Author: damazah@gmail.com

Three artworks by street artist Banksy have cost taxpayers almost £150,000 in cleaning operations and security so far, with the bill expected to rise.The largest single cost relates to a mural painted on the Royal Courts of Justice in September 2025, where removal efforts and security have so far cost more than £85,000.The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it has spent £50,000 trying to remove paint from the wall of the Grade II-listed building in Carey Street. A further £35,300 was spent on overtime and security costs.The spending was disclosed to the BBC through Freedom of Information requests and is…

By Yinka Olatunbosun  Retirement is often imagined as a season of rest. For sculptor and art scholar Matthew Ehizele, however, it has marked the beginning of an entirely new chapter. After more than four decades devoted to teaching and artistic practice, he has returned to the studio with renewed intensity, fashioning sculptures from steel that reaffirm both his technical mastery and his enduring creative vision. Ehizele lectured in the Department of Fine Arts at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from 1986 to 2001 before continuing his academic career at the University of Benin until his retirement in 2023. Standing before one…

Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia, two days after the kingdom signed ⁠a defence pact with Turkey ⁠and Pakistan in response to ​growing regional instability caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.The attack early on Sunday came after Iran said tough new demands would have to be met before it would reopen the strait of Hormuz, and after the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships had been targeted by an Iranian missile, as a deal to open the waterway remained out of reach.Iran’s supreme national security council said the…

A grooming gang suspect released on bail in the UK and then re-elected as an MP in Pakistan has reportedly declined to say when he would return to face rape charges.The Guardian disclosed that Rukhsar Ahmed, a former Pakistan state minister, was arrested at Manchester airport in July 2024 on suspicion of raping and trafficking at least two underage girls from care homes in the city’s Rusholme area during the 1990s.He was released on bail and flew to Pakistan nearly two months ago, missing an appointment at a police station after telling officers he was too unwell to fly back…

August can be a strange ol’ month for eating out in London. Half the city is away, everyone else is determined to sit outside (without the SPF required), and restaurant plans are thus expected to feel like holidays in their own right. I spent two weeks out of the city myself (eating extremely well, but more on that later) and came home newly hungry for London restaurants that make staying put feel just as exciting.Happily, this month’s guide to where to eat in London has plenty of them, including one of the city’s most ambitious tasting menus, a breakfast of…

With his plan accepted, Léna began organizing experiments for the historic flight. Flying at nearly 17 km above the Earth’s surface had many benefits. “Flying very high in the stratosphere had several advantages, including no humidity, which meant an excellent infrared transmission of the solar light.” “I had planned an experiment to study the particles of dust in the corona in the infrared wavelengths. However, it would have been presumptuous to use this big aircraft only for a single experiment. So the first thing we did, after we got a feeling that the project would go ahead, was to propose…

Former Big Brother Africa housemate Bayo Okoh is dead. His death was announced on Saturday by media personality Matilda Duncan, who shared the news on social media alongside photographs of the former reality television star. Duncan, however, did not disclose the cause or circumstances of Mr Okoh’s death. Expressing her grief, the media personality lamented what she described as the frequency of deaths in the entertainment industry. “Please God, what is happening? This is too much—one death after another. I am so sorry. This part is called death. It’s the worst,” she wrote. Mr Okoh’s death has since elicited reactions…

Argentine football star Lionel Messi (L) and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo arrive at the Islas Malvinas International Airport after the death of his father Jorge Messi in Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina on August 8, 2026. Jorge Messi, the father and agent of Lionel Messi, has died aged 68, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s childhood club Newell’s Old Boys announced on August 8, 2026. (Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP) Argentina football icon Lionel Messi bid farewell Sunday to his father, the global star’s emotional anchor and agent since childhood who passed away following a battle with cancer aged 68.…

“I can’t zip this! Mummm?”This was 29-year-old Zainab Jiwa, calling out for help squeezing into a corset while filming a “get-ready-with-me” TikTok video. It’s a scene many 20-somethings still living at home will relate to.The difference is, Zainab was on her way to the recent London premiere of The Odyssey, one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.She was invited there as a guest and says she caught the eye of Hollywood megastar Zendaya, thanks to her custom look: a striking gold gown complete with a hood.”She just walked past, and she saw me there. Her jaw just dropped, so did mine,”…

What Nigeria needs to curtail issues of mob justice is public safety that is people-centred: community policing that is genuinely local, accountable to the neighbourhoods it serves, and built on relationships. Community policing means officers who know the streets they patrol and the people on them, response times that make reporting a crime feel worthwhile, and oversight structures where ordinary citizens, not just governors and commissioners, have a real say in how their safety is managed.  ALUU4. Deborah Yakubu. The sixteen travellers lynched on the road in Uromi. These names have become painfully familiar in Nigeria’s national conversation on mob…