₦airaland Forum

Maryam Sanda has celebrated her daughter’s one year birthday – Sanda who was accused of stabbing her husband to death was recently released on bail – The court had stated that she was granted bail due to the fact that the prison facilities couldn’t handle her medical condition – It was gathered that the woman who suffers from asthma is also pregnant with child Maryam Sanda, the woman who was accused of stabbing her husband to death has celebrated her daughter’s one year birthday. Sanda was married to the late, Bilyamin Bello, the son of the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, Haliru Bello. The woman was accused and arrested for stabbing her husband to death over infidelity issues. she was remanded in Suleja prison on Friday, November 24. She was later released on bail as the police could not prove that the prison facilities can handle her medical condition. Days after her release from prison, Sanda who was released due to health issues threw a birthday party for her daughter who just clocked one. It was reported that Sanda who suffers from asthma is also pregnant. Maryam Sanda celebrates daughter’s one year birthday after she was granted bail Photo source: Instagram user Hausa room READ ALSO: Why court granted bail to the wife who allegedly killed ex-PDP chairman’s son The photos of the birthday that were released sparked outrage on social media. Nigerians stated that if she was released for being ill, she shouldn’t have the time to throw birthday parties. An Instagram page identified as Hausa room shared the photos from the birthday and stated that Sanda might have ruined her chances of being free. Nigerians blasted her for celebrating birthday after her release Photo source: Hausa room Hausa room wrote: “Not too long ago Maryam Sanda was released on bail, on the alleged murder of her husband Late “Bilyaminu” and today she allegedly celebrated her daughters 1-year-old birthday.
source: www.smlifestyle.com.ng

Saraki: Eulogies Women On International Women’s Day



The Senate President Dr.Bukola Saraki celebrates international women’s day with his wife and other women today.

He says; As a father to three young women; a husband to a lovely, supportive, and charismatic wife; a colleague to a few but effective legislators; and a son — every day, I witness firsthand the strength and resilience of women. #IWD2018

source: www.smlifestyle.com.ng

Here’s everything you need to know about the beginning of Lent, when it ends, Christian prayers and fasting as the tradition is marked between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

Millions of Christians will start celebrating Lent in February – a time of year that many non-believers may associate with fasting or abstinence.

But there is a lot more to the religious observance than giving up something, as it is regarded as a period of spiritual preparation to grow closer to God in the run-up to Easter.


Certain days are excluded from Lent, and many Christian denominations observe the period in different ways.

Here is everything you need to know about Lent – from the meaning behind it to the traditions that many worshippers follow.

Worshippers touch a replica of the crucifix during Lent
Worshippers touch a replica of the crucifix during Lent

A production of The Passion of Jesus on Good Friday in London in 2015
When does Lent begin?
For Western churches Lent begins every year on Ash Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday.
This year it begins on February 14th.

The date varies from year to year, starting in either late February or early March.

However, for Eastern Orthodox churches it begins on Clean Monday (February 19 this year), two days before Western churches.

making of the ash
Young probationers burn old Palm Sunday crosses to create ash for Ash Wednesday services
What is Lent?
Lent takes place every year in the 40 days leading up to Easter and is treated as a period of reflection and a time for fasting from food and festivities.

It symbolises the days which lead up to Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection when Christ spent 40 days and nights alone in the Judaean Desert being tempted by Satan.

When does Lent finish?
There’s no easy answer to this.

For Western churches, the 40-day period of Lent ends on Holy Saturday (March 31), the day before Easter.

But the liturgical season of Lent ends two days earlier on Holy Thursday (March 29).

For Eastern churches, it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday.

What days are excluded from Lent?
Lent lasts 46 days, but Sundays are not included in the overall count.

That means it is observed for 40 days in the run-up to Easter and is often a time when instead of fasting people will give up certain food and drink such as chocolate and alcohol.

The six Sundays are not counted because each one is seen as a “mini-Easter” celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

Lent 2018
Worshippers touch a replica of the crucifix during Lent
pope
What to give up for Lent 2018
What do people give up for Lent?
Lent is traditionally marked with fasting, abstinence and prayer.

Most believers tend to give up something until Lent ends to “purify” their bodies.

