Author: damazah@gmail.com

CHARLES MERIBOLE condemns the surge in political violence and enjoins the electorate not to be intimidated A disturbing trend of rising political intolerance is emerging in Nigeria’s political landscape in the build-up to the 2027 general elections. This troubling phenomenon, which has escalated in recent weeks since the official lifting of the ban on political campaigns by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has manifested as incendiary remarks, outright threats, sponsored attacks and violence, hate speech, and unfortunately, killings in Nigeria’s political space. Sadly, Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, set the tone for this dangerous political culture with his ‘’all…

On Mount Athos, in northern Greece, a monk rises before dawn to sing the same office that has been sung on that mountain for more than 1,000 years. He learned it from older monks who came before him, who learned it in turn in an unbroken chain stretching back to Athanasios the Athonite, in AD963.Over the centuries, individual monks have come and gone, and yet their chants, prayers, oaths, costumes and ceremonies endure. This persistence is remarkable and revealing: cultural traditions endure because they share a fundamental property with biological organisms. They are alive. Not metaphorically, but literally.I believe that…

1Calm, quick to accept condition (6) 1 down. Calm, quick to accept condition. 6 letters.2Sent down here it’s cooler (6) 2 down. Sent down here it’s cooler. 6 letters.3Car may often be parked at this (6,4) 3 down. Car may often be parked at this. 6 letters and 4 letters.4In an emergency, call three of these (5) 4 down. In an emergency, call three of these. 5 letters.5Commission bankrupt, be very angry (9) 5 down. Commission bankrupt, be very angry. 9 letters.6Right to the back in simple boat (4) 6 down. Right to the back in simple boat. 4 letters.7Breaking…

An estimated 800,000 bees, worth tens of thousands of dollars, have been stolen from properties in far north Queensland.The industry is already reeling from the this month’s arrival of the varroa mite parasite.Tom Bidner, an apiarist from the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns, said 44 colonies had been stolen from three different beekeepers.“This isn’t over yet,” he said. “We’ve got so many colonies to get through. We’re still getting around and checking all our different sites.”He estimated that each hive contained at least 20,000 bees, making it a total of more than 800,000.The alleged thefts happened on multiple different properties…

The man who may stand to make the most money from the AI boom seems to think he knows better than anyone else, including researchers who have studied and worked on AI for decades. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, he claimed there was a “0% chance” of AI being the end of the world. He also said of people sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI that, “Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible.”He also claims that calls from CEOs like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to slow down the development of AI are “not…

By Luminous Jannamike ABUJA — All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Zamfara North senatorial aspirant, Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the name of Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u as the party’s candidate for the district, accusing the commission of defying a Federal High Court order nullifying the primary that produced him. The demand followed the publication of Ya’u’s name by INEC despite the August 31 judgment of the Federal High Court, Gusau, which nullified the APC’s May 19 primary and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary for all cleared aspirants…

MIMI OSAWAYE OSAMWONYI argues for better control of blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, in addition to regular exercise Each year, countless Nigerian families watch loved ones slip into the shadows of their own memories—forgetting grandchildren’s names, getting lost on familiar routes to the local market, or struggling with simple daily routines like taking medication. While long brushed off as a natural, inevitable consequence of aging, this decline is not normal. It is frequently the sign of a neurodegenerative condition, most commonly Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is a medical condition in which a person has a major decline in one or more cognitive (thinking…

In August, I wrote about my love of the music history podcast No Dogs in Space, but mourned the fact that there hadn’t been a new episode in over two years. Little did I know that hosts Carolina Hidalgo and Marcus Parks were gearing up to announce the show’s return with season four, Punk 2.0. The first episode premiered this week, part one of a series on the New York Dolls, a band near and dear to my heart as a native Staten Islander, home of frontman David Johansen.For the new season, Hidalgo and Parks decided it was time to…

No international relationship has more power to determine the success of Andy Burnham’s premiership. So you might imagine the stakes for the prime minister’s first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday would be high.Yet Burnham may prove to be a lucky general. The balance of risk has shifted. Trump is unpopular at home, where inflation remains high, and is mired in an intractable conflict in Iran that has the potential to sink his midterm dreams.When Keir Starmer first visited Trump in February 2025, the situation could not have been more different. The notoriously unpredictable president had just won the…

You should aim to take in about 1,500-2,500ml of fluid a day, whatever the weather, says McManamon.This can obviously come from bottled water, but also from what she describes as fluid rich tinned foods if supplies are short.For those worried about whether tinned food is as nutritious as fresh food, Dr Gill says it absolutely can be used as part of a healthy diet.”There is little difference nutritionally between canned and fresh food in terms of macronutrients, like carbohydrates, protein, fats, and fibre, as well as fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamin A and E, and minerals,” she says.It may not be…