Author: damazah@gmail.com

Just like in many parts of life, making a film is a team effort. And so is putting together the lineup of a big film festival. Just ask Karel Och, the artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF). “I don’t think I’ve ever used a singular whenever I talk about the selection, because I would be ashamed to use the singular, because clearly, from day one until the moment we share the movies with the audience, this is teamwork,” he tells THR. “The beauty of this teamwork is that, if you are lucky, you have a team…

*Over 8,000 newly trained soldiers to strengthen ongoing military operations, says COAS Linus Aleke in Abuja The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has redeployed theatre commanders, General Officers Commanding (GOCs), and 15 other generals in a strategic shake-up aimed at reinvigorating the Nigerian Army’s fight against terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other emerging security threats nationwide. This is just as Shaibu has expressed confidence that more than 8,000 newly trained soldiers would significantly strengthen ongoing military operations and contribute to restoring lasting peace and improving security across Nigeria.The extensive redeployment, which affects key operational, command, training, and…

In a stadium partly designed for the purpose of hosting NFL games, the show shared the symbolism of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show – which was seen as a political statement with a celebration of all the Americas united. Yet he has said this world tour won’t include dates in the US, telling i-D magazine, external he was worried his fans would be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.While addressing the London crowd almost entirely in Spanish (after asking for permission at the start), he didn’t make any direct political points – instead making more subtle references…

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has cautioned against the Senate’s resolution calling for a ban on textile fabric imports, warning that the proposed restriction could hurt the Nigerian economy, disrupt supply chains, and threaten millions of jobs. In a statement signed by the CPPE’s Chief Executive Officer, Muda Yusuf, on Sunday, the think tank stated that although reviving Nigeria’s textile industry is a legitimate objective, banning textile imports would not address the sector’s underlying problems. On 9 June, the Senate called for a total ban on the importation of textile products into the country as part…

VK Group, the developers of VKontakte and related services, issued its own statement complaining that “Apple has removed VK apps from the App Store without warning or explanation… VK has never been subject to sanctions nor included on sanctions lists, a fact confirmed by numerous legal opinions from international and US counsel. Apple has long been in possession of these official legal opinions and all relevant information. Nevertheless, Apple unilaterally removed VK apps without prior notice… We consider these actions by Apple regarding Russian users to be unjustified and unacceptable.” (Translation from Russian through Google Translate.) VK Group also stressed…

Jubril Abdullah History often moves in paradoxes. The ideas that first provoke resistance frequently become the principles that later command consensus. The voices once dismissed as inconvenient or premature often return as prophetic echoes when reality catches up with vision. Across democracies and through the long arc of institutional evolution, transformative reforms have rarely emerged from convenience; they have emerged from persistence. Nigeria now stands at such a moment. A profound political and constitutional threshold is being crossed. A longstanding jinx is being broken. Nigeria appears finally on the verge of embracing state policing and decentralising a security structure that…

Quantris is a quantum spin on a classic gameQuantum Native The blocks keep falling. A pale yellow square awkwardly lands on a green block shaped like the letter “z”. Next to them stands a pillar made of smaller turquoise blocks. We’ve all seen Tetris, you can probably picture it. But there is a strange block nearby, its white border seemingly confining only empty space. From the game’s instructions I know this shape is in a quantum state of superposition, an odd mix of existing and not existing in the world on my computer screen. Can this help me? To figure…

Ian Dennis, BBC Radio 5 LiveFrance. I’ve seen all of their group games and they’ve made it three wins from three for the first time since they won the World Cup in 1998. They’re still not perfect, so room to improve as they get stronger under a manager who has the experience to draw on, as Didier Deschamps seeks a third successive World Cup final.Phil McNulty, BBC Sport’s chief football writerFrance. Just looking at their attack with Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele and what it can do when it clicks – and the strength of Didier Deschamps’ squad…

For Colombian rising animation talent María Cristina Pérez, whose experimental short “Once in a Body” (“Una vez en un Cuerpo”) competed in the Annecy Animation Festival’s Perspectives sidebar, human connection is the overriding theme in her growing body of work. This is her fourth short, which she dedicates to her sister. “The story portrayed in the short film, about the protagonist as a child and her sister as a teen, is entirely fictional,” she stresses. “It brings together a number of anecdotes and experiences – some of my own, others from people close to me who have gone through similar…

There is so much the Nigerian judiciary and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) can learn from the recent trial and acquittal of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, by London’s Southwark Crown Court. Alison-Madueke served as minister from 2010 to 2015. Following the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration by Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election, allegations of corruption were levelled against her, and she subsequently relocated to the United Kingdom. She was first arrested in London in October 2015 but was granted bail while the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) carried out extensive investigations into…