Author: damazah@gmail.com

Jodrell Bank Observatory, the hub of a world-leading network of radio telescopes, is facing closure after government funding for the facility was slashed.The deep space observatory includes the Grade I-listed Lovell telescope and is prized by astronomers who study galaxies, black holes, star formation, planets beyond the solar system and the afterglow of the big bang.The observatory’s funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said on Monday it would withdraw funding for the e-Merlin network, the UK’s national radio astronomy facility at Jodrell Bank, when the current agreement ends in March 2028.Scientists said the decision was a blow to UK astronomy,…

Team Nigeria continued its impressive run at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Monday as weightlifter Onome Omolola Didih won the country’s fifth gold medal with a record-breaking performance in the women’s 53kg event. Didih dominated the competition from start to finish, rewriting the record books with three Commonwealth Games records on her way to the top of the podium. The Nigerian lifter opened with 93kg in the snatch to set a new Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth record. She followed it up with 113kg in the clean and jerk, another Games and Commonwealth record, before finishing with a total…

Boy George has released a new song entitled We Will Dance Again, which voices support for Israel’s military action in Palestine.Posted on X and Instagram with the Hebrew title עוד נרקוד alongside its English translation, the song features a pop-reggae backing. The opening lyrics are: “You say genocide, I say war / When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for / Does it get ugly? You bet it does / When I know you wanna kill every last one of us.”Boy George cites the attack by Hamas at the Nova music festival in October 2023, saying the civilians killed there…

The Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) has confirmed that over 30 people, including women and children, were killed in an attack early Monday by suspected terrorists on Kamaru village in the Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. In an open letter dated 27 July and addressed to the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, SOKAPU President Tabara Kato expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation across rural and farming communities in the state. Mr Kato noted that the tragedy occurred despite repeated security assurances from authorities and ongoing stakeholder engagements. He said residents of Kajuru, Chikun, Kauru, and Zangon Kataf…

The convicted leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has formally sacked his longtime lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor. Mr Kanu announced this in a letter which he personally signed and addressed to Mr Ejiofor. The letter was dated 22 July. The IPOB leader acknowledged that he had previously sacked the lawyer through a verbal statement, explaining that he decided to formalise the disengagement “Your engagement as my personal legal representative was previously terminated by me through direct verbal communication, upon which you ceased acting in that capacity. This letter serves, in part, as a formal written confirmation…

NewsFeedJournalist Savannah Guthrie has made an emotional public appeal for information about her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, saying her family is living through “a nightmare that will not end.” The plea comes after investigators said kidnapping notes linked to the case were fake.Published On 28 Jul 202628 Jul 2026Click here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharegoogleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo

Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, CEO, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Nigeria closed out an eight-month push to overhaul how it sells drilling rights, and the results suggest the strategy is working: explorers who once shunned the country’s remote frontier territories are now lining up for a piece of them. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) wrapped its Commercial Bid Conference this week, marking the end of a bidding round that regulators say restored investor confidence in Africa’s largest oil producer at a moment when the industry has been consolidating around fewer, safer bets. The scale of interest surprised even the…

Anthropic founder and CEO Dario Amodei responded on Monday afternoon to murmuring in the industry that his company somehow supports efforts by the U.S. government to ban open-weight Chinese models, or possibly open-weight models generally. “Anyone who has read my past writing should know that I don’t regard such bans as a useful measure, but let me state it clearly so that there is no doubt: Anthropic has never advocated for a ban on open-weights models,” he wrote, emphasis his own. His response came after Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang took to X (his first post on the platform) to…

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to bring in emergency legislation in order to stop the early release of hundreds of prisoners.Burnham announced last week that he was pausing the scheme, which would have seen about 700 prisoners freed in the first phase in September, following a backlash from survivors and victims.But the Conservatives say the government’s review will not stop offenders being released. The scheme was part of a bid to stop unprecedented overcrowding, which Labour says was caused by Conservative governments failing to build new prisons.A Labour spokesperson said: “It’s this government that…

Plateau State has recorded 441 suspected cholera cases, 26 confirmed infections and 14 deaths since an outbreak of the disease began in June. The Commissioner for Health, Nicholas Ba’amlong, disclosed this on Monday in Jos while providing an update on the outbreak. Mr Ba’amlong said the cases were recorded in Mangu, Jos North, Jos South and Barkin Ladi local government areas. He said the Ministry of Health remained on high alert and had strengthened emergency response measures to contain the outbreak. He said the ministry was working with affected councils, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and…