Leftover Rice Could Make You Very Sick

On a scale from “1” to “listeria” the amount of stomach trouble I would expect a bowl of rice to give me falls around a “2,” but apparently the seemingly innocuous grain can inflict a lot of pain if it’s not stored properly.

According to Benjamin Chapman, Food Safety Specialist from North Carolina State University, cooking rice doesn’t necessarily kill all the pathogens that may be lurking about. “The issue with rice,” he explained to me over email, “is that one pathogen, Bacillus cereus, is quite prevalent in dried rice (some sources say ubiquitous), likely as spores. The spores may survive cooking. If cooked rice is subsequently held at room temperature, the spores can come out of their protective form, germinate, and vegetative forms multiply. The cooked rice environment provides a lot of water and nutrients for growth. As a by-product of growth, they create a couple of toxins, including a heat-stable one.”

Though it’s unclear exactly how many cases of food poisoning Bacillus cereus is responsible for, one study estimated an incidence of 63,623 cases per year. Luckily, popping any leftover rice in the fridge after you’re done enjoying your dish should keep you safe. According to this article from Epidemiology and Infection, boiled rice should “either be kept hot” (above 63° C/145.4°F) or “cooled quickly and transferred to a refrigerator within 2 hours of cooking.” In fact, the most dangerous temperature zone for rice to hang out in is “room temperature to warm” range (15-50° C/59-122°F).

Beyond refrigerating any home-cooked rice, a sense of vigilance is helpful when dining out. According to food scientist Donald Schaffner of Rutgers University, some restaurants “cook up a large batch of rice, hold it at room temperature all day,” and then take portions from the batch as needed. “Because Bacillus makes a heat stable toxin,” he explained “this is not a best practice, and has led to outbreaks in the past.” “Heat stable” means that the toxin can survive boiling and, once the rice is cooled into the “danger zone” of 59-122°F, the bacteria can multiply, making even more of the toxin. Sushi rice, he noted, shouldn’t be a problem as vinegar is added to lower the pH, allowing it to be held safely at room temperature.

In short, the best way to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from Bacillus cereus and the havoc it wreaks is to refrigerate any leftovers within two hours of cooking, and check with your favorite rice-serving restaurants to find out how they prepare and store each batch. After all, rice is supposed to help your tummy, not send it into turmoil.

FINALLY: Buhari to visit Sambisa on Monday

President Muhammadu Buhari will visit Sambisa forest, the former stronghold of Boko Haram insurgents, on Monday.

This was disclosed by the Chief of Training and Operations, Nigerian Army, Major General David Amadu, during a press briefing in Maiduguri on Friday.

He said the President will be at forest to declare open the Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship, (NASAC 2017) scheduled to hold there.

According to him, the championship aims at testing and shaping the intelligence and professional capacity of the Nigerian Army officers and soldiers as well as equipment.

Buhari is to be accompanied by the Minister of Defense, Alhaji Mansur Ali and Service Chiefs, Chief of Defense Staff, General Gabriel Olanisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Sadique and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Obet Ebas.

Source: dailypost.ng

NASA TRACKS DOWN MISSING LUNAR SPACECRAFT

It made history as India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft. Then it vanished.

Nearly a decade later, NASA has located two unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon, including India's Chandrayaan-1, which went quiet in 2009.

Scientists used a new ground radar to locate the spacecraft -- one active and one dormant -- orbiting the moon, NASA said Thursday.

"We have been able to detect NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [LRO] and the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in lunar orbit with ground-based radar," said Marina Brozovic, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Finding LRO was relatively easy, as we were working with the mission's navigators and had precise orbit data where it was located."

The Chandrayaan-1 was more of a challenge because the last contact with the spacecraft was in August 2009.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is small -- about half the size of a smart car -- making its detection even more noteworthy.

While interplanetary radar has been used to see small asteroids several million miles from Earth, researchers were unsure it could detect an even smaller object as far away as the moon.

