Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive officer, has admitted that his social network scans the content of private messages.

He said this on a podcast with Ezra Klein on the Ezra Klein show.

“We detected that people were trying to spread sensational messages,” Zuckerberg said.

“In that case, our systems detect what’s going on. We stop those messages from going through.

“That’s the kind of thing where I think it is clear that people were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm.”

Furthermore, a spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg that Facebook’s objective for monitoring private messages is to prevent abuse.

“For example, on Messenger, when you send a photo, our automated systems scan it using photo matching technology to detect known child exploitation imagery or when you send a link, we scan it for malware or viruses,” the Facebook Messenger spokesperson said.

“Facebook designed these automated tools so we can rapidly stop abusive behaviour on our platform.”

The disclosure comes in the wake of Facebook being caught in the middle of a data hacking controversy.

In March, news broke that Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based political data-analytics firm hired by the 2016 Trump campaign, illegally gained access to data for 50 million Facebook users.

Soon after, the company created new privacy tools to give users full and easy control over their data.

Olawunmi Bayode, a Nigerian, has set a new Guinness Record in the ‘Longest Marathon Reading Aloud’ category.

Bayode, father of three, logged 120 hours on Saturday at the YouRead Library Yaba in Lagos, beating the previous record set by Nepali Deepak Sharma Bajagain.

The latter had 113 hours 15 minutes in 2008. Another Nepalese, Tudikhel Ground tied the record.

Bajagain’s book reading began on September 19 and ended on September 24, 2008. He recited 17 different books from 13 authors during his record attempt.

Bayode began reading at 1:30pm on Monday, February 26 and ended at 15.30pm on Saturday.

He announced the record on his Facebook page, saying: “Hello everybody, something just happened right now! My name is Bayode Treasures Olubunmi(Olawunmi) – I have just finished reading aloud for 120 hours non-stop.

“I did it for the culture.”

Bayode studied at Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and Comprehensive High School, Ketu, Lagos.

“I have always loved to read good materials right from when I was in secondary school. I am doing this for the youths,” he wrote on Twitter, before he began the record-setting reading marathon.

Even though men typically prefer tall, thin women, a study shows that they need to expand their horizons.

In a study carried out by the department of psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Dr. Edgardo Morales and Dr. Filemón Alvarado found that men that were in a relationship with curvy, plus-size women were 10 times happier compared to men that were in a relationship with skinny women.

They also found that men that were in a relationship with chubby women smiled more and were more likely to solve their problems easier.

Evidently, the higher BMI of chubby women comes with an incredible side effect of being able to anticipate their partner’s needs as well as satisfy them.

Men love chubby women’s fat dimples, fat rolls, and extra side boobs.

For these women, carrying baby weight and reproducing would not be a problem, since they’re already heavy.

Here is why men who were in a relationship with curvy, plus-size women were 10 times happier compared to men that were with skinny women:

◾These women do not put too much pressure on their partners to be fit.

◾They do not try to lose weight. This means more eating out opportunities.

◾Buying them their favorite chocolate can make them happy.

◾They’re funnier. People that laugh together are happier couples. Furthermore, happier couples are more likely to have a healthier and longer relationship.

◾They give good hugs. Chubby women are better to hug, without exceptions.

◾They tend to cook better. Of course, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

◾They’re foodies. Men want to chow down with their partners.

◾These women tend to be figuratively and literally sweeter.

◾There is more to love.

Curvy, plus-size women are labeled unhealthy or unattractive in mainstream media. However, this study shows that men that marry plus-size women tend to be happier.

An 87-year-old lawyer and former lawmaker, Senator Cyrus Nunieh, said he decided to marry another wife because he was alone and needed a companion.

Nunieh officially married a lady in her 40s on Tuesday at the Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The former member of the National Assembly, who said he was now a king in Ogoniland, River State, explained that he had been alone after his former wife died in 1991.

Speaking on the wedding Nunieh pointed out that his children were all adults, who had ventured into various business of their own, adding that he could no longer cope with loneliness.

He described his new wife, Rosemary, as an intelligent woman, who would always be there for him and share ideas with him.

“I cannot continue to stay alone. I love her and she loves me. We understand each other and she is also intelligent. In marriage, there are advantages somewhere and disadvantages in other areas.

“There is no limitation in age. Some may say you are old; you may soon die. But some were dead even before they were born. Some were one year or two years old and they die. Death is not always dependent upon a man’s age,” he said.

About her new wife, Nunieh said, “You know that rose is the best of all flowers and we have two Marys in the Bible; we have Mary, the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

“She too (Rosemary) is a believer of the Bible. But why are you particular about her age? She is not an infant. She is a very charming woman.”

The Punch

Belgian ministers have said they will take legal action in an attempt to force a website that links young women and rich men to remove huge adverts near the country’s universities.

Trucks bearing large posters promoting Richmeetbeautiful, which describes itself as a “sugar daddy and sugar baby dating site”, have appeared on the outskirts of campuses in Brussels in recent days. The promotional campaign suggests: “Improve your style of life. Get a sugar daddy”.

