Author: damazah@gmail.com

Driving down an endless string of identical roundabouts in the dead heat with hardly a human in sight, you see robots roving around on grassy pavements, whizzing past obstacles to hurriedly reach their final destination. This isn’t a scene from a Philip K Dick novel, however, but an average Thursday in Milton Keynes.The robots aren’t a new arrival to the Buckinghamshire city, the UK’s largest new town and a longtime marvel for city planning enthusiasts fascinated by its American-influenced layout and postwar history. They’ve roamed its streets since 2018 – and could soon be coming to a town or city…

One week on from Keir Starmer’s resignation, Britain finds itself in a state of both certainty and ambiguity. It is almost guaranteed that Andy Burnham will be prime minister by the end of the summer, bar sudden scandal or meteorite. And yet, whether Burnham gets his expected coronation or not, the infancy of his return to Westminster coupled with the speed of Starmer’s exit timetable has created a remarkable situation: a figure who was not even an MP until a fortnight ago could soon enter Downing Street without anyone knowing what policies he will implement, other than the obligatory buzzword…

“One of the things the university is doing to try to help recover the swift population is to put nest boxes on buildings around the university to compensate for the fact that natural nest sites have disappeared as a result of new modern buildings,” Rands said.Swift boxes were placed on the tower of the David Attenborough Building in the city in 2020 and the first pair nested and reared two chicks in 2021.It now has 20 swift nest boxes, with 24 nesting chambers and recently added a live camera feed, external enabling people to look inside some of the nests.Several…

Paraguay’s players celebrate after winning the penalty shootout during the 2026 World Cup round of 32 football match between Germany and Paraguay at the Boston Stadium in Foxborough on June 29, 2026. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) Paraguay stunned Germany in a penalty shootout on Monday to reach the last 16 of the World Cup. The South Americans won 4-3 on spot kicks after the match finished 1-1 in extra-time to inflict Germany’s first ever defeat in a penalty shootout in a World Cup.

Kevin Spacey went on Bill Maher‘s Club Random podcast this week and Maher was characteristically blunt from the get-go. “I’m not going to lie to you, I go by numbers with scandals,” began Maher. “If it’s like one person, I’m always like, ‘I don’t know if I wasn’t in the room.’ When it gets to like you had, it’s like, ‘Come on man, there’s too much smoke to be no fire.’” Spacey didn’t deny that. “I never said there was no fire. It just wasn’t a raging forest fire. It was a small kitchen fire that could have been put…

5Language of c. 200-600 AD (4,5) 5 across. Language of c. 200-600 AD. 4 letters and 5 letters.8‘Venerable’ historian of c. 673–735 AD (4) 8 across. ‘Venerable’ historian of c. 673–735 AD. 4 letters.9‘Holy’ bluish-green marine food fish (8) 9 across. ‘Holy’ bluish-green marine food fish. 8 letters.10Tooth decay (6) 10 across. Tooth decay. 6 letters.11Peak – meeting (6) 11 across. Peak – meeting. 6 letters.13Emphasis – hassle (6) 13 across. Emphasis – hassle. 6 letters.15Cape – intellectual Susan, 1933–2004 (6) 15 across. Cape – intellectual Susan, 1933–2004. 6 letters.16Yeasty spread (8) 16 across. Yeasty spread. 8 letters.18Foot part –…

Households across parts of the country are beginning to experience relief as retail prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas, decline following improved product supply and softer depot prices, The PUNCH reports. The latest market update from gas marketers showed that retail LPG prices have started easing in major cities after weeks of elevated prices, although the reductions have not been uniform because of varying transportation costs, distance from supply depots and retailer margins. Checks by marketers indicated that cooking gas is now selling for between N1,100 and N1,350 per kilogramme in Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta, while…

Chalmers says opposition having ‘meltdown’ not marketing problemLabor are trying to squeeze out all they can from Melissa McIntosh’s rebrand comments yesterday (and her doubling down today).During a dixer, Jim Chalmers says the opposition aren’t having a marketing problem, but a “meltdown”.He says the three rightwing parties “share a divisive, anti-worker, anti-housing agenda and that, more than anything, explains the mess that they’re in”. double quotation markIt is not a marketing problem over there, it is a meltdown. The member for Hume [Angus Taylor] said his leadership was a change or die moment and he made the wrong choice. He…

Inde Navarrette in “Obsession.”Focus FeaturesCurry Barker’s Obsession, starring Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston, is new on digital streaming this week as the blockbuster horror thriller keeps racking up big ticket sales at the box office worldwide.Obsession, which had a production budget of $750,000, was acquired by Focus Features for about $15 million at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Written and directed by Barker, the film follows the harrowing plight of Bear (Johnston), a music store employee who has an enormous crush on his co-worker Nikki (Navarrette). Forbes‘Obsession’ Star Inde Navarrette Discusses Her Spellbinding Performance In Hit Horror ThrillerBy Tim…

Ford says it has hired back some human engineers after AI failed to match their skills and experience.In a bid to reap the benefits of the tech, which developers claim can cut costs and boost productivity, the US carmaker adopted it across some parts of its operations including for quality checks.But, according to Bloomberg, external, its executives said the firm has rehired more than 300 “veteran” quality inspectors in recent years to make up for the pitfalls of automated systems.”Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” Charles Poon,…