Such objects are especially a challenge to find because the moon is filled with regions with high gravitational pull that can drastically change a spacecraft's orbit.

Optical telescopes cannot search for small objects because of the bright glare of the moon.

Source: wcvb.com

Arsene Wenger spits Fire: Arsenal is better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Barca & Real Madrid

Arsenal's perturbed coach, Arsene Wenger has made a ridiculous claim that'll surely get him a lot of flak.

Despite the possibility of his club not qualifying for the Champions league, and going another season without silverware, he's said that Arsenal is the best club in the world and football isn't all about wining trophies.

 

The last time Arsenal won a major trophy was in 2004 and fan pressure for him to leave the club this summer reached an all time high after his 10-2 humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich in this season's champions League.

The veteran manager who has been at Arsenal since 1996 has leaped to the defence of his record, stressing that he has helped build ‘the best club in the world’.

‘For me Arsenal is the best club in the world and what we have built is absolutely remarkable, not only on the results front but on the values that this club, what we have built,’ Wenger told beIN Sports.

''Of course a football club is about winning, it’s as well about values.‘Nobody talks about that anymore but sport is as well about values and I think integrity, respect, humility, togetherness are very important qualities and if you would visit our club you would see that they really exist on a daily basis.

‘That is part of what I am proud as well.’You can basically say that if you don’t win the championship it is not a successful season and I can understand that but you take clubs like Liverpool and they have not won the Premier League, they are a big club. 

‘You have clubs like Man City, Man United, certainly the championship will be won by Chelsea so we have all, and no matter how many we are, Tottenham, all these clubs, every year only one will win it.’

HALF OF PEOPLE FACING WATER SCARCITY LIVE IN INDIA, CHINA

United Nations: Half of the world's two-third population that live in areas that experience water scarcity at least one month a year are from India and China, a UN report said on Wednesday.

The 2017 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report, entitled "Wastewater: The Untapped Resource", said that two-thirds of the world's population currently live in areas that experience water scarcity for at least one month a year.

"Noteworthy is that about 50 per cent of the people facing this level of water scarcity live in China and India," it said.

The report also noted that about 500 million people live in areas where water consumption exceeds the locally renewable water resources by a factor of two. This includes parts of India, China, the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, Central Asia, arid parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, Central and Western South America, and Central and Western North America.

In several areas, from the western US and southern Europe through Northern Africa and the Middle East to parts of China and India, freshwater resources are already severely stressed and service providers are struggling to meet the ever-increasing demand for freshwater.
"Reusing water enhances freshwater availability for meeting human and environmental needs and is indeed already happening in several places. Depending on its level of treatment, wastewater can be ? and is being ? used for multiple purposes, ranging from irrigation and landscaping to industrial uses, and even as a source of potable drinking water," the report said.

Another report issued by UNICEF on World Water Day said some 600 million children ? or one in four children worldwide ? will be living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040.

The report 'Thirsting for a Future: Water and children in a changing climate' looks at the threats to children's lives and wellbeing caused by depleted sources of safe water and the ways climate change will intensify these risks in coming years.

"Water is elemental; without it, nothing can grow. But around the world, millions of children lack access to safe water -- endangering their lives, undermining their health, and jeopardising their futures. This crisis will only grow unless we take collective action now," UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said.

According to the report, 36 countries are currently facing extremely high levels of water stress, which occurs when demand for water far exceeds the renewable supply available.

Warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, increased floods, droughts and melting ice affect the quality and availability of water as well as sanitation systems.

higher demand for water largely due to industrialisation and urbanisation are draining water resources worldwide. Conflicts in many parts of the world also threaten children's access to safe water.

All of these factors force children to use unsafe water, which exposes them to potentially deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhoea.

Many children in drought-affected areas spend hours every day collecting water, missing out on a chance to go to school. Girls are especially vulnerable to attack during these times, the UNICEF report said.

The poorest and most vulnerable children will be most impacted by an increase in water stress, the report said, as millions of them already live in areas with low access to safe water and sanitation.

