Costa Rica Edges Italy 1-0 To Clinch A Spot In World Cup Round Of 16 (VIDEO)

With two wins in its first two matches at the 2014 World Cup, Costa Rica has clinched a spot in the Round of 16 in Brazil. After shocking Uruguay in its opener, Costa Rica edged Italy 1-0 in a tense Group D clash at Arena Pernambuco in Recife on Friday.

The lone goal of the match came just before halftime when midfielder Bryan Ruiz got his head to a cross from Junior Diaz. The ball deflected off the crossbar and bounced down into the goal. Goal-line technology confirmed that the ball had crossed the line. The goal came just moments after Costa Rica felt it should have been awarded a penalty kick for an apparent foul on striker Joel Campbell in the Italy penalty area.
The result guaranteed Costa Rica a spot in the Round of 16 and eliminated England from contention. It also raised the stakes for the match between Italy and Uruguay on June 24. Both teams have one win (over England) and one loss (to Costa Rica) through two matches and can advance with a second win. Currently ahead on goal differential, Italy would advance to the Round of 16 if the teams should tie.

Does alcohol impact your weight?

How is alcohol metabolized?

How is alcohol metabolized?
Have you ever wondered why you feel the way that you do after drinking alcohol? Many people will admit that they drink to get that feeling, but not many know exactly what is going on to cause it. The effects that alcohol has on your health start with how it's metabolized. Once alcohol is in your system, your body makes metabolizing it a priority. That means that it will stop metabolizing anything else in order to first get the alcohol metabolized. The reason for this is because unlike protein, carbohydrates, and fat, there is nowhere for alcohol to be stored in our body so it has be metabolized first.

Once alcohol enters your stomach, up to 20% of it can be absorbed there and go directly into your bloodstream. Within minutes, alcohol will reach your brain and give the feeling of being a stimulant. No other nutrient is able to do this. The remaining alcohol goes to your intestines and is absorbed there with the rest of the nutrients. A small amount of alcohol is excreted through sweat, saliva, urine, and your breath, which is how it is detected by a Breathalyzer.

Your liver is the primary site for alcohol metabolism; this is why you can have liver problems from consuming too much alcohol. Alcohol is detoxified and removed from the blood through a process called oxidation. Oxidation prevents the alcohol from accumulating and destroying cells and organs. A healthy liver oxidizes pure ethanol at the rate of about ¼ to ⅓ of an ounce per hour, which is less than 1 ounce of hard liquor.

When you drink alcohol, your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will rise rapidly. Within five minutes of having a drink, there's enough alcohol in your blood to measure. The BAC is determined by how quickly alcohol is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted. The following factors can influence the BAC:

Gender
Race
Food consumed with the alcohol
Chronic alcohol consumption
Drinking pattern
Medications
The consumption of one standard drink will result in a peak in BAC within 35 to 45 minutes. A 150-pound person with normal liver function metabolizes about 7 to 14 grams of alcohol per hour, which is approximately 100 to 200 mg/kg of body weight per hour. This is comparable to 8 to 12 ounces of beer or half of an alcoholic drink. Controlling the rate of consumption will give your liver time to metabolize the alcohol and limit your BAC. Once you stop drinking, your blood alcohol level decreases by about 0.01% per hour. You are legally intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.8. Time is the only way to eliminate alcohol from your system, so cold showers and coffee will not sober you up. Trying to get someone who is drunk to feel and appear more alert can cause a false sense of sobriety to the person drinking and everyone around them.

What is alcohol?

Alcohol is a part of many social occasions, from family dinners to parties, to sporting events and nightcaps. The problems associated with alcoholism are well known, but what about the impact of social drinking or a moderate intake of alcohol? Does alcohol belong in our diet, or does the risk that it presents outweigh any benefits that may be derived from consuming it?

Good nutrition can help to improve your health and prevent diseases. The essential nutrients that your body needs are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. The term "essential" means that if you remove one of these nutrients from your diet there will be a deficiency that causes health problems. Alcohol would not fall under the category of essential nutrients because there is no problem or disease state that occurs if you do not consume it. However, some argue that there are added health benefits from consuming alcohol and argue it should be added to our diets.

