Author: damazah@gmail.com

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has approved the appointment of 4,800 special assistants as part of efforts to strengthen grassroots governance and deepen the participation of All Progressives Congress members in his administration. Okpebholo disclosed this on Monday during a meeting with APC members from the 18 local government areas of the state at the Government House, Benin City. According to a statement by the governor’s media aide, Patrick Ebojele, Okpebholo said the appointments were aimed at taking governance and government programmes to the grassroots. He said development opportunities and government initiatives should extend from the state level to the…

President Donald Trump has signed an order that calls for fewer childhood vaccines and also recommends splitting the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) shots.”Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” Trump said on Monday. “In those times, people were much healthier and of course the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.”The president has long cast doubt on the safety of MMR vaccines, but multiple studies have found no connection between the shots and autism.The order also recommends that the number of childhood vaccines drop to 11 from the existing 18 recommended…

People walk by a giant Spiderman inflatable installation at the south courtyard plaza of Shuncheng Shopping Center on August 2, 2026 in Kunming, Yunnan province, China.Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesHi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a snapshot of what I’m seeing and hearing from local businesses.China doesn’t have any 70mm Imax screens for “The Odyssey,” but that hasn’t stopped fans from snapping up tickets for premium screenings. Several showings were nearly sold out this weekend, and at the Beijing theater I visited Sunday, there…

OpenAI has bought back $7 billion worth of shares from employees at the privately held frontier AI lab as part of an effort to provide liquidity to its workforce. The deal, reported by Bloomberg, valued OpenAI at $852 billion, the same as its most recent fundraising round in March, which added $122 billion to the company’s war chest. The company also filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June to prepare for a potential IPO later this year. However, a tender offer suggests that an IPO may not be forthcoming soon. With many tech companies remaining private longer…

As well as freeing up places, Yusuf said: “There will be a lot more people in prison under a Reform government.”He added that “killers, rapists and thugs will never be released a day early”.The party claims that its proposed law changes, including reinstating short sentences for shoplifters and ensuring serious offenders serve out their full terms, would increase the prison population by 18,000.This would be covered by the 22,000 places made available under Reform’s deportation and Nightingale plans, the party says.Reform UK has pledged to build 12,400 new places in Nightingale prisons on Ministry of Defence land within 18 months…

The Delta State Government on Monday suspended the State Commissioner for Works (Highway and Urban Roads) Reuben Izeze, for allegedly assaulting his aide, Simon Mudi. The suspension notice is contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Kingsley Emu in Asaba. The suspension is linked to a viral video of a fracas at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, in July during a Delta Central Stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress. Although the fracas did not take place in the APC meeting hall, the governor’s aide was assaulted on the premises after the meeting,…

The Sky Sports Golf Podcast delivers the latest news from the golfing world, expert analysis and big-name interviews.With episodes released every Monday, Jamie Weir is joined by Sky Sports’ top pundits to chat about what’s happening on and off the course.As well as insight and opinion, you’ll hear from the best players on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LPGA Tour including names such as Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda. Give the Sky Sports Golf Podcast a follow, a like or subscribe wherever you listen so you don’t miss an episode. Sky Sports Golf Podcast – latest…

Nigerian media mogul Mo Abudu has announced the opening of EbonyLife Place London, UK’s first-ever cinema hub exclusively for African and black films. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Abudu shared the update on Monday alongside a video of the property in a post on her social media page. According to her, the EbonyLife Place London, located at Wandsworth Road, will be officially opened in October as UK’s first cultural and creative hub dedicated exclusively to African cinematic culture. “EbonyLife Place London will become the first cinema in the United Kingdom dedicated exclusively to African and Black films, while also…

Johannesburg, South Africa – Seventy years ago, Sophie Williams-de Bruyn was 18 when she joined about 20,000 women marching to the Union Buildings, the seat of South Africa’s apartheid government, to protest against the extension of the pass laws to Black women.On August 9, 1956, the women gathered in Pretoria carrying a petition against laws that restricted the movement of Black South Africans. Williams-de Bruyn was among the leaders of the march, which became one of the defining moments of the country’s liberation struggle.On Sunday, at 88, she returned to the same grounds.The country around her had changed. Apartheid had…

The day so far At least 111 have died and 87 people injured after dozens of buildings collapsed following a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia on Monday morning – the largest to hit the country so far this century. After declaring a state of national disaster, Colombia’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said in an address to the nation that his government had deployed all of its capabilities “to protect lives, assist affected ‌communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed”. “The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble,” he said after around 1,600…