Author: damazah@gmail.com

A High Court challenge against the construction of a Chinese mega embassy in London has failed.The decision to uphold planning permission for the site on the old Royal Mint, near the Tower of London, has dismayed campaigners from the Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association (RMCRA), which represents families and businesses in about 100 properties.The RMCRA fear the site poses an espionage threat and will be used to enforce “draconian” Chinese laws in the UK and to target dissidents.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets defended the claim, saying they “conscientiously and…

The iconic Lovell telescope, housed at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, has always expanded our view of the universe – from tracking the Sputnik launch in 1957 to its current contributions to the study of dark matter. It is now threatened with closure after it was announced that government funding will not continue past March 2028. The projected savings are just £2.8m a year.This is just the latest in a rolling package of cuts from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) – which disperses government funding to particle, astro and nuclear physics, among other disciplines – aimed at saving about £160m over the…

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Electoral Committee has released the timetable for the federation’s executive committee elections scheduled for 27 September in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital. According to the timetable released by the committee, the sale of nomination forms will commence on Saturday, 1 August, alongside the publication of the election guidelines. The committee set 12 August as the deadline for submitting completed nomination forms. Candidates with irregularities in their submitted documents will be notified between 13 and 19 August, while the period for correcting such irregularities will run from 20 to 27 August. Screening of candidates will take…

A federal judge has paused a lawsuit accusing Drake and streamer Adin Ross of using the online casino platform Stake.us to bankroll a “bot army” that allegedly artificially inflated streams of Drake’s music. In a 20-page opinion obtained by Rolling Stone, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ruled Thursday that the plaintiffs agreed to binding arbitration with Stake when they accessed the platform to play casino-style games. The agreement requires them to pursue their claims against Stake before a private arbitrator rather than in court, the judge said. Brinkema essentially halted the plaintiffs’ related claims against Drake, Ross, and Australian…

Troops of the 4 Brigade, Nigerian Army, under the 2 Division, participating in Operation WABAIZIGAN, have successfully rescued 14 kidnapped victims in Edo State. The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 4 Brigade Nigerian Army, Benin City, Lt. Col. Kennedy Anyanwu, said in a statement on Friday that a swift response to a kidnap incident along the Lagos–Benin Expressway in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State led to the rescue of the victims. He said the operation further demonstrates the Nigerian Army’s unwavering commitment to protecting lives and denying criminal elements freedom of action within its area of responsibility.…

Palestinian group Hamas has announced that it has agreed to a deal aimed at fully ending Israel’s war on Gaza, which has inflicted death and destruction on the enclave for nearly three years.The agreement, which was confirmed on Thursday and Friday by the United States and other mediators, requires Hamas to make provisions to disarm and surrender its weapons in stages. Meanwhile, Israel would withdraw its forces.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe agreement was announced late on Thursday by President Donald Trump, after the US-led Board of Peace and International Stabilization Force for Gaza announced that mediators from…

Kayode Tokede Billionaire investor,  Mr. Olufemi Otedola, has acquired additional N222.21  billion worth of First Holdco Plc shares on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). According to a disclosure on the Exchange yesterday, the chairman of First Holdco acquired further 1,779,094,976 shares of the group at N124.90 per share.  The transaction on the NGX takes Otedola‘s position to 11,763,018,192 shares from 9,277,792,037 as of June 30 2026 unaudited results, making him the largest shareholder of the oldest financial institution in Nigeria. The purchase also carries a consequence beyond its size. Nigerian takeover rules oblige a shareholder crossing 30 per cent of…

Everyone knows that great gimmicks are the key to hiring top developers for your startup. That’s why small AI startup LemonLime—which “optimizes your existing data to work with AI”—has so many of them. Want a job interview? Score a perfect 7/7 on the company’s own “Is it a Lemon or a Lime?” game. Or—hear me out—get something permanently tattooed on your flesh. LemonLime has tried both tactics in the past few weeks. The tattoo stunt generated the most publicity, of course, much of it negative. According to a writeup in Inc., seven people took the deal and got tattooed with…

Andy Burnham was told he could face the first revolt of his premiership as Labour MPs and climate experts condemned his apparent support for renewed drilling for oil and gas.As the UK suffers through drought, fires and heatwaves, the prime minister gave the strongest indication yet on Friday he was minded to allow new drilling. His comments came just hours before the UN secretary-general warned “every new fossil fuel project” made heatwaves more dangerous.Speaking at a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, Burnham repeated he would be “pragmatic” about oil and gas and that decisions on new drilling would be…

Calcareous marine plankton can indicate past and present ocean acidification