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Burnham has already ruled out an early election, telling an online forum last week: “I’m going to work to the 2024 manifesto.”By September at the latest, the UK will have had seven prime ministers in the past decade.Four prime ministers took over mid-term without having fought and won a general election: Theresa May in 2016, Boris Johnson in 2019, and Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, both in 2022. In each of these cases, there have been questions from opposition parties about their legitimacy in office. But the next prime minister, like their predecessors, is under no obligation to call a…

Esther Oluku  Technology firm and pioneer for integrated health insurance system in Nigeria, Medismarts, is set to roll out a diaspora premium payment portal as part of its vision to expand healthcare access across Nigeria’s over 180,000,000 uninsured population. According to Medismarts’ Chief Executive Officer, Obinna Osuji, the portal is designed to ease the burden of out of pocket payment for medicals and restore the dignity of patients who, when caught in health challenges, resort to public spaces and social media for help. He opined that patients in Nigeria, like in other climes, deserve the decency of walking into a…

It is being carried out in phases to reduce disruption and allow wildlife to adapt.Peatland restoration officer George Hemstock said the work was designed to balance environmental goals with species protection. “To minimise disturbance to reptiles, work is being carried out in phases over three years, allowing animals time to move safely across the site.”Key refuge areas such as dry, south-facing bog edges where reptiles hibernate are being retained and protected throughout operations.”Longbridge Muir covers about 1,255 acres (508 ha) and forms one of the largest surviving remnants of the historic Lochar Moss peatland complex near Dumfries. The site is…

France boss Didier Deschamps is predicting a “spectacular” semi-final when his exciting side take on Spain in a heavyweight World Cup showdown in Dallas on Tuesday.Spain beat France in the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on their way to being crowned European champions before defeating Les Bleus in a nine-goal last-four thriller in the Nations League last year.”The past is in the past,” said Deschamps, who is stepping down at the end of the tournament after 14 years in charge.”They [Spain] did win in the past but I am looking forward to tomorrow. “We are now at another level. We want…

Nansun Shi, the pioneering Hong Kong producer and executive who helped shape the territory’s cinematic golden age as the co-founder of Film Workshop, and who later produced Infernal Affairs — the cult crime thriller Martin Scorsese would remake as the Oscar-winning The Departed — died Monday at Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. She was 75. Film Workshop, the production house Shi launched with director Tsui Hark in 1984, said in a statement that she had been in declining health since 2022 due to complications affecting her immune system, and that recurrent infections in recent months had resulted in “multiple organ…

The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin has affirmed the death sentence imposed on self-acclaimed Islamic cleric, Abdulrahman Bello, for the murder of his lover, Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal, a final-year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin. Arewa PUNCH recalls that Lawal was murdered on February 10, 2025, at the Olunlade area of Ilorin in a case that attracted widespread public outrage across Kwara State and beyond. Bello and four others were initially arraigned on charges bordering on conspiracy, murder, unlawful removal and possession of human parts and blood, while Bello alone also faced a rape charge, of…

Winston Osuchukwu   For decades, credit risk assessment in Nigeria has rested on an incomplete foundation. Lenders—whether deposit money banks, microfinance institutions, or digital finance operators—price credit largely on the basis of data they alone have collected about a borrower.  This institutional insularity is often deliberate, and it costs the Nigerian borrower dearly. The concept we advance here, Personal Equity, challenges this status quo at its root. What is Personal Equity? Personal Equity is the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour, aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted and translated into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness. It…

Bond traders ramped up bets for a July interest-rate hike ahead of US inflation data and an appearance by the head of the Federal Reserve that stand to reinforce the need for action.

blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, US is carrying out more attacks on Iran, with Iranian media reporting explosions in Kish Island, Jam Island, Qeshm Island, Bushehr and Bandar Abbas.Published On 14 Jul 202614 Jul 2026Click here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharegoogleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo

The Presidency has issued a call for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to deepen their collaboration with the government, arguing that joint efforts are vital to mitigating the country’s pressing economic, social, and humanitarian difficulties. Speaking at the investiture of Sikiru Owonikoko as the new Governor of Rotary International District 9127 in Abuja on Saturday, Amina Kabir, the Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination, emphasised that the government cannot manage these multifaceted challenges in isolation. Ms Kabir challenged service organisations to pivot from ceremonial activities towards interventions that yield measurable and sustainable outcomes. “When government is stretched, civil…