Author: damazah@gmail.com

Northumberland County Council received the most Green Flags in the region with 14.The parks and spaces which received the awards included: Alexandra Park (Cramlington), Astley Park, Bolam Lake Country Park, Carlisle Park, Castle Vale Park and Coronation Park, Doctor Pit Park, Druridge Bay Country Park, Eastwoods Park, Flagstaff Park, Hexham Parks, Hirst Park, Plessey Woods Country Park, Ridley Park, Tyne Riverside Country Park.The council’s member for environment John Riddle said he knows how much “local residents appreciate having these lovely parks”.He said: “These 14 awards also reflect not only the incredible work carried out by our staff and volunteers, but…

As the countdown to the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations gathers momentum, Super Falcons midfielder Toni Payne has sent a strong message to Nigeria’s continental rivals: the defending champions are heading to Morocco with only one objective; to retain their crown. For Payne, representing the Super Falcons comes with an unmistakable responsibility. Nigeria’s unrivalled pedigree in African women’s football means expectations are never negotiable, and the Inter Milan midfielder insists the team’s identity as the “Giants of Africa” demands nothing less than another title-winning campaign. Speaking in an exclusive interview with FIFPRO ahead of the tournament, Payne reflected on…

I don’t remember the exact moment when I started catching feelings for my friend Ellen. It might have been when she trusted me to cut her hair into a feathered bob, or when I noticed she’d taken to keeping my favourite tea at her parents’ house. But in the summer of 2019, a month before our final year of school together, I realised I was falling in love.We were 17 at the time and had been best friends since our first year of high school, both of us part of the same tight-knit group of girls. Ellen and I knew…

President Donald Trump has ordered signs to be placed outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, to caution visitors about exhibits his administration views as “inaccurate”.The order directs the Department of Interior to issue the warnings, and also to direct people about where they can find “accurate information regarding America’s history”.The Trump administration has often accused the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest research museum, as well as other academic organisations of harbouring an anti-American bias.The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment. The order on Friday – titled Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution -…

By Emeka Anaeto The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is set to refine its investment frameworks to direct pension capital into critical national assets, including infrastructure, energy, healthcare, and agriculture, while maintaining competitive returns for contributors. These are some of the disclosures made by the PenCom Director-General, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, at briefing in Abuja, where she outlined key achievements of the Commission in the last two years. Meanwhile, in outlining the major milestones she indicated an injection of N10.7 trillion in new retirement savings into the national economy during the period which brought the total pension assets to N31.48 trillion as of…

Electrolyte powders, dissolvable tablets, and trendy ready-to-drink waters have graduated from the pockets of athletes to one of wellness’s buzziest categories.And it’s a crowded market, worth an estimated $39 billion globally in 2025 and forecast to double within the next decade. Much of the growth has been fueled by wellness trends and influencer-fronted hype cycles, like Prime Hydration, created by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, which the company claimed pushed past $1 billion in sales in a single year. In other internet corners, dozens of celebrity and podcaster-adjacent brands are all promising a means of optimizing your way to hydration.These…

International investors are asking where Japan’s prime minister will find the ¥370tn (£1.7tn) of extra cash that she wants to invest in 17 industrial sectors by 2040.Such is the scale of spending by Sanae Takaichi’s coalition government that many in her own party fear she is about to blow up the Japanese economy, triggering a Liz Truss-style economic shock.Nerves are also jangling in financial markets, where investors are stunned by the plans of a usually sober Japanese government to rewrite previous budget rules and embark on a wide-ranging and unfunded shopping spree.The roots of Takaichi’s frustration date back to the…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported a decline in new confirmed Lassa fever infections but warned that the outbreak remains a serious public health threat as deaths continue to rise. According to the agency’s latest Lassa fever situation report for Epidemiological Week 27, Nigeria recorded 14 new confirmed infections, down from 31 cases reported in the previous week. The latest cases were detected in Ondo, Edo, Bauchi, Benue and Kogi states. Despite the decline in fresh infections, the disease has claimed 224 lives so far in 2026. The case fatality rate has also risen to…

Researchers at Georgia State University have developed an experimental oral antiviral that prevented a measles-like virus from spreading between ferrets through both close contact and the air. The treatment also reduced symptoms when it was given either shortly before or shortly after exposure. The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, come from scientists at the Center for Translational Antiviral Research (CTAR). Their work focused on canine distemper virus, which produces a disease in ferrets that closely resembles measles. Antiviral Blocks Two Routes of Transmission The researchers tested a recently developed drug candidate called GHP-88310 (described in Science Advances). The medication is…

Lando Norris gave McLaren hope of challenging for their first Grand Prix pole position of the season in their upgraded car in Hungary by impressively outpacing Friday pacesetter Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ title-leading Kimi Antonelli in final practice.Ferrari had appeared the big favourites for Saturday’s qualifying fight after dominating the opening day’s practice but, while they remained right in the mix at the front, they were usurped in the final hour of practice running by the reigning world champions. Norris was second to Hamilton after their respective first laps on soft tyres at the end of the session but the…