Author: damazah@gmail.com

Andy Burnham has been in politics long enough to know that the largely friendly media coverage he’s received so far would turn hostile once he was inside Downing Street. And, within hours of becoming prime minister, some familiar predators were circling as they tried to decide whether to attack him for being too leftwing, too insubstantial or simply offering more of the same.The Mail accused him of embarking on an unfunded “spending spree”, the Sun highlighted a series of “embarrassing” and “humiliating” moments that marred his first days in office, while the Telegraph declared he stood for nothing except “gimmicks”…

Credit: David Goddard/GettyCan commercial funding fill a hole of £42 million (US$56 million) a year in the finances of some of the United Kingdom’s flagship science laboratories and facilities? That is the challenge facing sites run by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which funds the Diamond Light Source — the national synchrotron facility in Harwell — as well as other scientific instruments and labs.The UK government has said that all STFC-funded sites must raise money to cover more of their own running costs, or risk closure.The remodelling comes amid an overhaul to UK public research funding in…

Three of Rangers’ seven summer signings – and none of their 11 departures – are central midfielders.Yet they already had six on their books – nine if you include three who were out on loan.Considering they are attacking midfielders, you can discount Thelo Aasgaard, who has just been to the World Cup with Norway, and Nedim Bajrami, who has failed to become a regular starter in his two years at Ibrox, as competition for the more defensively minded Devlin.Likewise, Jose Cifuentes, Lyall Cameron and 20-year-old Paul Nsio, considering they have returned from Toronto, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers, respectively, without having…

EXCLUSIVE: Is Netflix eyeing an Indian version of Love is Blind or Too Hot to Handle? In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Netflix India VP of Content Monika Shergill revealed her service was working on developing Netflix-owned unscripted formats locally, without revealing their identities. “We are working on a couple of very interesting, big global formats, which are Netflix formats, and they will be coming to India,” she said. While Netflix does not own either Too Hot to Handle and Love is Blind, it the has exclusive international production deals in place for both and has created numerous versions. The…

Team Nigeria will continue its quest for medals at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Monday, with athletes competing across athletics, weightlifting, swimming, para athletics and wheelchair basketball. Nigeria heads into Day Four in high spirits after an impressive start to the Games, having won seven medals—three gold and four silver. The country’s strongest performances have come in para powerlifting, where Esther Nworgu, Folashade Oluwafemiayo and Riluwan Idris won gold medals, while Roland Ezuruike, Esther Oyema and Rita Ferdinand claimed silver. Weightlifter Ruth Asuquo Nyong later added Nigeria’s seventh medal with a silver in the women’s 48kg event. Attention…

The race for the knockout stage at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) got off to an intriguing start in Group A as hosts Morocco and Algeria secured impressive opening victories over Kenya and Senegal respectively. While Morocco thrilled a packed home crowd with a commanding 4-0 victory over Kenya, Algeria produced a composed display to overcome Senegal 2-0, setting up a mouth-watering clash between the North African rivals in their next group fixture. Algeria recover to down Senegal Algeria launched their Morocco 2026 campaign on a winning note with a disciplined 2-0 victory over Senegal on Saturday…

A group of pro-Palestine protesters have launched a high court challenge to a Queensland law banning the slogan “from the river to the sea”, arguing that it amounts to a discriminatory and unconstitutional infringement on free speech.The controversial laws, which also ban the expression “globalise the intifada”, were passed by the state’s Liberal National party government in response to December’s Bondi terrorist attack.The laws make reciting, distributing, publishing or displaying either expression an offence punishable by up to two years’ jail, if doing so might reasonably be expected to cause a member of the public to feel menaced, harassed or…

Kayode Tokede The average maximum lending rate charged by Nigerian banks declined to 33.16 per cent in June 2026, easing from 34.78 per cent in May, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sustained monetary policy pause amid improving macro-economic conditions. The latest Money Market Indicators released by the CBN showed that although borrowing costs remained high, the moderation in banks’ maximum lending rates coincided with the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 26.50 per cent, since February. While the lending rate is the highest interest rate charged on loans given to customers,…

First teaser for Apple TV’s Neuromancer debuts at SDCC – Ars Technica Carrie</em> teaser, trailers for Dark Matter</em> S2 and Matchbox the Movie</em>, and Marvel news.”,”image_url”:”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/neuromancer-500×500-1785074845.jpg”,”listing_image_url”:”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/neuromancer-768×432.jpg”}”> Skip to content Plus Mike Flanagan’s Carrie teaser, trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox the Movie, and Marvel news. Apple TV is fast eclipsing HBO as the go-to platform for prestige TV, especially science fiction, with standout fare like Slow Horses, Severance, Foundation, For All Mankind, Murderbot, Silo, Pluribus, and Widow’s Bay, among others. Add the upcoming Neuromancer series to that list, an adaption of William Gibson’s hugely influential 1984 cyberpunk novel of…

In the northern hemisphere we know that summer is truly upon us when the summer triangle appears overhead. Although not an official constellation, it is one of the easiest patterns to find in the northern summer sky.The chart shows the view looking high in the south-east from London at 11pm UK time on 27 July, although the view remains essentially unchanged all week, with the triangle climbing higher as the evening goes on.The brightest of its three stars is Vega, in Lyra, the lyre. It is almost overhead from the UK at this time of year. North-east from Vega is…