For children, it could be something such as chocolate, sweets, television or certain toys, while adults tend to give up things such as alcohol, coffee or smoking.

Some households may give up meat, eggs and dairy products.

Many believers use the time to volunteer at a charity or donate money to a good cause.

pancake
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the day after Pancake Day
What is Shrove Tuesday?
This year Shrove Tuesday – which is commonly known as Pancake Day – takes place on February 13.

The name comes from the word “shrive”, meaning absolution for sins by doing penance.

The day gets its name from the tradition of Christians trying to be ‘shriven’ before Lent.

Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as worshippers used up rich foods, including eggs, milk and sugar before they began their fast during Lent.

What is Ash Wednesday?
Held the day after Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), Ash Wednesday is considered a day to cleanse the soul before Lent begins.

Ashes are used to mark a cross on the foreheads of churchgoers to symbolise repentance for sin.

Palm crosses from the last Palm Sunday are burned and the ash is used to mark parishioners. It is also said to be a reminder that death comes to everyone.

Top Winter Olympics facts: 11 things you may not know about the 2018 games


As the 23rd Winter Olympic Games kick off in Pyeongchang, South Korea, here are some fun and interesting facts you should know.

The 2018 Winter Olympics is due to start in Pyeongchang, South Korea
Let’s face it, there aren’t many people who could ace a pub quiz based on the Winter Olympic Games.

You could generally be forgiven if you don’t know your Luge from your Lutz, or your Slalom from your Skeleton.


But now the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic is upon us, it’s about time you brushed up on your knowledge.

With this years games already underway in South Korea, we’ve rounded up some cracking facts that you can use to really break the ice (pun fully intended).

And if you think that one was bad, I’m afraid it’s all downhill from here…

1. Smallest host city since 1994

People dressed like snowmen seen in the Olympic village of Pyeongchang
Host city Pyeongchang will host it’s first ever Winter Olympic games and will be the smallest city to do so since the Lillehammer 1994 games in Norway.

It was the third time that South Korea had bid to host the games, and Pyeongchang had to fend off rival attempts from Munich and Annecy to win.

Located in the Taebaek Mountain region, the city lies 110 miles from Korea’s capital Seoul.

What’s more, it is situated only 40 miles away from a demilitarised zone that lies between North and South Korea.

Winter Olympics 2018

Winter Olympics 2018 full schedule

Why is Russia banned?

Winter Olympics facts

Winter Olympics full sports list
2. Welcome to high-speed rail

Canada’s Reid Watts in action during the men’s luge singles training session
In special preparation for the games, a brand new high-speed rail has been constructed to transport fans to and from the event.

The track opened in December 2017, and it will reduce the transport time from Seoul by half – now just taking approximately one and a quarter hours.

2018 PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS: ATHLETES TO WATCH

There are also new and expanded highways between Pyeongchang and coastal city Gangneung, meaning getting to the games should be a breeze.

3. New $109 million stadium

Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium has been specially built for the 2018 games
You can’t have an Olympics without a stadium.

And Pyeongchang has gone all out by building a brand new 35,000 seater for spectators to marvel at and enjoy.

However, bizarrely the venue will only be used to host the opening and closing ceremonies.

Not only that, but it’s cost the organisers an eye-watering $109 million to construct and will then be torn down afterwards. Go figure.

4. Big budget

A view of the ski jumping ramp in the mountain cluster of Pyeongchang
Not content with just racking up plenty of expenditure on the new stadium, the budget for the games as a whole is HUGE.

So far the costs have spiralled and the end figure will be approximately £13 billion.

That being said, it’s a stark improvement on the last games in Sochi, which cost five times that amount at an estimated £50 billion.

5. Athlete central

Richard Freitag of Germany trains for the Men’s Normal Hill Ski Jumping
The Olympic village is always a focal point for attention as all the athletes’ bundle in together for the duration of their stay.

There are two separate villages this year, with the main one in Pyeongchang housing up to 3,894 performers and official team members.

The second over in Gangneung isn’t exactly small either, playing host to a further 2,900 people.

Meet The Winter Olympics Athletes

Who are the Team GB hopefuls?

