Author: damazah@gmail.com

The presidential candidate of Accord Party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, narrates how his Hausa origin was concealed from him for 27 years by his father who was an ex- Commissioner of Police, late Hashim Abdullahi Yauri. A residential candidate of the Accord Party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has revealed the extraordinary family secret behind why his Hausa and royal identity remained concealed from him for almost three decades. Olawepo-Hashim, grandson of the 40th Seriki of Yauri, in a statement issued in Abuja, said his late father, Alhaji Hashim Abdullahi Yauri, deliberately kept his royal heritage away from him as a child after receiving a…

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says delayed detection, diagnostic challenges, insecurity and community mistrust contributed to Ebola’s rapid spread in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Yap Boum II, head of emergency preparedness and response, Africa CDC, said this on Thursday during a webinar on the ongoing Ebola outbreak in DRC. Mr Boum said the outbreak involved Bundibugyo virus, a less commonly detected Ebola species, unlike the Zaire strain previously associated with most Ebola outbreaks in the DRC. He said existing diagnostic test kits in eastern DRC could not initially detect Bundibugyo virus, allowing…

Mark Chen became chief research officer at OpenAI in San Francisco, California, last year.Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/GettyThe artificial-intelligence company, based in San Francisco, California, has been at the centre of a series of media storms. First, in July, the firm announced that its models had hacked the AI hub Hugging Face, a collaborative platform where users share models and data sets. This week, the Australian government revealed that OpenAI agents had breached a national health-care website. And earlier this month, the company announced that its models had solved a major problem in mathematics — but was then faced with suggestions that…

The Lagos State Police Command has identified an inspector featured in a viral video and commenced disciplinary action over remarks he made while travelling in a public transport vehicle. The officer, Osumah Frank, was identified in a statement posted by the command’s spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, on Friday. Recently, in the video circulating on social media, the officer, who was seated in the front seat of a moving vehicle, spoke about Peter Obi’s 2027 presidential ambition and said an Igbo person could not become president of Nigeria. He also said Mr Obi would not win the 2027 presidential election and made…

Punjab is set to witness one of its most sweeping education reforms in recent years after Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif approved a new, modernized curriculum for schools across the province. Officials say the changes are designed to ease the academic burden on students while bringing classroom learning closer to today’s digital and psychological needs. Lighter Books, Smarter Learning Under the newly approved curriculum, the weight of textbooks will be reduced by 25 percent, giving students a more manageable course load. In place of the trimmed content, artificial intelligence will now be introduced as a subject from the early years…

* Total shareholders’ funds to remain fixed ​ Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc (Sterling Financial) has commenced its approved share capital reconstruction, consolidating every 10 existing ordinary shares into one new ordinary share. Following the expansion of its equity base and balance sheet, the exercise is designed to improve capital-structure efficiency, support strategic growth and strengthen the Group’s positioning with institutional and retail investors. Sterling Financial enters this phase following a first half in which profit after tax grew 20.4 per cent to N50.3 billion on gross earnings of N279.6 billion. Total assets reached N4.67 trillion, while shareholders’ funds increased…

The senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has accused the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, of obtaining loans without the National Assembly’s approval, as required by law. Ms Kingibe, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the allegation in a statement issued on Thursday. This is not the first time the senator has accused Mr Wike of securing loan facilities for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) without the approval of the National Assembly. In August, Ms Kingibe made a similar allegation when she appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm. Mr Wike, however,…

He’s the mononymic designer who has been charged with rescuing Gucci from plummeting sales. So where better for Demna to stage his third catwalk show than at the forefront of commerce – a purpose-built Gucci shop.During Milan fashion week on Friday, the designer transformed a convention centre into a sprawling retail space that mirrored the design for the brand’s new boutiques.Amid giant stone columns and slabs of Paonazzo marble (in the show’s case, fake), guests including Romeo Beckham, Bianca Jagger, Cardi B and Edward Norton sat on plush couches surrounded by shelves displaying pieces from Demna’s previous collections. Sales assistants…

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New research led by scientists at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai suggests that Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) may be much more common than earlier estimates indicated. The findings, published in Autism Research, estimate that the condition affects roughly 1 in 7,300 people. Phelan-McDermid syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by a deletion or mutation involving the SHANK3 gene on chromosome 22. It can lead to a broad range of medical, intellectual, and behavioral challenges. Most people with the syndrome also meet the criteria for autism spectrum disorder, and changes affecting SHANK3 are believed to…