The key to determining whether you need alcohol is to understand what alcohol is and how it is processed in your body. Calories provide energy for our bodies to function. We get calories from carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol. For each gram, you get a set number of calories.

The vitamin, mineral, and water content add to the nutritional value for each of these nutrients but do not provide any calories. The key to a healthy diet is to spend your calories on foods that provide a variety of vitamins and minerals without a lot of calories. Alcohol can do the exact opposite of this. It doesn't provide a lot of vitamins and minerals and you can easily get an entire meal's worth of calories from a few cocktails! Alcohol interferes with how your body processes and stores nutrients so the healthy foods that you do eat don't get to do their job.

Many people do not realize that alcohol can be classified as a drug. Under this category, it is the most widely used drug in the world. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in the United States, 17.6 million people - about one in every 12 adults - abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. The majority of the population consumes alcohol moderately or occasionally, but that does not mean that it's not a problem. You do not need to be an alcoholic for alcohol to interfere with your health and life. The potential to become addicted to alcohol is a serious problem that can affect anyone. Alcohol is not an essential nutrient in your diet and limits need to be followed on how much and how often it is consumed.


How is alcohol made?

Alcohol, also known as ethanol, is made through a process called fermentation. During fermentation, yeast breaks sugar down into ethanol and carbon dioxide. This process is done without any air present and once complete, the carbon dioxide gas bubbles out into the air, leaving ethanol and water behind. Distilled spirits, such as vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey, are fermented and then distilled to separate the ethanol from the water.

Various sources of sugar are used in these processes, resulting in different forms of alcohol. The sugar from crushed grapes is used to make wine; malted barley is used to make beer; sugar cane or molasses makes rum; grain, potatoes, beets, molasses, and a variety of other plants are used to make vodka.

The technique used to make the beverage will determine the alcohol content. You will see the percentage of alcohol per volume listed on the bottle, as well as the proof of the drink. The proof of a beverage is twice the alcohol content, so a drink with 12% alcohol per volume is 24 proof. Generally, a 12-ounce glass of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor all contain a ½ ounce of pure alcohol and are considered one drink.

N10bn Jet Scam: Court Orders Reps To Stop Probe Of Alison-madueke, NNPC

ABUJA—A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, aborted moves by the House of Representatives to commence hearing on the allegation that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, spent about N10 billion on chartered private jets.
In a ruling yesterday, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, ordered the legislative house to shelve its plans to begin probe into the allegation on June 25.
The judge further directed all the parties to maintain status quo till July 3, a date the High Court slated to hear the substantive suit that is challenging the powers of the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of the House of Representatives to investigate such allegation.
The court order was sequel to an oral application made by counsel to the minister, Mr. Etigwe Uwa (SAN), who, yesterday, informed the court that despite the pendency of the suit, the House, on May 23, wrote a letter to the Petroleum Minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, asking them to ensure that they appeared before its probe committee on June 25, 26 and 27.
Uwa told the court that the House had in the said letter threatened that it would not hesitate to invoke its powers and issue a warrant of arrest against the minister should she fail to appear before the committee on the aforementioned dates.
He said: “My Lord, the 2nd defendant in particular (House of Reps), in their letter to my clients, said they noted with dismay that we approached this court in a bid to stop them from performing their constitutional duties. They also boasted that no arm of the government has the power to stop them.”
Letter of undertaking
Besides, Uwa told the court that they had already written a letter to counsel to the House of Reps, Mr. A. B. Mahmood (SAN), requesting him to enter an undertaking that his client would not take any action capable of overreaching or jeopardising the ‘Res’ of the dispute before the high court.
He said: “We sought an undertaking from him that his client will not proceed with the hearing as planned so as not to destroy the ‘Res’ of this suit or make nonsense of the proceeding before this court.
“If they are allowed to conduct the hearing, our suit, which has already been granted an accelerated hearing, will be overtaken by events and thus occasion an irreparable damage on my client.”
The House of Reps, through its lawyer, Mr. Aminu Sadauki, insisted that the court lacked the requisite powers to stop it from going ahead with the planned probe.
According to the House, “we cannot enter an undertaken on behalf of an arm of government carrying out its constitutional duty.
“If my Lordship makes the order as prayed by the plaintiff, it would amount to granting their reliefs even before hearing the substantive suit. I, therefore, urge this court to refuse this application.”
On its part, the National Assembly, which was joined as the 1st defendant in the matter, through its counsel Mr. Obasi Nwabueze, said they were equally served with a letter from the plaintiff seeking the maintenance of status quo.
Nwabueze said his client resolved to leave the issue to the discretion of the court.
Court berates House
After listening to all the parties, Justice Mohammed stressed that though Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution conferred exclusive powers on the National Assembly, he however noted that Section 6 of the same constitution imbued the court with the statutory powers to mediate and adjudicate disputes involving any organ of the government.
He berated the House for accusing the court of attempting to usurp its constitutionally guaranteed oversight function, noting that the 2nd defendant, having already briefed a lawyer and submitted itself before the court, ought to have shown respect to the court by putting its planned action in abeyance pending the outcome of the suit.
Justice Mohammed ruled: “The court has the inherent power to intervene with a view to protecting its sanctity and integrity. Consequently, I hereby direct parties in this suit to maintain status quo from now till the next adjourned date.”

