Author: damazah@gmail.com

Is a picture worth a thousand words? Certainly, if the picture in question is the one that showed Hon. Desmond Elliot on his knees before Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, begging for forgiveness. That picture capped a journey that started months earlier, far from Aso Rock, inside the bruising politics of Surulere. For over a decade, Elliot represented Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos Assembly, riding a Nollywood name into a political career that outlasted many people’s expectations. In 2026, chasing a fourth term, he ran into a wall. He pulled out of the APC primary, claiming…

The university I lead is more than four centuries old and has seen political orders rise and fall. I have not, but I work each day in an institution that remembers those changes — in its archives, statutes and culture of argument. The conditions that make knowledge trustworthy, such as independent peer review, openness about methods and data and the ability to correct earlier work, are changing in ways that reach the core of what a university is for.How universities came to be — and why they are in trouble nowThose conditions are under pressure in a growing number of…

Victory of United Russia party strengthens Putin’s hand even as the war with Ukraine grows more unpopular.President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has won a record supermajority in tightly orchestrated parliamentary polls that excluded virtually any genuine opposition, near complete official results show.With over 58 percent of votes secured, United Russia, which has dominated Russian politics for 25 years, is on track to win more than three quarters of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, according to the results announced on Monday after three days of voting that ended on Sunday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of…

On Monday, OpenAI announced a new independent advisory group hosted at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Called the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, the group is meant to give mathematicians more input into the company’s math-oriented research. “This group will serve as a bridge to the mathematical community and broader public, giving mathematicians a voice in how we move forward,” the post reads. The announcement comes after the abrupt publication of a solution to the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. As part of the announcement of the new group, OpenAI also claims that the same…

Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has questioned who is constitutionally exercising presidential authority in Nigeria following the expiration of the three-week vacation announced for President Bola Tinubu. Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation in Europe. The Presidency said on Monday that the President had extended his stay by a few days and would return to Nigeria at the weekend. In a statement titled “Who is in Charge of Nigeria?”, Atiku cited Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, which provides for the President to…

President Tinubu will return to Nigeria at the weekend, following the extension of his working vacation by a few days. President Tinubu departed Nigeria on 30 August for London to begin the working vacation. After spending a week in London, he moved to Paris, France, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Mr Vincent Bollore, whose media group includes Canal+, Multichoice, and Universal Music Group. Since he began the vacation, President Tinubu has continued to keep in touch with home, directing the affairs of the nation, like ordering an independent panel to investigate the death of 37…

Google has been fined more than €400m (£345m) over the way it processed users’ location data, following claims that the tech giant had manipulated users into agreeing to be constantly tracked on their mobile phones.The fine, imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), comes after complaints from multiple European consumer organisations that Google was following every step users took.Location-related adverts are familiar to holidaymakers, but seven European consumer organisations had complained that undue use of location data can also lead to a breach of privacy.The DPC inquiry was prompted by research by the Norwegian consumer agency in 2018 which suggested…

FIFA president proposes ‘consultation’ with member federations to reform world football governing body’s decision-making processes.Published On 21 Sep 202621 Sep 2026FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed an outside review of how the governing body makes major decisions, ⁠acknowledging in a letter to members that its handling of a now-abandoned investment plan had caused outrage.“First, I will ask the Council whether it wishes to commission an independent external review of FIFA’s current governance framework for ⁠major strategic initiatives and recommend potential improvements,” Infantino wrote to the FIFA Council and all 211 member association presidents on Monday in a letter seen by…

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new way to transform polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics, into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. Polyethylene is widely used in products such as shopping bags and white plastic cutting boards, and large amounts of it ultimately end up as waste. The ORNL team’s method combines the plastic with molten salts containing aluminum chloride. These salts perform two jobs at once, acting as both the reaction medium and the catalyst that drives the chemical conversion. The researchers have applied for a patent for the technology, and…

A wellness break doesn’t always have to mean checking into a fancy spa hotel. There are countless more affordable ways of stepping off the treadmill and taking a moment to recharge the batteries. We’d love to hear about your favourite wellness experiences in the UK and Europe, whether it’s a beach sauna followed by a bracing dip in the sea, a mindful walk or meditation in a forest, or a memorable visit to a hammam or traditional thermal baths.The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays…