Author: damazah@gmail.com

Last fall, Dan Howell and Phil Lester broke the internet. In a 46-minute video titled “Are Dan and Phil in a Relationship? The Truth,” the OG British YouTubers finally revealed — after 16 years of speculation — that they’re a couple, and have been since they started making videos together in 2009. The news made headlines around the world and delighted their 3 million fans, many of whom had shipped “Phan” for over a decade. “It feels so different to have hard launched and be open about this,” Howell tells Variety over Zoom, sitting besides Lester in the London flat…

Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the leadership of the National Assembly a seven-day ultimatum to initiate investigations into the alleged diversion and non-accounting of more than N6.3 billion in constituency project funds. The organisation warned that it would seek legal redress if no action is taken. The civil society organisation specifically urged the Senate President,t Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to immediately refer the allegations contained in the 2022 Annual Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation to relevant anti-corruption agencies for investigation and possible prosecution. SERAP…

A single jackhammer. A pair of pickaxes. Men swinging with all their might to break through multiple stories of concrete to try to reach the living.The scene on Saturday night in San Bernardino, a middle-class neighborhood in Caracas, showcased both the severe shortage of heavy machinery needed to rescue survivors after Wednesday’s double earthquakes and the enormous community mobilization that has taken place to try to fill that gap.At the Residencia Rita, an apartment building that crumbled when the quakes hit, finding anyone alive three days later would have been a miracle. And yet hundreds of people gathered to help…

Sami Zayn won his first world title at Night of Champions. (Credit: Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)WWE via Getty ImagesSami Zayn did it. He finally did it.At WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, the former Intercontinental Champion won his first world title on his tenth attempt. In one of the most shocking world championship wins in WWE history, Zayn defeated Cody Rhodes and Gunther to win the WWE Championship after more than a decade in WWE.Who saw that one coming? Hardly anyone, really, especially with Zayn having to overcome Gunther and Rhodes, two of WWE’s most pushed stars, to…

OPay, a leading fintech company in Nigeria, has introduced two new security features, Emergency Lock and Safety PIN, designed to give customers greater control over their money during security emergencies and unexpected situations. The new features reaffirm OPay’s commitment to putting customers first by providing practical tools that help users protect their funds before fraud, theft, or coercion can occur. For tens of millions of Nigerians, digital payments have become an essential part of everyday life. However, concerns around phone theft, robbery, account compromise, and forced transfers remain a reality for many individuals. OPay’s latest security innovations were developed to…

British foreign correspondents could be at risk of prosecution if they use sources within state-backed groups in countries such as Iran under national security legislation being rushed through parliament this week.David Anderson, a former UK independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has warned that unless the bill is amended it could accidentally pull journalists working in danger-zone countries into prosecutions for terrorism.The new anti-terror powers are designed to allow the UK government to label state-backed groups as terrorist organisations, enabling them to ban groups such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).The legal change, which is expected to complete its final…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged the immediate past Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Ahmed Adamu Dikko, and his counterpart at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, with money laundering over the alleged diversion of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s moribund refineries, PREMIUM TIMES can report. Court documents and briefs reviewed by this newspaper show that the anti-graft agency filed a 12-count charge against Mr Dikko and an eight-count charge against Mr Yisawu before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on 22 June.…

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed the qualification pathway for cricket’s historic return to the Olympics at the 2028 games in Los Angeles, with Great Britain qualified for the women’s event.Both the men’s and women’s T20 competitions will include six nations – and Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania are all guaranteed representation. Five qualification places in each event will be decided through a combination of existing ICC events and ICC T20I rankings. The sixth and final places in both the men’s and women’s competitions will be determined through the new ICC Olympics qualifier,…

House of Reux is launching ThumFlix, a mobile-first vertical streamer, while adding four international titles and a new India co-production to its slate. ThumFlix, set to launch later this year from the Atlanta-based company, will carry premium short-form scripted content and is intended to open new monetization and distribution channels for independent filmmakers worldwide. The platform represents a significant structural shift for House of Reux – founded by Telly Award-winning filmmaker Taylor Ri’chard – from independent production company into a vertically integrated media business spanning production, acquisitions, distribution and streaming technology. On the production front, “The Good Son,” a six-part…

By Suleyman A. Ndanusa Nigeria’s development discourse has traditionally been framed around familiar objectives of economic growth, poverty reduction, employment generation, industrialization, infrastructure development, and, more recently, financial inclusion. These are important aspirations. Yet beneath them lies a more fundamental question that is seldom asked but may ultimately determine the success or failure of all the others. Who owns the economy? The answer to this question matters because prosperity is not determined solely by how much wealth a nation creates. It is equally determined by who owns that wealth. Economic growth can coexist with widespread poverty if ownership of productive…