Author: damazah@gmail.com

“Historically, there’s been so much pushback against genetic engineering in agriculture,” says Julius Beau Lucks, the codirector of Northwestern University’s Center for Synthetic Biology. The stakes are high, though. “I don’t know if we’ll see it again with editing, but if we do, it will be really hard to solve the world’s food problems.”Over the next few decades, the world’s farmers will need to produce much more food to feed a growing population while using much less land and doing much less damage to nature to avoid cascading environmental crises. The world is on track to deforest another dozen California’s…

Andy Burnham has said he is increasingly confident he can adapt the early release scheme for prisoners to exclude the killers of PC Andrew Harper and other serious offenders, saying he understood and shared the public’s concern about their potential release.Writing on Facebook, the prime minister said on Tuesday he had asked the justice secretary, Alex Norris, to rapidly push through a series of measures to increase the number of prison places, requiring fewer people to be released early to free up room.Downing Street said on Monday that there was no feasible way of exempting just a handful of prisoners…

A man who suffered permanent eye damage by watching the 1999 solar eclipse has warned people to use protection when watching Wednesday’s astronomical event.Peter Smith, from Taunton, viewed the solar eclipse 27 years ago wearing a borrowed welder’s mask having thought it would provide protection from the sun’s rays.But the next morning he noticed flashing in his eyes alongside headaches and later discovered both of his retinas had been damaged. He is now asking people to use appropriate eye protection to enjoy the eclipse safely.Smith said: “Make sure its got the right protection and filters to stop any damage because…

Aug 10, 2026, 03:58 AM ETAfter Rodri led Spain to FIFA World Cup glory, it’s no surprise that LaLiga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid both want to sign the Manchester City midfielder this summer.Not only did the 30-year-old captain La Roja to victory over Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the World Cup final — adding another trophy to the UEFA European Championship that Spain won two years ago — he claimed the Golden Ball award as the best player at the tournament.Rodri has won 13 trophies in his seven years at City, including four Premier League titles, and he scored the…

Calvin Demba, the British actor, writer and director best known on screen for the Netflix hit “Supacell,” has lined up an impressive cast list for his second short film behind the camera, “The Animals.” George MacKay (“Rose of Nevada,” “Sense and Sensibility”) stars alongside Louisa Harland (“Renegade Nell,” “Derry Girls”), Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones,” “Megalopolis”) and Eric Kofi Abrefa (“Supacell,” BMF”) in the project, written and directed by Demba and produced by Tuli Litvak (“Beauty Sleep,” “Fairview Park”). “The Animals” centers on Miles (MacKay) as he struggles with growing feelings of emasculation and emotional impotency within his relationship with…

One of Nigeria’s telecommunications companies, MTN Nigeria, has restored services in parts of Enugu State following a service disruption that affected customers on Monday. The company disclosed this in a post by MTN Support Services on Tuesday. MTN apologised to customers affected by the disruption, saying the issue had been resolved and services were fully restored. “Service Restored! “We sincerely apologise for the challenges experienced yesterday with our services in parts of Enugu State. “The issue has been resolved, and services are fully restored,” the company said. MTN advised customers who may still be experiencing connectivity issues to restart their…

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS) has urged women in Nigeria to mobilise and vote wisely in the 2027 general election in accordance with their conscience. The President of NCWS, South-West Forum, Mrs. Priscilla Kuye, who made the call in her welcome address at the council’s annual conference held in Ibadan, Oyo State, said women should actively participate in the electoral process and support candidates committed to good governance, the rule of law and promotion of fundamental human rights. According to her, the council was concerned about insecurity, kidnapping, unemployment, hunger and inadequate access to water…

By Peter Egwuatu  THE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, AVA Capital Plc, Mr. Kayode Fadahunsi has revealed that safeguarding investors’ capital remains the biggest post listing challenge. He added that preserving investor trust would be the company’s foremost priority, adding that the group seeks to strengthen governance, transparency and accountability while pursuing long-term growth as a public company. It will be recalled that AVA Capital was recently admitted to the Main Board of NGX following the listing by introduction of its five billion ordinary shares at N7.50 per share, with a market capitalisation of N37.5 billion. Speaking during an executive…

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated another $20 million to Build a Better California, an organization advocating against California’s proposed billionaire tax, according to a new filing. That means that the world’s fourth-richest man, whose net worth hovers around $267 billion, has now spent more than $100 million to avoid an estimated $13.3 billion tax payment. California’s Prop 40, known as the billionaire tax, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of around 200 billionaires that live in the state. The windfall from this proposed tax would mostly go toward funding California’s healthcare programs. The state’s Medicaid…

The leader of the G100 political pressure group, Salihu Lukman, has admitted that persuading opposition presidential candidates, including Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, to work together ahead of the 2027 election is a difficult task. Lukman, who is also a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), spoke on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday while discussing the group’s efforts to forge a common front among opposition parties and their presidential candidates. He said the major challenge was that the leading opposition figures all wanted to become president, while their supporters remained committed to seeing their preferred candidates emerge. “The…