Author: damazah@gmail.com

Meryl Streep and Oscar-winning documentarian Laura Poitras (Citzenfour) have come onboard as executive producers on upcoming documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, Julia Loktev’s follow up to her acclaimed 2024 doc My Undesirable Friends: Part I – The Last Air in Moscow about independent journalists under fire in Russia. In her new documentary, which will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Loktev follows a group of young journalists labelled “foreign agents” by Putin’s regime. When Putin shuts down all independent media in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the reporters have to flee…

Despite the march of progress, the humble kettle remains a kitchen staple. It’s what we turn to in times of strife, when spirits are flagging, or to start our day. When a visitor calls, one of the first things we often do is put the kettle on.Many small appliances have evolved beyond their original form, but the kettle’s basic principles remain largely unchanged. Water goes in and heats until a thermostat switches it off; the water then pours out, and we enjoy a cuppa. However, the technology that goes into a kettle has been slowly improving: better insulation to keep…

Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen.Buba Marwa (Retd.), has charged investigators and prosecutors of the agency to intensify efforts at tracing, seizing and recovering the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking, saying the war against drug cartels can no longer be won through arrests and drug seizures alone. Marwa gave the charge on Wednesday, while declaring open an Advanced Capacity Building Programme on Financial Investigations, Asset Tracing, Forfeiture, Recovery and Management of the Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Narcotics Trafficking and Related Organised Crime in Abuja. The NDLEA chairman said…

Several acts of suspected sabotage have been reported in Germany in the past 24 hours alone, including two attacks on electricity substations, one in the east and one in the west near Cologne.Although authorities do not yet know who was behind the incidents, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said an attack that targeted power lines at Bergheim in western Germany was deliberate and whoever had carried out was attacking the country as a whole.”We are investigating two possibilities: sabotage directed by a foreign state and left-wing extremism,” he said.Several power lines failed prompting five power plant units to go…

By Peter Egwuatu The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved to tighten oversight of online foreign exchange (forex) trading in Nigeria, extending its proposed regulatory framework to both domestic operators and offshore entities that target Nigerian residents. Under the rules released yesterday, the SEC, said: “The regulations would apply throughout Nigeria and cover all persons engaging in or offering online forex trading services to residents of Nigeria, irrespective of whether the platform or medium is incorporated in Nigeria or operates from outside the country.” The Commission said the move is aimed at bringing operators serving Nigerian investors within a defined…

OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman are facing 30 new lawsuits that accuse them of providing “substantial assistance and encouragement” to the suspect in Canada’s Tumbler Ridge school shooting, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. The new wave of lawsuits was filed in a California federal court on Wednesday by the students, teachers, and the principal in the school at the time of the shooting.Similar to the lawsuits filed by Tumbler Ridge victims’ families in April, these lawsuits claim OpenAI failed to take action after its automated review system flagged conversations that the alleged shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, had with ChatGPT…

Keir Starmer exits the British political stage as he entered it: doing the exact opposite of the thing he said he was going to do. It’s only 10 weeks since he pledged to remain as MP for Holborn and St Pancras until the next election, despite stepping down as prime minister. That’s plainly the decent course of action: a dedicated Labour man wouldn’t want to force a byelection. Even if it’s a slam dunk for the party, it inevitably draws focus and resources from more important matters. Someone who takes the business of representing constituents even a 10th as seriously…

Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found.Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year.Based on a worldwide farming population of 934 million, this means approximately 46% of farmers are being poisoned every year. The greatest estimated number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa.The overall highest national incidence of poisoning was in Burkina Faso in west Africa,…

Super Eagles winger Femi Azeez has completed a move from Millwall to the Premier League after signing a four-year contract with Brighton and Hove Albion FC for an undisclosed fee. The transfer was completed after both clubs submitted a deal sheet ahead of the 11pm deadline on Monday, extending the window until 1am on Tuesday to allow the formalities of the deal to be concluded. The club’s sporting director, Mike Cave, expressed delight at the arrival of the Nigerian winger, describing him as one of the Championship’s most exciting attacking talents. “We are delighted to add Femi to the squad.…

Predictably, the Grand Theft Auto VI “extended look” which premiered on Netflix last week was a success for all involved. The 30-minute preview scorched to No 1 on the viewing chart and even brought the site down for a few minutes as millions of gamers tried to watch what was, effectively, a very long teaser trailer. According to data collated by Eurogamer, more than 9,000 Twitch streamers covered the show leading to 5,227,798 hours of viewing there alone. And this was just the beginning of what will surely be two months of escalating hype – and unprecedented media attention.Call me…