BREAKING NEWS :India pledges $600m to help Africa

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced $600m (£393m) in assistance for development projects in Africa at a major summit in Delhi.

More than 50 African leaders are attending the India-Africa Forum Summit, unprecedented in scale, in the Indian capital.

Although India's trade with Africa has more than doubled to $72bn since 2007, it is still comparatively small.

The meeting is being seen as an attempt by India to improve ties with Africa.

A record number of African leaders, including South Africa's Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, President Sisi of Egypt and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir are attending the summit - part of India's big push to increase its presence in Africa.

'Bright spots'

Reports say the summit represents the highest number of foreign dignitaries to descend on India since 1983 and is thought to be the biggest ever overseas gathering of African leaders.

Welcoming them, Mr Modi described India and Africa as the "two bright spots of hope in the global economy".

ImageAFP

ImageThe meeting is being seen as an attempt by India to improve its ties to Africa

"The hearts of 1.25 billion Indians and 1.25 billion Africans are in rhythm. We are united by youth - two thirds of India and Africa are below 35. And, if the future belongs to the youth, then this century is ours to shape and build," Mr Modi said.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says India is using its historic ties with the continent, where a large number of Indians migrated during colonial times, to strengthen its economic links.

India is interested in Africa's natural resource while African countries want to benefit from Indian expertise in high-tech sectors such as IT and mobile phones.

Much of central Delhi has been shut down as the African leaders are being ferried across town in limousines and on Wednesday night, they turned out wearing colourful Indian turbans and jackets at an official dinner.

The first ladies, in the meantime, are being taken sightseeing and given Indian cooking lessons as India pulls out the stops to make the summit a grand success, our correspondent says.

BREAKING NEWS:Scientists discover oxygen on comet for first time

The find came as a "big surprise", and challenges mainstream theories on the formation of our Solar System, said scientist Andre Bieler of the University of Michigan.

Measurements made by the Rosetta probe suggested that oxygen molecules in the 67P comet's gassy halo must have existed "before or at" its formation, he told journalists.

This may have implications for mankind's understanding of the chemistry involved in the formation of the Solar System some 4.6 billion years ago.

"We believe this oxygen is primordial, which means it is older than our Solar System," said Bieler.

Scientists had previously ruled out the presence of oxygen (O2) on comets such as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the subject of intensive prodding and probing by a European robot lab.

As O2 mixes easily with other elements, "we never thought that oxygen could 'survive' for billions of years" in a pristine state, said Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern, who co-authored a study in the journal Nature.

"This evidence of oxygen as an ancient substance will likely discredit some theoretical models of the formation of our Solar System," she said.

The comet is being tracked on its deep space journey around the Sun by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft.

The historic mission seeks to unlock the mystery of the origins of life on Earth.

Scientists believe that comets "seeded" early Earth with some of the ingredients for life.

The team monitored the ratio of oxygen to water on the comet for several months to see if the gas molecules would dissipate as solar winds ripped away layers of surface.

They did not – proving the oxygen was embedded in the comet, not just hanging around its surface.

Prevailing theories of the Solar System's birth posit a chaotic, collision-strewn mixing of matter flowing toward and away from the newly-formed Sun.

Pristine, icy grains containing oxygen would not have made it through such violence intact, the scientists said, leading them to speculate that the process was, in fact, "gentler".

The oxygen molecules must have "survived from the dark molecular clouds from which they were probably formed into comets as we have them today," said Altwegg.

Only twice before – on the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn – have oxygen molecules been found in the Solar System beyond Earth's atmosphere, and never before on a comet.

Oxygen is difficult to detect with Earth-bound telescopes.

'Don't jump to conclusions'

Rosetta offered a rare opportunity to study 67P's "coma" – the envelope of dust, gas and ice that forms as it nears the Sun on an elliptical orbit.

The new data suggests that water on comets is probably the rule rather than the exception, the scientists said.

Scientists not involved in this study underlined its importance, but said more time was needed to assess the implications.

The discovery "imposes a severe constraint on the mechanism for the formation of the Solar System," said French astrophysicist Francis Rocard.

"But we shouldn't jump to conclusions," he cautioned.

Oxygen molecules were the fourth-most common gas detected in 67P's debris halo – after water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

Their presence did not tell us anything about the origins of life on Earth, of the possibility of finding it elsewhere in the universe, Altwegg said.

In looking at exo-planets, "the combination of O2 and methane has been taken as a sign that you might have life underneath," she said.

"On this comet we have both, but we don't have life. So having oxygen may not be a very good bio-signature."

Popular reggae artist Majek Fashek finally opens up saying "Mental Health Very Important"

Popular reggae artist, Majek Fashek, says mental health is very important in the lives of people and a nation.

Majek Fashek

Fashek spoke at the 46th Annual General Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

Fashek said, mental health is not a yardstick to look down upon people.

“There is need to create a system to manage or rehabilitate people who are not mentally balanced and as well create more awareness on mental health challenges and appropriate management.

“Government should look into how to rehabilitate mental health patients as most of them have great potentials and talents’’, Fashek said.

Dr Richard Adebayo, the Acting Medical Director, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, said mental health Act was necessary in the country.

Adebayo, added that mental health was integral to the stability of any nation.

“Most of the burning issues confronting us as a nation, such as insecurity, economic crisis, just to mention a few, have grave mental health concerns.

“The health impact is often unquantifiable; and we know there is no health without mental health.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a workable and realistic policy direction, no mental health Act to guide us and protect the rights of our patients.

“It is critical to deliberate on vital issues that will promote the very change we desire and enlighten our policy makers that mental health is very crucial in our collective drive towards the positive change’’, Adebayo said.

He added that lots of people were well dressed, “but mentally, they are not okay.

“Consequently, to kick-start our security system, economy and general life as a nation, good mental health is very crucial.

“It will also help practitioners to guide their practice, help our people to be rehabilitated and not to be abandoned’’, Adebayo said.

Prof. Joseph Adeyemi, President of APN, said the conference will draw experience from globalisation.

Theme of the conference is: “Mental Health as a Driver for Positive Change.’’