Author: damazah@gmail.com

Payments to Reform UK first revealed by the Guardian are now being investigated by the Metropolitan police.The inquiry is scrutinising payments made to the party via a company controlled by its deputy leader, Richard Tice.Scotland Yard is looking at two donations of £250,000 made to the party by Britain Means Business in the weeks before the 2024 general election.The Guardian revealed earlier this month that Fiona Cottrell made a £1m transfer to Britain Means Business shortly before the donations were made. About half of the funds were then passed to the party.Cottrell’s son, George, is a convicted fraudster with close…

The federal government moved to shut down reports of an imminent electricity tariff increase, saying no rate hike is planned for any consumer band and that subsidies for lower-usage households will continue. Sadiq Wanka, special adviser to the President on Power Infrastructure in the Office of the Vice President, said in a signed statement Friday that recent media coverage had misrepresented remarks he made at an industry event in Lagos on July 22. “There is no planned tariff hike for any grid consumer across any service band,” the statement said, adding that the government “remains committed to protecting vulnerable households…

Google’s Vice President of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, all but confirmed in an interview with 9to5 Google that its next Pixel phone would cost more than the Pixel 10. Considering the ongoing RAM supply issues due to the explosion of AI data centers, the rumored price hike is not a complete surprise. Companies from Apple to Nintendo, Microsoft to Roku, have all raised their prices in response to the soaring cost of memory.Barkat said that Google had “shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible,” but that the “economics have fundamentally shifted and we’re not immune…

By Luminous Jannamike ABUJA — The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Interim National Working Committee, under its Chairman, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, has held a closed-door meeting with former President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, in what appeared to be the party’s first high-level consultation following the Federal High Court judgment on a suit instituted by the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT). Although neither the PDP nor the former president disclosed the purpose of the meeting, party sources said the discussions centred on the implications of the court’s decision and what it means for the party as it seeks to resolve its lingering…

An investigation into what people think about has put the spotlight on the modern mind, revealing thoughts dominated by work, the need for coffee and a strong desire to go back to bed.It also found evidence for four distinct groups of thinkers who spend more time than most either worrying about the world; mulling on household chores and finances; focusing on the mind and body; or the work-hard, play-hard combination of career and pleasure.The groups are not definitive and people will move between them, but the finding shows how sampling people’s thoughts at random can provide a nuanced view of…

The San Francisco 49ers have officially reported to training camp but will begin building the foundation for the 2026 campaign with their head coach limited. The team announced in a statement Saturday that Kyle Shanahan was involved in a car accident last week and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.Shanahan, 46, will still participate in team activities, but on a limited basis. Assistant head coach Chris Foerster and the team coordinators will handle the bulk of the head coach duties while Shanahan recuperates. In a press conference on Saturday, 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters that he does not expect Shanahan to…

Roxette, the Swedish pop duo that scored some U.S. hit radio singles in the late 1980s and early ’90s, won’t be touring in North America this year despite the recent announcement that their 1990 song “It Must Have Been Love” has racked up more than a billion YouTube views. In an Instagram post this morning, founder/co-frontman Per Gessle announced that due to “logistics and hugely increased touring costs,” Live Nation US has decided to postpone the tour. Gessle, on behalf of himself, current singing partner Lena Philipsson and their band are disappointed by the Live Nation decision, and noted that…

The University of Nigeria remains one of Africa’s great institutions. Its decline was neither inevitable nor irreversible… But restoring its physical infrastructure, revitalising its academic culture, strengthening governance, and reclaiming its reputation will require far more than government allocations. It will demand honesty, sacrifice, accountability, and collective ownership. For me, it was the Margaret Ekpo Refectory. My heart simply folded into itself. In that moment, I felt the kind of grief a son knows, standing before the ruins of his father’s house, burdened by the quiet shame of having failed to protect his inheritance. Named after the fiery women’s rights…

About 70 million people in the US are set to face excessive heat advisories as dangerously hot temperatures scorch much of the country’s southern and central states.The third major “heat dome” event to hit the US in the past month is gathering strength over the weekend, spanning a vast swathe of the country, from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest.Temperatures of 95-105F (35-40C) are expected, with some areas of the south-western US desert potentially reaching 120F (48C). The elevated heat is expected to linger into the coming week, held in place by the heat…

ToplineFormer state Senate president Troy Jackson was picked as Maine’s Democratic nominee Saturday morning, replacing former nominee Graham Platner who faced a series of controversial allegations including sexual assault, toxic relationships and disturbing behavior. Jackson received the nomination Saturday.Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesKey FactsThe Maine Democratic Party voted in Jackson as its nominee, setting up a battle with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November that could decide whether Democrats gain control of the Senate.Jackson will have just over 100 days to build his campaign while Collins will likely benefit from Platner’s fall and her status as a five-term incumbent.“Today we…