Author: damazah@gmail.com

FCMB Group deployed a mix of strategies, including top-line expansion and cost management, to deliver a 90.5 per cent increase in net profit for the six months to June, compared with a year earlier, the latest accounts of the bank holding company published on Monday showed. Gross earnings climbed to N676.2 billion from N529.2 billion, with 88.8 per cent of it solely contributed by interest and discount income, setting the scene for the big earnings boost, which was partly driven by a reduction in some major expenses. Cost-to-income ratio dropped to 41.4 per cent from 57 per cent one year…

Last year, the FDA also announced that it was delaying a new rule on food traceability, which would have made it easier for FDA investigators to identify and remove from the market foods linked to illnesses, such as Taylor Farms’ lettuce. “Catastrophic” mismanagement Last week, Kennedy claimed that the Cyclospora surge was “under control,” but critics and former FDA officials have scoffed at the statement. “If history is any judge, when the Trump administration declares a crisis ‘under control’, it’s time to brace for the worst yet to come,” Brad Woodhouse, president of the public health nonprofit Protect Our Care,…

Police are “conducting inquiries” into an image shared by Green party leader Zack Polanski on Instagram after Reform UK reported it for “inciting murder”.The image showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel”, alongside a photograph of a guillotine.A Green party spokesperson said that Polanski “condemns the image on the T-shirt” and accepted being tagged in a post with 20 images “without realising there was more to it than he had seen”.Nigel Farage shared a screenshot of the image on X and wrote: “This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on…

Force of Nature: Understanding Evolution’s Deepest Logic — and Putting It to Use Owen D. Jones W. W. Norton (2026)From antimicrobial resistance and vaccines to drugs design and even policymaking, evolution is fundamental to many aspects of our lives. Yet, too often, Darwinian thinking is neglected.In Force of Nature, biologist and legal scholar Owen Jones argues convincingly that understanding how evolution by natural selection works can inform humans’ interactions with their environment and with each other — and that misunderstanding it can create problems. He cites case studies from a range of fields, including medicine, agriculture and law, to support…

Jack Draper has withdrawn from the DC Open with a left arm injury.The former world No 4 has endured a injury-strewn 2026 which saw him miss all three Grand Slam tournaments, with the withdrawal coming just a day after Draper claiming that he feels “physically good”. The Brit, who is coached by Sir Andy Murray, has slipped to world No 147 in the ATP rankings, leaving him likely to face qualifying if he is to compete at September’s US Open after missing out on direct entry into the main draw. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player…

NBC‘s new multi-cam comedy “Newlyweds” has cast three new series regulars, Variety has learned. Emma Meisel, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Bill O’Neill have all joined the series opposite leads Téa Leoni and Tim Daly. As previously reported, series executive producer Jamie Lee Curtis will also appear in a recurring guest star role. The logline for the show describes it as “a later-in-life love story about a free-spirited woman (Leoni) and a buttoned-up professor (Daly) who marry impetuously after a whirlwind courtship.” Meisel and Diaz-Silverio will play Poppy and Lolo, respectively. Both are Jeanie’s (Leoni), with Lolo being adopted. O’Neill will play…

A gopher is a small, solitary rodent with large front teeth native to North and Central America. It’s also the name of the job some workplaces give to errand runners (though it’s more usually spelled gofer).When I was a 21-year-old law student in Canberra, I was in desperate need of casual work, I came across an ad pinned to one of the corkboards outside the library. Bleary-eyed after another all-nighter to finish an assignment, I took down the number of the law firm.The title itself wasn’t off-putting: “Gopher.” As in, go for it. Fetch things? Surely my entire life as…

Andrea Pirlo has said he is no longer a candidate to coach the Italian national side following days of controversy over his ties to a Russian betting company.His appointment as Italy’s next head coach had not been confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) yet was being treated as all but certain.But over the weekend several Italian politicians criticised the FIGC’s choice, noting that Pirlo, 47, had taken up a role as global ambassador for Russia’s Fonbet last October.Hours later, Italian football was plunged further into crisis as it was reported by Sky Sport Italia that two other senior figures…

Nume Ekeghe The federal government and Access Bank Plc have intensified efforts to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital financial solutions among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), positioning technology as a key driver of Nigeria’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy. The initiative was unveiled at the Access Bank MSME Digital Growth Conference themed, “AI for SMEs: Scaling Through Digital Tools,” where the lender also launched its new Access SME Application, a digital platform designed to provide small businesses with financial services and digital tools to support growth. Speaking at the event in Lagos, the…

An untold number of Claude chats and Artifacts — the interactive mini apps and documents users can build inside Claude — were found publicly searchable on Google over the weekend, after Reddit users discovered that typing search operators like “site:claude.ai/share” into Google surfaced a long list of shared conversations. Some reportedly contained health records, private company documents, and the names and phone numbers of children. The issue appears to have originated from Claude’s “share chat” feature, which allows users to create links that enable anyone with the assigned URL view a conversation or project. “Anyone with the link can view,”…