Chloe Kim

Laura Dahlmeier

Martin Fourcade

Evgenia Medvedeva

Anthony Watson
Lindsey Vonn of USA celebrates during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Downhill
Lindsey Vonn

Mikaela Shiffrin

Elise Christie

Pavel Datsyuk
Eve Muirhead
Eve Muirhead


6. New events

Charlotte Gilmartin during GB Short Track Speed Skating practice (Image: PA)
This year, winter sports fans will be treated to a bit more action than usual, with four new events set to be included.

The IOC has made some additions to the schedule, with big air snowboarding, freestyle skiing, mass start speed skating and mixed doubles curling all due to feature.

That means a total of 102 events across the 15 sports this time around.

7. No NHL

The NHL is not releasing their players to compete in this years Olympics (Image: Getty Images)
The National Hockey League has decided that their players will not be permitted to take part, after failing to agree to a break in their regular season.

1998 was the last time this happened and the decision has not gone down too well with the Professional players.

Instead, the ice rink will be the stage for amateur players to make a name for themselves, so we wish those guys the best of the puck (I know, I’m sorry).

8. Meet Soohorang

Soohorang the Tiger, the official mascot of the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (Image: TASS via Getty Images)
Here’s the new mascot for the 2018 games – Soohorang!

Organisers opted for a tiger due to the cultural roots of Korea and it’s placed in native mythology.

It is also regarded as a symbol of strength, protection and trust in Korean folklore.

He’s bound to be a roaring success.

9. Russian controversy

Alexey Romashov from Russia trains for the Men’s Normal Hill Ski Jumping
As ever, it wouldn’t be an Olympic Games without a few problems.

Following their own admission, Russia will not be competing in this year’s games due to their previous approval of a statewide doping programme.

Russian athletes are still permitted to take part, providing they can prove they are clean from any involvement with drugs.

28 bans have recently been overturned, which is in addition to the previous 169 athletes who were cleared to compete.

Those that do will have to do so under a neutral flag, however, and will have to abide by a special code of conduct.

So come what may, by the end of the tournament the records will still show zero medals for Russia no matter the results.

10. The unification of North and South Korea

Korea will compete as one in a unified Women’s ice hockey team
Tensions between the two neighbouring countries have been running high.

But both nations have confirmed that they will compete under the same flag for the first time at a winter Olympics this year.

The sides have sent joint teams to competitions in the past – the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Youth Soccer Championships – both in 1991.

But in a historic move, they will field a joint women’s Ice Hockey team as relationships between the countries grow.

11. The raunchiest Winter Olympics yet
Organisers are handing out 110,000 condoms to athletes taking part in PyeongChang this year – a new record for the winter games.

With 2,925 athletes taking part, that is enough for each participant to have sex 37 times over the 16 days of action.

Cheddar Man: the first Britons were black, Natural History Museum DNA study reveals[/b]

source: www.smlifestyle.com.ng

Revealed: First modern Britons had ‘dark to black’ skin
The earliest Britons were black-skinned, with dark curly hair and possibly blue eyes, a new analysis of a 10,000-year-old Somerset skeleton has revealed.

Scientists at the Natural History Museum have used pioneering genetic sequencing and facial reconstruction techniques to prove that the first hunter-gatherers successfully to inhabit Britain were far darker in complexion than previously thought.

The groundbreaking discovery was made in a “stroke of luck” after archaeologists found scraps of DNA in the ear of the Mesolithic “Cheddar Man”, the oldest complete skeleton ever found in the UK and one of the museum’s most treasured specimens.

They then cross-referenced the genomes of modern inhabitants of Cheddar, near Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge where the remains were discovered in 1903, as well as other fossils from across Europe.

Full facial reconstruction model of a head based on the skull of Britain's oldest complete skeleton on display during a screening event of The First Brit: Secrets Of The 10,000 Year Old Man at The Natural History Museum, in London

Full facial reconstruction model of a head based on the skull of Britain’s oldest complete skeleton on display during a screening event of The First Brit: Secrets Of The 10,000 Year Old Man at The Natural History Museum, in London CREDIT: PA
The results show, contrary to popular belief, that the founding generations of Britons owed more in appearance to Paleolithic Africans, from whom all humans descend.

Scientists said they show that commonly understood racial categories are historically only “recent constructions”.

