Author: damazah@gmail.com

Nigeria’s Detty December season has become  one of Africa’s most lucrative live entertainment windows, attracting global stars, thousands of international visitors, and millions of naira in concert spending. This year, however, the planned Lagos stop of South African Grammy winner Tyla’s APOP World Tour has become caught in a growing political controversy that is testing the balance between business, culture and diplomacy. Shortly after Tyla announced Lagos as one of the African stops on her world tour, alongside Cape Town and Johannesburg, calls for a boycott emerged across social media. The backlash is tied to renewed anger over xenophobic attacks…

Summer heat is about to go from bad to worse, as multiple regions around the world face another round of record-breaking temperatures.The heat will be fueled by unusually hot ocean waters and El Niño as well as changes to the jet stream that lock high temperatures in place—and man-made climate change, of course.Western Europe endured its hottest June on record and record-breaking wildfires in July. Now, it’s facing another round of blistering temperatures. On Tuesday, French president Emanuel Macron said the one-two punch of high heat and intense wildfires are creating a dangerous situation, which he called “the toughest since…

Iran announced on Friday that it had targeted United States military assets at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase, describing the attack as retaliation for US strikes a day earlier.Here is a recap of the latest developments in the US-Israeli war on Iran over the past 24 hours and a look at how the war could be expanding within the region.Where has Iran attacked?The Iranian army said on Friday that its forces had targeted strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase in a drone attack, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US strikes.In a statement reported by Iran’s semiofficial…

But with smaller populations with fewer than 15 individuals, even a low number of deaths could have a significant impact.Lead researcher Dr Lauren Moore, from NTU, said: “Hedgehogs are declining in the UK and we have found how even a small amount of roadkill – perhaps just one or two individuals a year – could have devastating effects on an already small population.”In the past, research has assumed that high roadkill rates have a large and negative impact on hedgehog populations and that a small amount does little harm.”This does not tell us the full picture and in fact populations…

By Adegboyega Adeleye World football governing body FIFA has defended its controversial proposal to bring private investment into the FIFA World Cup, insisting that “nobody is selling football” after UEFA and several continental confederations threatened to boycott its competitions. In a statement released on Friday, FIFA said it would continue its consultation process on the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial subsidiary that would oversee the World Cup and other major tournaments, despite mounting opposition from European football authorities. “We have heard the feedback provided by the respective confederations,” FIFA said. “We respect the feedback and concern aired in…

India’s Oscar-qualifying Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF) has expanded its competition to 10 arenas of cinema for its 16th edition, adding new categories for AI-made films and screendance. BISFF received a record 3,340 submissions this year from more than 100 countries, according to organizers. Of those, 1,726 came from international entries, 756 from India, 306 from Karnataka, 284 in animation and 118 each in the queer, AI film and screendance categories. The festival expects more than 5,000 delegates and 1,000-plus filmmakers and artists. The new sections include AI (Machine Made Movies), open to films created entirely or partially using…

The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Akwa Ibom State, John Akpanudoedehe, has alleged a plot by unnamed government agents, working with some officials of his party, to replace candidates who emerged from concluded party primaries and whose names have already been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Mr Akpanudoedehe made the allegation in a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, warning party members against what he described as attempts to infiltrate the ADC and manipulate the party’s candidate list before INEC publishes the final list. He, however, provided no evidence to support the allegations…

After days of heated reactions, boycott calls, and a growing social media campaign, South African singer Tyla’s scheduled Lagos concert has been removed from the public itinerary for her APOP World Tour. However, neither the singer nor her management has explained the change. Checks by PREMIUM TIMES on the tour’s official website on Friday showed that the Lagos date was no longer listed among the 34-city tour schedule. However, neither Tyla nor her management has publicly explained the change or confirmed whether the concert has been cancelled, postponed or temporarily removed. The development follows days of online protests, with some…

Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Ododo, canvasses need for Diaspora Nigerians in the United Kingdom and beyond to back economic reforms being executed by the President Bola Tinubu-led government at the centre. Governor Ahmed Ododo of Kogi State has called on Kogites and Nigerians living in the United Kingdom to rally behind the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu, project a positive image of Nigeria and channel their investments, expertise and global networks towards the development of Kogi State and the nation. Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting with Kogites and Nigerians in London on Thursday, the Governor said Nigeria’s future…

This week a letter signed by over 1,000 AI employees made headlines about the pacing of frontier AI.gettyIn today’s column, I examine that newly released letter that was signed by over a thousand employees from leading-edge AI tech firms that calls upon the United States to aid in supporting international efforts to develop tools that could be used to pace the frontier of AI development. On the topic of signed letters, there seems to have been a lot of outspoken missives about AI that have recently been floating around and seeking this or that support when it comes to the…