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A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a $27 million defamation lawsuit brought against the comedian Learnmore Jonasi by Lebohang Morake, the South African singer and composer professionally known as Lebo M. Morake’s Zulu chant opens “Circle of Life” in Disney’s The Lion King. The ruling, issued Friday, threw out the suit that Morake filed in March. Bryan Sullivan, a lawyer for Jonasi, called the decision a vindication of his client’s right to free speech. “We have always believed this was a frivolous lawsuit in violation of our client’s First Amendment rights,” Sullivan tells Rolling Stone. He says the…

Freed Oyo pupils and their teacher It is a welcome relief that the kidnapped students and teachers of Oriire community have finally been released. However, their freedom should not be taken to mean that life has returned to normal for them. Many who have been freed by kidnappers become slaves of psychological trauma from their experiences of fear, humiliation, violence, uncertainty and helplessness during their ordeal. They must be given emergency, ongoing and professionally coordinated psychotherapy when they get back home. We are blessed that the students and teachers have regained their freedom. The emotional agonies that many of us…

WalletHub recently released its 2026 Most & Least Educated Cities in America report, which compares the nation’s 150 largest metropolitan areas using 11 metrics, including the share of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher.The report found that the Visalia metro area ranked near the bottom in several educational attainment measures and placed last overall among the 150 metropolitan areas analyzed.More: Catholic school to open near Visalia’s Oval Park in the fallFollowing the report’s release, local educators and community leaders said the ranking reflects long-standing challenges in higher education access throughout the region.“This ranking is a…

Nigeria international Benjamin Fredrick has set his sights on making his Premier League debut for Brentford after signing a new four-year contract and earning promotion to the Bees’ first-team squad. “My aim is to make my debut with the first team, get Premier League minutes and give my best when I have the opportunity,” the 21-year-old defender said, while reflecting on his ambitions for the season ahead. “I just want to keep pushing and learning every single day.” Fredrick, who has linked up with Keith Andrews’ squad during pre-season, signed his new deal, which includes a club option for a…

Alex Enumah in Abuja The collaboration between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in the fight against financial crimes has earned Nigeria the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and World Bank’s Egmont Group Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative Award, at the 32nd Egmont Group Plenary of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, between July 5 and 10, 2026.  The StAR Award is officially one of the highest operational honours within the global financial intelligence community.  It celebrates exceptional instances where exchange and professional analysis of…

OPay has declared that the next phase of Africa’s fintech revolution will be driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), arguing that the technology can do more than automate payments by expanding financial inclusion, fighting fraud and connecting millions of underserved people to the formal financial system. The fintech company made the case at the Digital PayExpo 2026 in Lagos, where it served as the headline sponsor of the two-day industry conference that brought together regulators, banks, fintech companies and technology experts to discuss the future of digital payments. Read also: SEC clears nine fintech firms for Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme The message…

Microsoft’s greenhouse gas pollution increased by roughly 25 percent last year, the company says in its new sustainability report released Thursday.The report follows similar ones released by Google and Amazon last week. Together, they show a troubling trend of rising tech company emissions, driven by the global race to build out power-hungry data centers.In a blog post announcing the report, Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith and chief sustainability officer Melanie Nakagawa say that the emissions increase is driven “primarily by the expansion of our datacenter infrastructure.”A significant portion of that increase, they write, was tied to emissions from…

You can see it in the facial expressions of our political leaders and hear it in the tenor and tone of their voices. People across Westminster and beyond are stunned at the news of the murder investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe. The sadness at the loss of a friend to many, magnified by the horror of what we were to later learn about its horrific circumstances.The police have said they have “no information” to believe it is a “politically motivated crime.” Nonetheless, in moments like this those in public life are reminded of their prominence and sense of…

In highland mice, the responses to low oxygen and toxins compete for a shared molecular regulator

Morocco’s dream of another FIFA World Cup semi-final appearance came to an end on Thursday. Still, head coach Mohamed Ouahbi believes the Atlas Lions have laid the foundations for even greater success after becoming the first African nation to reach the quarter-finals in back-to-back World Cups. The North Africans saw their impressive campaign halted by France, who secured a 2-0 victory to book their place in the semi-finals. While the result ended Morocco’s hopes of matching their historic Qatar 2022 achievement, it did little to diminish the tournament’s status as another landmark for African football. Having reached the last four…