Author: damazah@gmail.com

Deborah Haynes covers serious stuff, like foreign affairs, national security and defense — the sorts of topics that might not make good fodder for a snarky newsletter or a hot-talk podcast. Even so, her employer, Sky News, has some new ideas about how to reach viewers that could put Haynes in contact with viewers similar to the ones that enjoy those up-and-coming creator ventures. Sky News, part of Comcast, on Thursday launched a new mobile app all about defense and security, with Haynes and others at its center. Subscriptions to the new “Defence Insider” cost £14.99 per month — about…

Kuni Tyessi, Abuja The Federal Government has reduced the processing time for African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Certificates of Origin to 24 hours, down from over five days, in a bid to boost intra-African trade and ease business for Nigerian exporters. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2026 Third Quarter meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee. The minister, who said Nigerian goods remain competitive and are in high demand across the continent, cited the recent Nigeria-Botswana AfCFTA Trade Mission where CSO Fashion Academy secured an immediate order to…

Francis Sardauna in Katsina  Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has launched a $1 million food security project aimed at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable farming communities against recurring floods and drought in the state. The 12-month intervention, titled: ‘Protecting Food Security Against Recurring Floods and Drought’, is being implemented by Mercy Corps Nigeria with support from Katsina State Development Management Board (KTDMB), Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and development partners. Unveiling the project Thursday in Katsina, Governor Radda described climate change as a reality requiring collective action and practical interventions to protect the environment, improve agricultural production and strengthen…

Detail from the cover of The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special: Baby-Sitters on Board, adapted from the book by Ann M. Martin by Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan, set for release September 15, 2026Courtesy of ScholasticsForty years after Ann M. Martin brought the Baby-Sitters Club together for the first time, the best-selling middle grades franchise has become something rare in the world of pop culture: a truly intergenerational phenomenon. Nowhere is that clearer than in the first-ever collaboration between the two people most responsible for bringing Martin’s prose books into the world of graphic novels: superstar creators Raina Telgemeier and Gale…

Elon Musk’s tunneling play, The Boring Company, has raised a $3 billion Series D funding round that pushes its valuation to $23 billion. The round was led by the United Arab Emirates. The Boring Company said Thursday that it now plans to dig more than 150 kilometers of tunnels in the Middle Eastern country. Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Human Capital, Vy Capital, and Valor Equity partners also participated. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that The Boring Company was looking to raise as much as $4 billion. The Boring Company has done most of its digging to date in…

Once in a while, footsoldiers of the House of Commons, you are able to make history by leaving your own indelible footprints on the social fabric. Eras with a Labour majority always leave a legacy of progressive freedoms – whether on abortion, capital punishment, divorce, gay rights, racial discrimination, gender equality or, last time, civil partnerships. But tomorrow is your final chance to bequeath one of the last freedoms over our bodies: the freedom of the dying to choose when to depart them.The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which goes for a second reading vote in the Commons…

Gowen’s investigation into Monsanto – which had factories in Newport and Wrexham – found it had been producing what he had called “some of the worst contaminants known to man” in the 1960s and ’70s.The chemicals known as PCBs were once widely used in everything from lipstick to white goods, and had been revered for being non-flammable and hard to break down.But they were later classed as carcinogenic, banned worldwide, and are seen today as the first “forever chemicals” – which are building up in the environment, threatening wildlife and human health.Community councillor Katie Witherden organised a public meeting in…

David HaleSep 10, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseCollege football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.Graduate of the University of Delaware.Multiple AuthorsIn a world … where chaos reigns.Where the law no longer applies (assuming there’s a friendly local judge).And where no one is safe from an all-powerful portal.Suddenly, two groups of heroes emerge.Coming this weekend …Smith. Manning. Bevo. Brutus.It’s … “Buckeyes-Horns II: The Search for Sark.”Ohio State-Texas (Sat., 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC)Arch Manning and Texas face Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State in a top-five matchup. This star-studded sequel is well worth the wait.A year ago, the original Texas-Ohio State matchup was a tad…

Harry Styles is extending his record-breaking Together, Together tour in 2027, with 25 more shows, including a return to Wembley Stadium next August.The singer, who is currently in the middle of a 30-show residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden, is adding dates in Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – who all missed out on the tour’s first leg this summer.Every city will see a different support act, with 80s pop icons Tears For Fears playing at Wembley, and pop legend Kylie Minogue on the bill in Los Angeles.Although Minogue is a festival headliner in Europe, these shows will…

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, said on Thursday that his administration had expended N645.4m to support victims of rainstorm and fire disasters in the state between 2022 and 2026. The governor, who bemoaned the devastating effects of flooding, rainstorms and fire disasters on victims, advised residents to take the warnings of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency and the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency seriously. Oyebanji, represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs Monisade Afuye, spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday while disbursing cash and relief materials worth N105m to 159 rainstorm and flood victims in the state.…