest-hit." "At least 31 deaths have been reported and over 100 peo…

By Blogger
The United Nations is reporting that at least 21 persons have been killed and nearly 70 injured in the cyclone that hit some parts of Mozambique on Thursday.
Elementarily, cyclone is a large scale air mass that blows, usually during rainfall, with enormous speed in circles and rotates around a strong center of low pressure. In other words, it is some kind of inward large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure.
In a flash report issued today by UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the tropical
Cyclone Idai’s landfall on city of Beira, in
Sofala Province has cut off communication in  that part of Mozambique. 
The flash update says vote"the full impact of the cyclone is yet to be established."
"However, initial reports indicate loss of life and significant damage to
infrastructure in Beira and surrounding areas. At least 21 deaths and more than 70 injuries have been reported in Sofala  P…

By Blogger Abdulkareem Haruna
These group of four Adamawa girls are not of the voting age.

But my camera lense  caught them gathered around a published result sheet for Governorship Election pasted by the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) right opposite the gate of Adamawa State Government House in Jimeta-Yola.

Of course they did not participate in the polls because they are just 15, 14, 12 and 8 years old. 
But they came out to idle around one of their big aunties who sold cold drink for voters at the polling unit.
After the electoral officials had left, the girls approached the INEC results sheet and busied themselves analysing the performance of all Candidates as indicated on the result sheet
"No we didn't vote because we are not 18 yet," said one of them who told me she is just 12 years old. 
They speak good English. 
And they understand what the election was all about. 
They are smart girls. Most Adamawa girls, I just learned, are.

Veiled in their ov…

By Blogger Abdulkareem Haruna In the next few hours, citizens of Borno state of voting age will file out to cast their vote for the next man who will take over the rein of power as the executive governor of Borno state. A franchising decision that cannot be reversed, except by God, until after four years.  Ordinarily, no one seems sure of where the majority of the deciding votes will go until the final casted ballot is counted. But in the present context and judging from the evolving political dynamics especially in the last  countdown hours to the election, one cannot but hazard a bet with life that the candidate of the All Progress Congress (APC), Professor Babagana Umara, straddles comdortably on the chariot of victory as he gallops towards Government House, Maiduguri. Without being immodest, one can say the election  that will commence this morning is nothing but a fulfilment of perfunctory formality. For the first time in the anals of gubernatorial polls in Borno state, th…

(An article culled from The Start Magagine) ByKpBlog's SCIENCE & TECH:

You've provably heard of identical and fraternal twins, but a report published Thursday says there's a third kind -- sesquizygous twins or "semi-identical."
Identical -- or monozygotic -- twins pop up from a single fertilized egg that eventually splits in two and forms two identical boys or two girls. They share 100% of their DNA.
The Mercury Fraternal -- or dizygotic -- twins form from two eggs that have been fertilized by two of the father's sperm, producing two genetically unique siblings. They share 50% of their DNA.
But "semi-identical" twins are so rare, experts say they have only identified two cases -- ever.
Right along that DNA-sharing spectrum, "semi-identical" twins share anywhere from 50% to 100% of their genomes, researchers say.
And they're extremely, extremely  rare. The only other reported case of sesquizygotic twins was reported in the United St…