Cheddar Man is Britain's oldest complete skeleton
Cheddar Man is Britain’s oldest complete skeleton CREDIT: NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Up to nine previous colonisations of Britain, via the now flooded European landbridge known as Doggerland, had been wiped out due to harsh temperatures.

But the roughly 12,000 humans in Britain at the time of Cheddar Man thrived and their DNA now comprises roughly 10 percent of the genetic make-up of most white people currently living in the UK.

They lived mainly in tents made from animal skins and preyed on animals like deer and boar using hunting dogs and bows and arrows.

Cheddar Man was reconstructed from following new genetic breakthroughs

Cheddar Man was reconstructed from following new genetic breakthroughs CREDIT: JONATHAN BRADY
Dr Yoan Dieckmann, from University College London, who took part in the project, said: “The historical perspective that you get just tells you that things change, things are in flux, and what may seem as a cemented truth that people who feel British should have white skin, through time is not at all something that is an immutable truth.

“It has always changed and will change.”

Establishing the genetic identity of Britain’s oldest skeleton enabled the team to find out whether it and therefore we, were related to earlier fragments of bone thought to belong to cannibals.

However, no DNA link was found.

Cheddar Man was discovered in Gough's Cave, in the Cheddar Gorge, Somerset
Cheddar Man was discovered in Gough’s Cave, in the Cheddar Gorge, Somerset CREDIT: JOE DANIEL PRICE
Archeologists already knew Cheddar Man was about five foot five inches tall, around 10 stone with good teeth and that he died in his early 20s.

But genetic sequencing that would have been impossible just ten years ago have now allowed them to determine the colour of its skin, eyes, and hair.

The information was passed to Dutch “Paleo-artists” Alfons and Adrie Kennis who make facial reconstructions of extinct mammals and early humans.

The results will be revealed as the First Brit: Secrets of the 10,000 Year Old Man airs on Channel 4 on Sunday, February 18.

“The combination of quite dark skin and blue eyes is something that we don’t imagine is typical, but that was the real appearance of these people, something that’s quite rare today,” said Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum.

Chinese police are wearing high-tech SUNGLASSES that use facial recognition to spot suspects, When would Nigerian Police Force get to this stage?



The high-tech glasses use facial recognition technology to pinpoint suspects in crowded areas, included train stations



They may sound like a product from an episode of Black Mirror, but Chinese police are using subglasses to spot criminals in the city of Zhengzhou.

The high-tech glasses use facial recognition technology to pinpoint suspects in crowded areas, included train stations.


According to People’s Daily, four officers are using the glasses at the entrances to Zhengzhou’s east station.

The glasses have a camera connected to a smartphone-like device that allows the officers to take photos of suspicious individuals and compare them to a database back at headquarters.


The glasses have a camera connected to a smartphone-like device that allows the officers to take photos of suspicious individuals and compare them to a database back at headquarters.
The app brings up the suspect’s vital information, including name, ethnicity, gender and address.

It also tells officers whether the suspects are on the run from the law, the address of the hotel where they are staying and information related to their internet usage.

So far, the technology has allowed police to nab seven suspects accused of crimes ranging from human trafficking to hit and runs, as well as another 26 people who were using fake IDs.

The system is part of China’s wider efforts to build a digital surveillance system to keep close tabs on the movements of the entire population.

As well as police, banks are also beginning to use facial recognition – letting users pay with their face instead of cards at cash machines.

www.smlifestyle.com.ng

Saheed Balogun Clock 51st Today He Shared the Same Birth-date With Ex-Wife Faithia Williams



Saheed Balogun is a veteran Nigerian actor, film-maker, director and producer.Saheed was born on February 5, 1967, in Kwara State but hails from Oyo State, where he had his primary, secondary and tertiary education.He graduated from Kwara State Polytechnic.He began acting in 1978 when he presented his first television program titled “Youth Today” on NTA. He produced his first film titled City Girl in 1989 but had featured, produced and directed several Nigerian films. He has featured, produced and directed several Nigerian films over the years.

He was married to Nollywood actress, Faithia Williams but is now separated. He has two children Khalid and Aaliyah Balogun.

http://www.smlifestyle.com.ng/saheed-balogun-clock-51st-today-he-shared-same-birth-date-with-ex-wife-faithia-williams/