Author: damazah@gmail.com

The NSCDC is gradually being positioned as a consequential institution in the protection of critical national assets, argues  ISRAEL FAGBEMIGUN  For many years, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has struggled with an identity problem. The military, police and Department of State Services dominated conversations around national security. That perception has however changed significantly, since inception of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led government. under the innovative supervision of Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Commandant General, Abubakar Audi of NSCDC has achieved a lot and transformed the corps, repositioning it to rob shoulders with other security agencies in the country.…

Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto Troops of Sector 2, Operation FANSAN YAMMA, have successfully repelled an attempted infiltration of their Forward Operating Base at Kasuwan Daji in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara State. The early morning attack was foiled with heavy casualties inflicted on the terrorists. According to a statement issued yesterday by the acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Olaniyi Osoba, the incident occurred at about 1:40 a.m. on August 2, 2026. The terrorists had sought to take advantage of darkness to breach the military facility.  Colonel Osoba said the alert troops detected…

A letter from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has confirmed that the country has named a major highway after US President Donald Trump.Last week, in a social media post, Trump thanked the king for the honour, but there was not a parallel announcement from the Moroccan authorities.But Morocco’s state press agency has published a letter the king wrote to the president telling him that the name-change was taking place as “a personal expression of my high regard”.Formerly the Tiznit-Dakhla highway, the road enters Western Sahara, most of which Morocco occupies and claims sovereignty over. But part is controlled by the Polisario…

Firefighters and Hellenic Civil Protection personnel battle advancing flames during a wildfire near Agios Nektarios in Western Attica, Greece, as firefighting operations continue under difficult conditions. Nick Paleologos | Afp | Getty ImagesGreece is entering its second week of wildfires spread by extreme winds as more countries in Southern Europe battle with heatwaves. The wildfire, which broke out in Western Attica near the Greek capital Athens, has been worsened by Greece’s gusty, dry winds known as Meltemi, which affects the country during July and August. In some areas, the winds have reached speeds of 80 to 100 km per hour,…

Chinese tech giant Alibaba released what it says is its largest and “most capable AI model to date,” claiming performance rivaling the best systems from US frontier labs Anthropic and OpenAI, as well as domestic rivals like Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3. Alibaba said it was making the model, Qwen3.8-Max, widely available to users in a blog post published on Monday. The release had been expected after the company previewed the model last month, when it claimed it was “second only to Fable 5,” Anthropic’s flagship.The open release of another highly capable Chinese AI model adds to sky-high tensions along multiple…

A Reform UK proposal to use the military to stop small boats bringing migrants to the UK from France lacks substance, a former Royal Navy officer has said, suggesting the UK’s warships would be better used countering actual military threats.Reform’s political opponents have claimed its plans have more to do with distracting from the financial scandals surrounding its leader, Nigel Farage, than about solving the small boats issue, after the party proposed having the navy pick up people trying to make irregular Channel crossings and take them to France.“A billion-pound warship that’s configured for anti-air warfare or anti-submarine warfare, which…

Super Eagles midfielder Raphael Onyedika has completed a long-anticipated move to Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, becoming the sixth Nigerian to represent the German club and following in the footsteps of legendary captain Austin Okocha. The 25-year-old sealed his transfer from Belgian champions Club Brugge, signing a five-year contract that will keep him at Deutsche Bank Park until June 2031. He has been handed the No. 25 shirt as he begins a new chapter in Germany. Onyedika joins an exclusive list of Nigerians to have featured for Frankfurt, including Austin Okocha, Henry Isaac, Donald Agu, Nduka Anyanwu, and Isaac Ojigwe. The…

When Davido announced Oriadé, expectations were inevitably sky-high. Released on 31 July 2026, Oriadé is Davido’s sixth studio album and his most concise project yet. Unlike ‘Omo Baba Olowo’, ‘A Good Time’, ‘A Better Time’, ‘Timeless’ and ‘5ive’, all of which featured 17 tracks, Oriadé trims the excess with just 13 songs, making it arguably his most focused body of work. In this album, rather than chase trends, Davido uses Oriadé to reflect on where he has been and where he is headed. 13 Tracks Davido releases track list for oriadé Oriadé is an album about purpose. Across its 13…

Romanian army carries out controlled explosion to divert water, help cool nuclear power plantMeanwhile in Romania, the Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled explosion to divert a large volume of water to the Old Danube and the Cernavodă nuclear power plant to help with its cooling.The Romanian Navy detonates underwater explosives during a controlled demolition of submerged rocks to improve water flow to the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant amid exceptionally low water levels on the Danube River, in Izvoarele, Romania. Photograph: Andreea Alexandru/APSome 180 kg of explosives were used today, Adevărul reported, to move a large rock restricting the…

AstraZeneca shares dropped as much as 7% on Monday after reports that the company had discussed a potential mega-merger with Bristol Myers Squibb, a deal that analysts said would be a surprising strategic move for one of the pharmaceutical industry’s strongest growth stories.If completed, a deal could value the companies at roughly $400 billion, and rank among the largest pharmaceutical tie-ups ever.Neither company confirmed the report. AstraZeneca declined to comment, while Bristol Myers Squibb did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment outside normal U.S. business hours.While details of the talks remain scarce and sources told the FT that…