After success in Scandinavia, the Norwegian company behind the website says it hopes to recruit 300,000 Belgian registrations by the end of 2018. It claims it is merely offering a “Fifty Shades of Grey” experience, a reference to the erotic novel that chronicles the relationship between a college graduate and a young business magnate.

The site, however, has been accused of encouraging prostitution and playing on the financial insecurity of the young.

A minister for women, Isabelle Simonis, and a minister for education, Jean-Claude Marcourt, in the Francophone administration in Brussels, have declared they intend to launch a criminal proceeding against the firm for inciting debauchery and prostitution, and to force the suspension of its campaign on public order grounds.

Simonis said: “This scandalous and alarming publicity demonstrates that this site encourages the prostitution of young female students. The masks fall in relation to those ‘sugar-dating practices’ that have been causing concern for a while.

“In addition to encouraging young girls to sell their bodies, this phenomenon enhances male dominance and marks a decade-long reversal in the relationship between men and women. It is time to act decisively, through awareness, but also by using all possible legal means.”

The website’s chief executive, Sigurd Vedal, rejected any link to prostitution, suggesting money matters always play a role in romantic relationships.

“Prostitution is not promoted, but the financial aspect is part of any relationship”, he said. “It is a matter of romantic relations between two people who set their own conditions.

“We do not have to police and control how people design their relationships. Women seek powerful, intelligent, brilliant men. This is undoubtedly the most fascinating part, this very strong demand in women. Since Fifty Shades of Grey, they are more liberated and can express these requests.”

Vedal said his company expelled signs of any formal soliciting on the site, though he admitted he was not able to control what happened outside of his web pages.

Similar sites have previously targeted university students in the UK. The US-based SeekingArrangement.com was found in 2015 to be offering premium membership to users with a university email address.

Renaud Maes, a sociologist, told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir that beyond clamping down on advertising campaigns, the authorities needed to look at why the sites were successful.

“What seems to me most important to point out is that student prostitution is based on the growing precariousness of students,” she said. “If we really want to stop this, it is not enough to prevent advertising from reaching students … [we] must be relevant and fight precariousness.”

A drunken man who tried to impress a woman he met at a bar raced after her in a rented Lamborghini – but then crashed into a tree.

In a bid to win over the woman, the driver chased her in the Lamborghini and tried to impress by overtaking her on the street, she told police.

Traffic camera footage shows the Lamborghini Gallardo, rented for £648 per day, swerving right and then left on a highway.
The driver then veers into the other lane, losing control, before slamming into a tree.

The 22-year-old driver, whose surnamed is Teng, was found guilty of drink-driving and has been detained for further questioning in Jinhua City, China.

To add salt to the wounds, the woman then drove by the crash site and recorded a video mocking the man trying to win her affection.

But then she was also arrested for driving without a licence.

Life expectancy in Nigeria has increased to 63 years for men and 66 years for women according to a recent study by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

Despite this increase, the study claims that lives lost to communicable diseases like malaria and HIV are still high.

“Life expectancy in Nigeria is growing, but people in many other sub-Saharan African countries are living longer, healthier lives. Communicable diseases like malaria, diarrhea, lower respiratory diseases, and HIV are still taking the lives of far too many Nigerians,” said Jacob Olusanya, director, Center for Healthy Start Initiative.

“Infants and children are at particular risk from these diseases, and neonatal ailments like sepsis and encephalopathy kill thousands of infants. We have much more work to do.”

The 2017 edition of the annual global burden of diseases study (GBD), which is composed of five peer-reviewed papers, was published The Lancet, a medical journal.

The study’s main findings for Nigeria include:

A Nigerian man born in 2016 can expect to live 63.7 years, an increase in life expectancy of 7 years over the past decade. A woman has a life expectancy of 66.4 years, up 8.1 years from 2006.

A Nigerian male born in 2016 will live approximately 55.5 years in good health; a female only 57.2 years. Nigeria has a higher life expectancy than South Africa, Niger, or Cameroon, but it lags behind Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.

The top five causes of premature death in Nigeria are malaria, diarrheal diseases, HIV, neonatal encephalopathy, and lower respiratory infection. The ailments that cause illness can be very different. Iron-deficiency anaemia, back pain, and migraines are the top causes of years that people live with disability in Nigeria.

“For every 1,000 live births, 46.6 Nigerian children under the age of 5 die. That far exceeds the global figure of 38.4, and the regional average of countries in western sub-Saharan Africa, which is 40.7.”

In 2016, for the first time in modern history, fewer than five million children under age five died in one year, as compared to 1990 when 11 million died.

Researchers attribute this global health landmark to improvements in increased educational levels of mothers, rising per capita incomes, declining levels of fertility, increased vaccination programs, mass distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, improved water, and sanitation.

“Death is a powerful motivator, both for individuals and for countries, to address diseases that have been killing us at high rates,” said Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).