Author: damazah@gmail.com

“It is impossible for AI to access a fully autonomous lab and autonomously build a virus today because fully autonomous labs do not exist yet,” says Olivia Scharfman, a biotechnology fellow at the technology think tank Institute for Progress. “But I do think that an AI could pay someone to do it for them.”She thinks AI-assisted bioterrorism is an immediate threat and that there are some groups that might be nihilistic enough to do so, including “transhumanist AI successionists,” people who buy into a fringe ideology who hope to supplant humans with bots.Other experts aren’t so worried about an AI…

David-Chyddy Eleke reports that even though the recent visit of the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to Anambra State was a working visit, it more or less sealed an agreement for the All Progressives Congress and All Progressives Grand Alliance to work together in the 2027 general elections. In Anambra, the popular mantra among political actors is the coinage; progressives are working together. It is a political mantra coined by the governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, during the run up to the November 8, 2025 governorship election in the state, where he was himself standing for…

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the winner of its Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for an image of the Shark Nebula.The dark nebula is made from interstellar dust dense enough to block starlight and is 650 light years away.Steve Marsh, one of the judges and art editor at BBC Sky at Night Magazine, said the image by Ali Alobaidly showed “flawless presentation, pin-sharp details and dynamic contrast”.He added: “The Shark Nebula is already a striking object, but when it is resolved to the point where even detail-rich distant galaxies can be seen through it, you know you’re looking…

About 20 people, including women and children, are feared trapped after a mining pit collapsed in Mayo Kam community, Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State, on Thursday. The incident occurred in the afternoon while the miners were reportedly working inside the pit, sending residents into panic and plunging the community into mourning. The figure could not be independently confirmed as of Thursday night, while the Taraba State Police Command said it had not received an official report from its Bali Area Command. A resident, Kenneth Ayila, confirmed the incident. “The mining pit collapsed on miners at Mayo Kam village…

•Says Fed rate hike litmus test for Nigeria’s $54.61bn reserves, FX market Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, AERE, Mr. Dele Oye, has said Nigeria’s economy remains under severe strain despite attracting $10.37 billion in capital inflows, warning that the composition of the inflows raises concerns about the country’s reliance on short-term foreign portfolio investment. Oye said the size of the capital inflow should not be mistaken for evidence that the Nigerian economy was attracting sufficient long-term productive investment. Oye, who was reacting to the United States Federal Reserve’s interest rates raise for the first time in…

News groups are also upset that instead of listening to insiders warning that scraping news was theft, Microsoft and OpenAI never chose to license content, allegedly usurping them in another market in ways they couldn’t anticipate. Specifically, their motion accused Microsoft of violating “industry norms” by selling a dataset purchased for Bing as training data for OpenAI, allegedly doing so without consulting news groups that would not have approved of that repurposing of their consent to basic search engine crawling. Further, OpenAI allegedly “acted improperly” by obtaining a NYT dataset with 1.8 million articles from a third party that was…

Indonesia says vessel will be used to aid disaster relief across the archipelago, but its arrival comes amid drive to upgrade the military.Published On 18 Sep 202618 Sep 2026Indonesia has welcomed the delivery of its first-ever aircraft carrier with a military ceremony as the vessel arrived at a naval base.The 41-year-old former Italian navy vessel Giuseppe Garibaldi docked in North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok seaport on Friday, after sailing from Italy via Colombo and the Malacca strait, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Muhammad Ali told reporters.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIndonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto says the ship will be…

A wildlife charity fears it could lose a funding grant after a burst pipe prevented vital conservation work.It is the fourth time Long Mead Local Wildlife Site, at Swinford in Oxfordshire, has been flooded because of a mains failure.Although the meadow by the River Thames naturally floods in the winter, standing water at this time of year can cause damage to the rare habitat.Thames Water said the latest leak had been fixed and it remained committed to protecting local wildlife sites.”It’s already starting to stagnate, so that’s serious,” said Catriona Bass, director of the Long Mead Foundation.”Floodplain meadows are used…

The decisions taken at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) in Arusha, Tanzania, have placed Nigeria at the centre of Africa’s emerging conversation on Artificial Intelligence and educational assessment. With Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi elected Vice President of the association and Abuja chosen to host the 2027 conference, the Arusha meeting has effectively handed Nigeria an opportunity and a responsibility to help shape how Africa conducts examinations in the age of AI Nigeria’s emergence as a key player in Africa’s educational assessment leadership has coincided with a defining moment for examinations worldwide: the…

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has declared that Nigeria’s banking sector is now stronger and more resilient, while assuring Nigerians that the insecurity confronting the country will soon be defeated. Akpabio made the declarations while rallying citizens behind President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope reforms, stressing that financial-sector reforms, security operations and citizens’ cooperation were critical to economic recovery and national development. The Senate President said the era when banks could suddenly collapse and depositors lose their money was over, attributing the development to reforms under the Tinubu administration. “Today, thanks to the bold vision and strategic foresights of President Bola Ahmed…