Author: damazah@gmail.com

Qatar’s Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani has died at the age of 74.During his 18-year rule, Sheikh Hamad reshaped the energy-rich country’s domestic and global footprint.When he assumed power in 1995, Qatar’s economy was limited in size and relied mainly on oil, while the vast gas wealth of the North Field site was still in the early stages of development.In less than two decades, Qatar became the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the owner of one of the largest sovereign wealth funds and one of the countries with the highest per capita incomes.This transformation…

Three score and three years ago, a defining dispute erupted in the old Western Region of Nigeria over the scope and reach of constitutional conventions in determining or terminating the tenure of high-level political leadership. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which ultimately had to pronounce on the matter, described conventions in that case as “a body of understandings which no writer can formulate.” The aftermath of that decision took the country to the brink of ruin. This year, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) confronts its own moment of truth concerning how far conventions initially designed to accommodate national…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon to say whether he lobbied the UK government against a tax on bankers’ bonuses on the advice of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Dimon, who has been chair and chief executive of the largest US bank for two decades, said under oath in 2023 that he had never met Epstein and was not involved in any internal decisions to retain the disgraced financier as a JPMorgan client after concerns were raised…

The Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan believes the kind of movies he makes – big-budget action films shot mostly on location – would survive the spread of artificial intelligence, a technology he says many people “disdain”.The Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight director is promoting his latest blockbuster, an adaptation of the Greek epic The Odyssey, which will be released in cinemas this week.“The interesting thing with AI is I’ve never seen a technology that’s been so successfully adopted by Wall Street and by investors and by tech companies that the public has so thoroughly rejected,” he told AFP in Paris.“It’s just…

Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation following an intervention from Nigel Farage.Devon and Cornwall police said on Sunday the killing was not being treated as terrorism nor as politically motivated. Officers said they remained open-minded about the motive and urged the public not to speculate, warning it was both unhelpful to the investigation and distressing for Widdecombe’s family.Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister and later Reform UK spokesperson, was found dead at her home in Haytor in Devon on Thursday…

Every general election has a legal framework that underpins its successful conduct. The Electoral Act 2026 exemplifies this for the 2027 polls. Nigeria has had to amend extant Electoral Acts to improve the integrity of its electoral process. This is why the 2022 Electoral Act was subjected to a review early in the year, which gave birth to the Electoral Act 2026. Yet, its ill-defined provisions on the electronic transmission of votes, from polling units to INEC’s IreV portal in real time, had sparked considerable ruckus in the parliament in February and broadsides from other stakeholders, until the legislature willy-nilly…

Jannik Sinner described his triumph at Wimbledon as particularly special considering his painful defeat at the French Open, after he recovered from a difficult first set to secure his second Wimbledon title with an impressive 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 win against the second seed Alexander Zverev.Sinner, the world No 1, successfully defended his Wimbledon title to clinch his fifth grand slam singles title and 30th championship ­overall. Last month, he was heavily favoured to win his first French Open but he lost in the second round against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo after leading by two sets and 5-1. He…

Reading Festival organisers have applied for a licensing change that would allow music on the main stage on a fourth day of the event.More than 100,000 people attend the festival each year, with the Wednesday and Thursday seen as warm-up days, where people with camping tickets can arrive ahead of the main event days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.Festival Republic has applied for amplified music to be added to the licence for Thursdays, on the main stage only, from 17:00 BST until midnight.Any change to the events licenses require approval from Reading Borough Council and, if granted, would come into…

The Federal Government has arrested two suspected illegal miners and shut down an illegal mining site in Osun State as part of its ongoing crackdown on unlawful mineral exploitation. The operation, carried out by officials of the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in collaboration with security agencies, targeted illegal artisanal mining camps at Ileki-Ijesa along the Ile-Ife–Ilesa Road. The ministry, in a statement issued on Sunday by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Lara Owoeye-Wise, said the operation followed credible intelligence on the activities of illegal miners operating in the area. The two suspects, identified as Danladi Isa and…

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