Author: damazah@gmail.com

Spanish midfielder says he has ‘huge confidence’ in his abilities after his impressive performances as a substitute.Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026Spanish super-sub Mikel Merino admitted that neutralising the threat of Lionel Messi will be a “huge challenge” as La Roja prepare for their World Cup final showdown against Argentina.“It’s a huge challenge, an incredible motivation for me and the whole team,” Merino said of facing Messi in his news conference on Friday.“Being able to play against a side like Argentina, which has already won this trophy, makes the match even more significant, and I’m very happy to be…

Customers enter a Taco Bell restaurant on July 14, 2026 in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Mario Tama | Getty ImagesTaco Bell has removed lettuce linked to a cyclosporiasis outbreak from restaurants, it said Friday.The outbreak has currently affected more than 1,600 people across five states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection resembles a serious stomach bug and often begins showing up two to three weeks after people become infected by the parasite, according to the CDC. No deaths have been reported.On Thursday, the agency said its investigation into the source linked the outbreak to shredded…

Nigeria has taken another step towards building a more coordinated regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, with President Bola Tinubu signing the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026. This creates a new framework to harmonise how government agencies oversee virtual assets, blockchain technology, and related digital financial services. The move comes as regulators grapple with an industry that increasingly cuts across banking, securities, taxation, anti-money laundering, and payment systems. According to a statement signed by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the executive order establishes a Virtual Asset Council that will bring…

Jeffrey Donaldson is to appeal against his conviction for rape and other sexual offences against two children.The former Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader’s legal team lodged documents with the court of appeal in Belfast on Friday, his solicitor, John McBurney, said.If granted the appeal will add another chapter to a case that stunned Northern Ireland and engulfed the DUP in crisis.A jury at Newry crown court found Donaldson, 63, guilty last month of 18 sexual offences against two victims who were children at the time of the abuse more than 30 years ago.Donaldson denied all the accusations – one count…

Some breakthroughs in physics come from brand new inventions. Others begin with a new theory. But many advances happen when researchers combine familiar technologies in an unexpected way and create something more powerful than the individual parts. That strategy could be especially valuable in the search for weakly interacting particles, including neutrinos and certain dark matter candidates. These particles are notoriously difficult to detect because they rarely interact with ordinary matter. Building larger detectors and improving their spatial resolution can increase the odds of observing the faint signals they produce, but doing so often makes the instruments more complicated and…

The second half of the 2026 MLB season gets fully underway on Friday with a loaded 15-game slate with all 30 teams in action. While every team has played more than 81 games at this stage, Friday is the first full day back from the All-Star Break earlier this week. With 15 games on the docket, let’s look around baseball at the updated odds to lead MLB in homers this year before getting into my favorite home run prop picks of the day.  Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber tops the majors with 32 homers, which were the fifth-most by a player in…

GLG Communications has unveiled the fifth edition of its annual PR Power List, recognising 50 public relations and strategic communications professionals whose work has shaped organisations, industries and public discourse in Nigeria and beyond. Released on Thursday to mark World Public Relations Day 2026, the list honours practitioners across four categories: Rising Voices, Changemakers, Community Impact and Fourth Estate. According to the organisers, this year’s honourees were selected through an independent evaluation process involving extensive research and deliberations by an international jury of communications experts. Since its launch in 2022, the PR Power List has become one of Nigeria’s leading…

This US Marine Corps handout photograph taken on July 16, 2026, by US Central Command Public Affairs reportedly shows US Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducting a verification boarding aboard M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman. American forces boarded a ship in the Gulf of Oman on July 16 as part of the renewed blockade of Iran’s ports that began earlier this week, the US military said. US Marines boarded the M/T Wen Yao “to ensure full compliance with the ongoing US naval blockade,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X. (Photo by…

The US military said it had launched a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Friday night as fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz.US Central Command, in a post on X, said the strikes, which began at 7pm GMT, were designed to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities”.Earlier on Friday US airstrikes hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state TV reported. The bridges were a key transit point for Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port. Further US airstrikes brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that the US…

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 03: A detail shot of the Los Angeles Dodgers logo on the pitcher’s mound with confetti during the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Championship celebration at Dodger Stadium on Monday, November 3, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jessie Alcheh/MLB Photos via Getty Images)MLB Photos via Getty ImagesThe Los Angeles Dodgers remain firmly at the top of the National League rankings as they enjoy another strong season led by a wide-ranging collection of superstar players. But the organization also paused this week to remember one of history’s most accomplished players who briefly wore the…