Author: damazah@gmail.com

Fresh off its first-class flight from Glasgow, it received a reception befitting a visiting dignitary: a bagpiper in full regalia playing inside Boston Logan international airport. Waiting to greet it were diplomats, the governor and Boston’s mayor.The guest of honor? An orange traffic cone.Tuesday’s arrival of the “Boston cone” marked the latest chapter in the city’s unlikely love affair with Scotland’s tartan army, whose habit of placing traffic cones atop statues during the team’s World Cup run last month turned the humble orange cone into one of the tournament’s defining symbols.The traffic cone, in a first-class seat on a flight…

“Plastic Beauty,” Netflix‘s upcoming Japanese drama set inside the country’s fast-growing cosmetic surgery industry, will premiere Sept. 17, the streamer announced alongside 23 additional cast members joining stars Mayu Matsuoka and Riisa Naka. Yuki Saito, who previously directed “Unmet: A Neurosurgeon’s Diary,” helms the series from a script by Junya Ikegami (“The Queen of Villains”). Netflix and the creative team spent months researching Japan’s cosmetic surgery world firsthand ahead of production. That research extended to the makeup department, where special effects artist Amazing JIRO (“Straight to Hell”) led a team that crafted a distinct “before,” “downtime” and “after” progression for…

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the remand of a journalist, Stanley Ugagbe, over charges of conspiracy and cyberstalking. ICIR reported that the court issued the remand order after the judge noted that Mr Ugagbe’s bail application was not yet ripe for hearing. Mr Ugagbe’s lawyer, Pauline Olorunyomi, made a frantic push for the judge to hear the bail application filed earlier on Tuesday. But the prosecution, representing the police, informed the court that it needed time to respond to the bail application and would not be available for the bail hearing nay time next week. The…

A Taranaki teacher with more than two decades’ experience fears registration hurdles could be keeping experienced overseas-trained educators out of New Zealand classrooms – as the country calls for more teachers. Catherine McVey has worked in education across South Africa, the UK and New Zealand, but remains on a Limited Authority to Teach because she cannot provide an original copy of her South African teaching degree. The document was lost after multiple international moves between Scotland, New Zealand and Malaysia. McVey has provided affidavits, certified copies and other documentation, but said the Teaching Council told her there wasn’t enough evidence…

• Says govt committed to actualising 7% growth, $1 trillion economy, declares Nigerians must feel impact of reforms  •Abubakar Suleiman chairs newly inaugurated ministerial advisory committee James Emejo and Deborah Adekoya in Abuja Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday said the country’s drive towards sustainable economic growth could not rest on “fiscal illusion”. Oyedele said the administration of President Bola Tinubu had taken some of the most difficult economic decisions in the country’s history, including the removal of fuel subsidy, exchange rate unification, and comprehensive tax reforms. He stated that such measures were…

Alebtong, Uganda – When Lucy Everlyn Atim returned home after six years working as a child rights activist in South Sudan’s refugee settlements, her favourite shea tree was gone.Known locally as moyao, the tree had shaped her childhood. Every morning, she and her friends gathered beneath its branches to eat its sweet, creamy fruit before walking to school.Its disappearance was not an isolated loss. Across northern Uganda, many more shea trees had been cut down for charcoal.“I got concerned,” Atim, now in her mid-thirties and a climate activist, told Al Jazeera.“The destruction of shea trees is alarming. These trees need…

REPUBLIC X Mnet’s ‘GIRLS PLANET 2027CJ ENMSouth Korean entertainment company CJ ENM’s music channel, Mnet, and Universal Music Group’s REPUBLIC Collective have announced their global partnership to launch and produce the next big global girl group through Mnet’s music competition series, GIRLS PLANET 2027.The franchise, which includes BOYS PLANET, GIRLS PLANET 99, BOYS II PLANET, and PLANET C: Home Race, has previously created groups including ZEROBASEONE, Kep1er, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, and MODYSSEY. This series, GIRLS PLANET 2027, is set to premiere its upcoming global girl group project in 2027. The two major entertainment companies are working together to find their…

While Kylie Jenner serves as a human billboard for Meta’s AI glasses, pop star Lorde isn’t buying it. During a set at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid last week, Lorde had some choice words about the new technology, which many security experts have deemed a privacy nightmare. “Increasingly in our world, it gets harder and harder to know what is real,” Lorde told the audience. “You don’t know if someone is wearing sunglasses, or if they’re wearing those f—ed up, f—ing [AI glasses]. Can I just say, for the record, f— the glasses. Don’t get the glasses. Not sexy.”…

Sir Keir Starmer has become the first serving UK prime minister to be awarded France’s top honour, the Legion d’honneur.He received the award at the end of a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing – the group of countries Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron helped set up to help Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of 2022.In his tribute, Macron praised Sir Keir’s “decency” and expressed his gratitude for the “commitments for obviously your country, but the security of Europe, Ukraine, the bilateral relationship”.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was among those to pay tribute to…

With its dagger-like teeth, bone-crushing bite and behemothic size, the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ruled western North America during the late Cretaceous period. Now its fossilised remains are about to dominate the auction house, with a price tag to terrify punters.On Tuesday, one of the largest and most complete T rex skeletons discovered to date is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York with an estimated sale price of $20m-$30m (£15m-£22.4m).It could even fetch more: a stegosaurus called Apex currently holds the record, selling at a Sotheby’s auction in 2024 for $44.6m – 11 times its listing price.Nicknamed “Gus”, the…