Author: damazah@gmail.com

Summer is normally thought of as the time for pacy potboilers and brain-soothing page-turners – airport reads that wind up sandy and sunscreen-stained. Not so for Friedrich Merz’s holiday reading list.Germany’s embattled chancellor, who has faced one rough patch after another since taking office 14 months ago, seems to be seeking spiritual guidance this year while putting his feet up.According to the conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Christian Democratic Union leader is taking Pope Leo’s encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica humanitas (Magnificent humanity), on his break.Introduced by the Guardian in May as “the first major text on safeguarding humankind…

The controversial ban under terrorism legislation of the protest group Palestine Action will be reviewed by the Supreme Court.In a major blow to the Home Office, the court confirmed on Thursday that it had given the group’s co-founder permission to appeal the ban which came into effect in July 2025.While the full details of the reasons for the appeal are yet to be published, the BBC understands they relate to Huda Ammori’s argument that the ban breaches human rights.Officials at the court say the appeal will be expedited – which means it will be heard after the summer break. The…

A naturally occurring compound found in rice bran may influence how strongly the intestines contract, according to new research from Toho University. The study, led by Dr. Keisuke Obara, Dr. Kento Yoshioka, and Professor Yoshio Tanaka of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, found that ferulic acid (FA) can reduce intestinal smooth muscle contractions by blocking voltage-dependent calcium channels. The discovery could eventually support new dietary approaches for intestinal motility disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A Common Compound in Whole Grains Ferulic acid is a polyphenol found in many plant-based foods, especially whole grains…

By Adegboyega Adeleye Premier League champions Arsenal are closing in on the signing of Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes, with reports indicating growing confidence that a deal could be completed in the coming days. According to BBC Sport, there is increasing expectation that the Brazil midfielder will complete a move to the Emirates this summer after making it clear he wants to join Mikel Arteta’s side. The Gunners have tracked the 28-year-old throughout the transfer window and are said to be preparing an improved offer after an initial £70 million bid failed to convince Newcastle. Reports suggest Arsenal are aiming…

European soccer governing body UEFA has voted to boycott the World Cup to protest plans by global organization FIFA to sell off stakes in the tournament to private investors. As long as the deal is still on the table, UEFA said in a statement on Thursday, no European national teams will compete in FIFA competitions, including next year’s women’s World Cup in Brazil in 2027. Europe is home to some of the world’s most successful national sides. Three of the four semi-finalists of this year’s men’s World Cup were from Europe, including 2026 champion Spain. A World Cup without Europe…

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt  ‎ ‎A political pressure group, Rivers Women Unite for Sim (RWUS), loyal to the Rivers State Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, has declared their support for the Renewed Hope Family and Rainbow Coalition led by the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike.  ‎ ‎The group also declared support for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Kingsley Chinda, and all candidates of the party.  ‎ ‎The group said the decision to align with the new political family was in line with Fubara’s earlier decision to return to the political family which produced him as…

Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems are expecting higher profits as governments around the world boost their defence spending.Both companies lifted their earnings guidance on Thursday morning, citing commitments from governments to increase investment in defence systems.Rolls-Royce makes jet engines for combat planes and commercial aircraft, turbines for ships and submarines, and small nuclear power plants. It lifted its forecast for underlying operating profit this year to £4.7bn-£4.9bn, up from previous guidance of £4bn-£4.2bn. It also increased its free cashflow forecast from £3.6bn-£3.8bn to £3.8bn-£4bn.Rolls-Royce has benefited from the jump in defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while…

The battered hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner is unwinding many of its trades after big losses on artificial intelligence stocks and a bad bet against  software stocks left it scrambling to raise cash, according to people familiar with the matter.The prime brokers for the fund, Situational Awareness, have been rushing to raise cash to meet margin requirements, the people said. Ken Griffin’s Citadel hedge fund reached a deal to buy the fund’s publicly traded assets, people familiar with the deal said.Situational Awareness has sustained significant losses in recent weeks as its portfolio of AI infrastructure investments…

The hope is that the changes, detailed in the protocol’s documentation, will make widespread deployment in an enterprise context much easier. MCP started as something that simply ran on a local machine, connecting models to local apps, so the new spec is a major rethink of some of its foundations. There is also a new deprecation policy that ensures at least 12 months between when a feature’s formal deprecation is enacted and when the feature may actually be removed—with a narrow exception for critical security updates. This is again in keeping with the general “let’s make this work better at…

New research suggests that Mohenjo-daro followed a very different path from many other early cities. As the 4,000-year-old urban center became larger, more productive, and more successful, its society appears to have grown more equal rather than less. Historians have often argued that inequality increased when small farming settlements developed into cities. Under this traditional model, kings, priests, and other powerful leaders gained control of wealth and resources, causing the divide between rich and poor to expand. An Ancient City That Became More Equal A University of York study of Mohenjo-daro, the largest city of the Indus civilization, points to…