Author: damazah@gmail.com

As facial recognition technology is rolled out across Britain’s public spaces, a new generation of designers say privacy could be the next big fashion trend.Companies have started incorporating “adversarial patterns” in their garments – carefully designed arrangements of shapes, colours and repeated motifs said to exploit weaknesses in some computer vision systems.The designers say advances in computing have made it easier to incorporate such patterns into commercially viable garments. Experts caution that the effectiveness of the patterns depends on the surveillance system and the conditions in which it is used, but Nick Tidball, the co-founder of the clothing brand Vollebak,…

Forty eight young curlews are being released back into their natural habitat as part of efforts to protect the species.The Eurasian curlew is an iconic resident of the Shropshire Hills and the Welsh Marches, but declining numbers have seen the species added to the UK’s Red List of highest conservation concern. But non-profit organisation Curlew Country is hoping to improve the chances of Shropshire’s curlews by making sure the young birds get the best possible start in life. “[The project] has started to stabilise the population, but it’s not the long-term solution,” said Amanda Perkins, who leads the group. The…

The 2026 Open Championship rolls on into the second round on Friday with a surprising name atop the leaderboard. Jackson Suber grabbed a share of the lead at 5 under with a first-round 65 in his only career round at The Open.Suber won’t have a long night to sleep on the lead, which might be for the best for his nerves. He will be one of the first out on Friday morning with a 2:30 a.m. ET (7:30 a.m. local) tee time, offering an opportunity to extend his advantage if he can stay hot. The most notable chaser out early will…

Lil Baby released a new single, “Dead Fresh.” The track was produced by Pharrell Williams, marking the duo’s first-ever collaboration, and premiered at the Louis Vuitton’s Menswear Spring-Summer 2027 show in Paris in June. “Money coming in, I put my nanny in Chanel/ Made it out the slum, I got my granny pushing a Maybach,” the rapper spits. “If I lose it all, is you gon’ hold it down for real?/ Hold up, hold up, this beat came from Pharrell.” A music video for the song, directed by Kid Art, which arrive on Monday. The rapper shared a trailer for the…

“I am 35 and have essentially nothing saved for my future, which is a huge concern.” Sarah* works in library services in Oxford – full-time at one library and part-time at another. She has saved £5,000 into her pension.After finishing her PhD in 2020, she said she had “good intentions of contributing to pension schemes. But because I then had a succession of part-time jobs, I never started. I never thought, this is a job I’ll be doing for long enough.”Sarah is part of a growing cohort in Britain who are not saving enough for their retirement – 15 million…

Opening summaryWelcome to our live coverage of the latest in the continuing Middle East crisis.US strikes on Iran overnight hit an airport, a railway station and two bridges, according to Iranian state media on Friday, while American forces boarded a ship as they enforced a renewed blockade of Iranian ports.Three blasts were heard around Iranshahr airport in the south-east and at least one US projectile hit. Bandar Abbas station in the southern port city was also targeted and an Iranian official report spoke of airstrikes on two bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province that left seven people dead, according to…

By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin A joint security team comprising operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and forest guards has killed two suspected bandits and rescued two kidnapped children during an operation in Kwara State. The operation, carried out on Thursday, targeted bandits’ hideouts in the Oba Isin and Owa Onire areas of Isin and Ifelodun Local Government Areas of the state. According to security and state government sources, the operatives engaged the suspected bandits in a gun battle, killing two of them, while several others escaped with severe injuries. The sources added that follow-up operations are ongoing…

Oil prices are on course early Friday for their strongest weekly performance since April as renewed conflict between the United States and Iran disrupted the recovery of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed crude prices to their highest levels in more than a month. In Asian trading, both major benchmarks extended gains for a fourth consecutive session after the US launched another round of military strikes on Iranian targets overnight. International benchmark Brent crude rose 1 percent to $85.06 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 1.2 percent to $79.88 per barrel. The gains put…

Since the last Castlevania game hit the shelves (2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), Konami’s dormant series has unexpectedly spawned a hit genre. With an entire generation raised on “metroidvanias” – a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania – millions of players have only ever seen the games inspired by Konami’s seminal games. Now with Belmont’s Curse, launching in October, Castlevania is finally dashing back to console, where Konami hopes to reclaim its side-scroller throne.Set 23 years after the events of 1989’s Castlevania 3 – the same setting as the hit Netflix show – Belmont’s Curse shakes off the series’ 3D…

•To audit systems too ABUJA — THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, disclosed that it is considering conducting a comprehensive audit of all its electoral technology systems, alongside a mock presidential election, as part of measures to strengthen preparations for the 2027 general elections. Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this while receiving the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery, on a courtesy visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja. The INEC boss said the proposals, which were under consideration by the Commission that same day, were informed by concerns arising from the 2023 general…