The report also notes that up to 663 million people globally do not have access to adequate water sources and 946 million people practice open defecation.

Over 800 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoea linked to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene and globally, women and girls spend 200 million hours collecting water every day.

The impact of climate change on water sources is not inevitable, UNICEF said. The report provides a series of recommendations that can help curb the impact of climate change on the lives of children.

It said governments need to plan for changes in water availability and demand in the coming years and need to prioritize the most vulnerable children's access to safe water above other water needs to maximize social and health outcomes.

Source: zeenews.india.com

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OKAYS N80BN FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF 12 ROADS

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N80 billion for the reconstruction of 12 federal roads across the country.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The first is the approval for the Engineering and Consultancy design for access roads 1 and 2 ‎to link Asaba in Delta State and Onitsha in Anambra State to the Second Niger Bridge project.

“Subsequent to the award of further works of the Second Niger Bridge we have started work now by this approval on the design of the link road that will connect the two states to the bridge.

“The design is expected to be completed in six months and we will start procurement and as the bridge advances we can then connect the two states. The contract sum is N150,840,000,’’ he said.

According to the Minister, other roads approved for reconstruction by the council are in Bauchi, Plateau, Osun, Kwara, Oyo, Enugu, Kaduna and Kano.He said the other road projects approved across the states included the Numan, Jalingo roads connecting Adamawa‎ and Taraba states and the replacement of bridges at Mayanchi along Gusau-Sokoto road in Zamfara states.

Fashola disclosed that the council also approved the Power Sector Recovery Programme aimed at improving electricity in the country.

He said the council also approved the extension of the consultancy and project management contract for the Katsina Wind Energy Farm project.

The minister revealed that the extension was necessitated by challenges faced in the course of executing the project that was awarded in 2010 and expected to be completed in 2013.

“The expatriate implementing the project was kidnapped and when he was eventually rescued he never came back and that delayed the project. But we have revived the project; a new contracting team is back on site.

“The contract of the consultants representing us has expired and so we are extending his contract to cover new period of completion,’’ he said.

Similarly, FCT Minister Musa Bello revealed that the council approved three key infrastructure projects for the territory.

Bello stated that the approved projects included the procurement of 12 sets of train coaches to be used on the completed Lot 3 rail tracks.

He said Lot 3 will start from Abuja metro station through the Stadium, National Park, Ring Road 11 station, Idu station and will terminate at the airport.

Source: naij.com

Nigerian Artistes Are Just Empty Barrels – Brymo

Controversial singer, Brymo, may have just started yet another cold war not only in the media but in the music world as well.

The ‘Alajo Somolu’ crooner, in a recent interview with Linda Ikeji TV, opened up on a lot of things about his music, career and the music industry as a whole.,

On Nigerian artistes and their fake lifestyle, Brymo made it known that he is making much more from his music than every other other artiste in the country.

Recall the artiste in an interview with Beat FM in 2016, talked about his controversial split from former label, Chocolate City.

In his words:

Even though it happened a long time ago and I am constantly trying to forget it. I feel like somebody needs to resurrect the case in court’ he said in an interview on Beat FM earlier today. We had the opportunity to iron it out in court but they fried it up. I don’t know what they did but they definitely spoke to the judge and spoke to the lawyers and scrapped the case, they are lawyers; they can do it.

I don’t know what they are doing right now, the last time I was in court was in May 2015 and they came out to tell everyone that Brymo won the case; the judge never even passed the sentence. The judge just came that day and said, “I can’t do this, they don’t trust me so I’m going to drop the case,” and so he dropped it’.

While everyone is saying I should try and reconcile with Choc City and be nice to them, they are not even being nice to me. If they had their way, I would have stopped singing a long time ago, I’ll not even be on stage performing anymore. So I think it’s sabotage and every time I try to find peace with them, they start to grow an erection and say this is what I must do now’

I’m here to make music and have a great life and they are trying to sabotage that. There’s nothing I can do but to just keep moving forward in all the purity of my heart.

Source: tooxclusive.com