‘UNILORIN to admit 11,000 out of 103,238 applicants’

The Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali has disclosed that the University can only admit 11,000 out of 103,238 applicants.

Ambali said this on Monday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, during Unilorin’s 32nd convocation media briefing.

The VC said 67 of 6,069 first degree graduands bagged first class.

He added that 1,505 made second class upper division, 3,200, second class lower; 1,124, third class while 70 got pass.

Ambali said, “We received a letter to the effect that the Nigerian Army highest hierarchy has approved a collaborative programme leading to the award of a Master of Arts Degree in Peace and Security Studies with Unilorin, through its Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies.

“Through this programme, senior officers of the Nigerian Army will be trained at Unilorin. With this, the university is poised to impact more and contribute further to the Nigerian project,” the Professor said.

Ambali, who is also the Chairman of the Association of West African Universities, also said it was unsavoury that no Nigerian university was ranked in the first 100 of the global university ranking.

Dozens dead in Aleppo airstrikes

*** including 14 from same family

Fourteen members of the same family -- including two infants and eight other children -- were killed on Monday, according to the activist group Aleppo Media Center, CNN report.

More than 30 people were killed in airstrikes that hit the Al-Qaterji neighborhood Sunday night, both the AMC and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Monday morning another round of airstrikes killed 14 more people in the al-Marjah neighborhood, all from one family, according to the AMC.

Among them, a pair of six-week-old infants and an eight year old, AMC said.

The death toll continued to climb as Russians helped bolster the Syrian army's air attack, after Moscow vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution Saturday to halt the action in Aleppo and allow access for humanitarian aid.

As the strikes have continued, Western powers accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters of war crimes.

Both the US and UK have mulled potential economic sanctions against Syria and Russia due to the Aleppo crisis.

University of Lagos expels 125, rusticates 198

Management of the University of Lagos, Akoka, have expelled 125 students and rusticated 198 others for various offences, including examination malpractices during last academic session.

This as disclosed by the University's Deputy Registrar (Information), Mr Toyin Adebule, on Sunday to newsmen. 

According to the registrar, “will soon publish and display the names and photographs of the students in the media’’.

“Yes we have published some names on our website and these students will be punished in various degrees, depending on the severity.

“Last session, a number of students were caught in various forms of malpractices during their examinations.

“Some were found cheating during the examination with “micro sheets” while others were hired as surrogates to write papers for others.

“Others were caught smoking weeds (Marijuana) right in their halls of residence by their colleagues and reported to the university authorities.

“For those who were caught impersonating, writing examinations for others, they will face outright expulsion,’’ Adebule said.

Adebule said the other categories of students, such as those caught with micro sheets and the smokers, would face suspension ranging from two to four semesters.

“In other to get the desired effect of their various punishments, we are planning to publish all their names as well as display their photographs all over the campus in the next one week.

“We shall carry out this measure in all the departments and faculties in the institution.

“This is to help the university ensure that the affected students will have nowhere to hibernate on campus.

“By doing this, the affected students would know that the university want to ensure total compliance to the sanction and would not want to be seen anywhere around the campus,’’ he said.

Adebule said that before every examination, the university normally make available the rules and regulations for the students to abide by.

According to him, the university will continue to do all it can to sustain set standards and best practices as obtained in other top universities around the world.

Germany records highest birth rate in decades

***1.5 births per woman

Germany has recorded its highest birth rate in more than three decades, with an average of 1.5 births per woman.

This was in a post released by country’s office of Federal Statistics on Monday.

According to a statement from the Statistics office, there was an increase of 27 births per 1,000 women in 2015, taking the overall birth rate from 1.47 in 2014 to 1.5 in 2015.

It noted that it has been the highest figure posted since 1982.

“The increase is more marked among women without German citizenship, rising from 1.86 to 1.95 births per woman in 2015.

“Among women with German citizenship, the birth rate grew only marginally from 1.42 to 1.43 births per woman,’’ it said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has singled out Germany’s birth rate, one of the world’s lowest and its ageing population as among the biggest challenges facing the country’s economy.

Report says in spite of the increased number of births in 2015, the country’s birth rate still falls significantly short of the 2.1 births per woman required to maintain a stable population.

Daughter of US sprinter Tyson Gay killed

Tyson gay and daughter

The teenage daughter of US Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay has been shot dead on Sunday after a shooting at a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.,  local media reported.

Trinity Gay, 15, – herself a rising track athlete – was shot in the neck police said.

According to the Lexington Herald Leader, she died in hospital within an hour of being transported.

Witnesses said Gay was hit during an exchange of gunfire between two cars, according to police.

Two people in one of the cars have been detained for questioning.

Tyson Gay, who holds the US record in the 100m, told local television station WLEX, “She didn’t make it. I’m so confused. She was just here last week for fall break. It’s so crazy. I have no idea what happened.”

Trinity Gay was a top high school sprinter who dreamed of competing in the Olympics and becoming a surgeon, according to her mother, Shoshana Boyd.

“She was so innocent. She was so innocent,” Boyd told the New York Daily News.

“I just want people to stop shooting and realize who they’re hurting. It’s just random. They don’t understand. They don’t understand who they’re hurting.”

Gay competed in the 2016 Olympics on the 4×100-metre relay team but didn’t win a medal.

He was also a member of the 4×100-metre relay at the 2012 Olympics but was disqualified due to a positive doping test.