Minister, NNPC’s suit
It will be recalled that the Petroleum Minister and NNPC, in their joint suit, prayed the court for an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing them to appear before any committee, particularly PAC, which was set up by the House of Reps to conduct the investigation.
Besides, the plaintiffs sought for an order of the court stopping the House of Reps committee from asking any official of the ministry or NNPC to produce any paper, note or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House dated March 26, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
They are further urging the court to issue an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from issuing a warrant to compel the Minister’s attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or NNPC, with regard to the investigation and to also in the alternative, make an order of status quo, directing the parties to maintain the current position with regard to the investigation, as of the date of filing of the suit.

90-yr-old Woman Leads Protest Over Abandoned Road In Bayelsa

Yenagoa—Angry indigenes of Okoroba community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, led by a 90-year- old woman, Madam Omiekumo Numo, yesterday, protested against the abandonment of the Opume-Okoroba Road project by the Federal Government.

The 10 km road project, which is to link the coastal town of Okoroba to mainland Ogbia Local Government Area, was awarded in 2011 to Mangrovtech, now known as Kakatar’ce by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

The project, it was learnt, was abandoned on the grounds of alleged disagreement over compensation and non- availability of sand.

PROTEST—90-yr-old Madam Omiekumo Numo (with walking stick), leading protests over the state of the abandoned Opume-Okoroba Road project in Bayelsa State.

The aggrieved indigene of the community, who braved the swampy stretch of the road to stage a peaceful protest some distance away from the Opume Junction, however, noted that the decision of NDDC to award the project to the construction firm, owned by an indigene of Ogbia, was laudable.

Armed with placards, some of which read: “EFFC: Probe payment of Compensation,” “NDDC save Our Soul,” “We say No to delay,” “Enough is Enough: Give us back our road,” “Sand is not an excuse,” among others, the aggrieved indigenes led by Madam Omiekuma Numo, said they were compelled to spend about three hours trekking through the swampy road which ordinarily they would have spent less than 15 minutes on, if the work had been completed.

According to the nonagenarian, “Our people are suffering and my children have abandoned me in the village due to the bad road. I am hungry and  I woke up since 5a.m., to join the three hours protest march through the muddy water on the abandoned road to show you how serious and pained we are as a people.”

Pres. Jonathan appoints Bode George’s wife, Roli, as new NDLEA boss

President Jonathan has appointed Mrs. Roli Bode-George as the new Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The appointment was announced this evening by Presidential Spokesperson, Reuben Abati.

Mrs Bode-George takes over from Mr Olufemi Ajayi, who is now the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). The appointment is with immediate effect.

Bode George was arrested and jailed for fraud and abuse of office when he served as chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority, but his conviction was later upturned by the Supreme Court.