Author: damazah@gmail.com

Israel’s military says it has destroyed a large underground complex operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. It said it used more than 1,000 tonnes of explosives to destroy two tunnels spanning more than 2km (1.2 miles) beneath the Ali Taher Ridge. The blast triggered seismic activity equivalent to a magnitude 4.1 earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey.There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.Israeli forces took control of the ridge last week after months of fighting with the Iran-backed group there. The Israeli military occupies a large swathe of southern Lebanon captured after the conflict…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A former deals lawyer at the London office of US law firm Goodwin Procter has pleaded not guilty to insider trading related to maternity-wear company Seraphine Group, which went into insolvency last year.Richard Bloomfield, 38, entered his plea at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. Bloomfield is facing five counts of insider dealing between March 2022 and January 2023 in relation to the acquisition of the retail company by private equity group Mayfair. Bloomfield spoke only to confirm his identity and plea in…

A maelstrom over AI safety kicked off earlier this week when Jacob Coxon resigned from the company, saying employees “earnestly believe it [AI] could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Concerns over the technology began to escalate earlier this year with the release of advanced models such as Anthropic’s Mythos. OpenAI also caused alarm in July when it said its models had autonomously hacked into AI group Hugging Face. There is an expanding consensus among AI executives and biosecurity researchers that the use of the technology in biology needs to be secured and regulated as models become…

Kano state government has taken decisive action against bandits attacking some local government areas in the state. Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has condemned the recent bandit attacks reported in four Local Government Areas of the state, assuring affected communities that his administration is taking necessary measures to strengthen security and protect lives and property. The governor’s spokesman, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, in a statement issued listed the affected areas to include Chiromawa in Garun Mallam Local Government Area, Beli in Rogo, Bebeji and communities around Gwarzo. Yusuf expressed sympathy with the victims and families affected by the…

A study involving more than 11,000 people has found that exposure to light at night is associated with potentially harmful changes in both the structure and function of the heart. The findings were published September 9 in the European Heart Journal. The research was led by Professor Lu Qi of Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. He said: “Previous observational studies have linked nighttime light exposure with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but little is known about the related cardiac structure and functional changes. We carried out this research to find out what happens to the heart over time when…

Super Eagles defender Calvin Bassey has described his appointment as Fulham captain as a “privilege”, insisting that taking responsibility for the Premier League side has come naturally to him. The Nigerian centre-back has worn the captain’s armband in each of Fulham’s first three Premier League games of the season after being handed the responsibility by new manager Álvaro Arbeloa, who views Bassey as a strong leader within the squad. For Bassey, however, the captaincy has not changed his personality or his approach to his role in the team. Speaking to Fulham’s media team, the Nigerian international said his experience and…

In March 2020, the visual artist JJ Chan was assembling video footage for a group exhibition scheduled at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in Manchester. Centred on family VHS tapes, and titled A New Constellation: Chinese Diaspora Now, the artwork was an exploration of Chan’s emotionally complex relationship to Hong Kong, their parents’ birthplace. When Chan asked for guidance after the sudden departure of the initial curator, the artist discovered that the gallery did not employ anyone who was Chinese: 12 out of the 13 staff members were white, while most of the front-facing (unpaid) volunteers were of Chinese descent.Fearing their art would…

If packed lunches are a high-stakes game in your household (as they are in mine), the right lunch box is crucial. There’s nothing worse than opening the lunch you’ve been looking forward to since 8am to find yoghurt has leaked on to your sandwich and your cucumbers have dried out.A lunch box may look like a simple bit of kit, but keeping food contained from kitchen to school dinner hall or workplace desk is a surprisingly demanding job. And the humble lunch box has come a long way from the simple plastic tubs that used to contain our clingfilm-wrapped, squashed…

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says rehabilitation works have begun on the four vandalised towers along the Afam/IPP/Elelenwo 132-Kilovolt (kV) Double-Circuit Transmission Line in Rivers State. The company’s management announced this in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday night. The company said the affected towers, identified as T50, T51, T52 and T53, were detected on 6 August by its linesmen. Further inspection revealed that critical bracing members had been removed from the towers, compromising the structural integrity of all four. “Following this, TCN urgently mobilised to the site, a contractor who would carry out the repairs. “A formal handover…

The Ogun State Government has released N6.75 billion for the payment of gratuity and additional pension benefits (APB) to retirees in the state. The Ogun State Head of Service, Mr Olanrewaju Saka, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying the release was part of the government’s continued efforts to address outstanding pension obligations and improve the welfare of retired workers. According to him, N2.751 billion was released to pay gratuity to 432 beneficiaries, while another N4 billion was released for the payment of additional pension benefits to eligible retirees from July 2025 to date. Saka said the government remained…