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It ended, perhaps fittingly, on a rather baffling note. After 34 days of campaigning to regain the parliamentary seat of Clacton on England’s south coast, Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform UK party, declined to turn up to the town’s leisure centre to hear himself declared the winner and MP. It was quite the thing. The last high-profile winning candidate to fail to enjoy his moment of victory was Bobby Sands in 1981. The IRA man had his reasons: he was on hunger strike in a prison in Northern Ireland, and went on to die 26 days later.Instead Farage…

A young commercial motorcyclist was reportedly killed by a falling tree on Abak Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Thursday, raising concerns over the management of aged and potentially dangerous trees along major roads in the state capital. The incident occurred opposite the Cultural Centre during heavy rainfall in the early hours of Thursday. Witnesses told PREMIUM TIMES that the motorcyclist, who was reportedly on his way to begin his daily business, was struck by the tree at about 7 a.m. Videos reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES also showed a man lying lifeless by a fallen tree with a motorcycle by…

City and Chelsea are already not on great terms after the circumstances around Maresca’s exit from Chelsea and move to City.He was frequently butting heads with the Blues’ owners in his 18 months in charge and on 1 January left the club.They were fifth when he left and ended up 10th – with Xabi Alonso having already replaced Maresca’s replacement Liam Rosenior this summer.At the time Maresca’s exit was referred to as mutual but he has since said he resigned – and admits it “opened a path” for him to move to City.It was always widely reported he was the…

Hollywood actress and singer Selena Gomez is being sued by five investors who backed Wondermind Global, a mental health business she founded with her mother.Shareholders are claiming the pop star failed to fulfil promises that she would be “actively building” the brand, saying her “abject dereliction of her duties” has left the company in a “state of financial calamity”.The lawsuit seeks to recover around $1.2m (£890,000) it claims was invested as well as costs and damages.The BBC has contacted Wondermind and Gomez’s representatives for comment.Gomez, who rose to fame as a child actor before moving into pop music, set up…

The Nigeria Police Force has assured residents of Osun State of adequate security ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, announcing the deployment of helicopters, drones, Mobile Police personnel and other security operatives across the state. The Force Public Relations Officer, Okokon Iniedu, gave the assurance on Friday at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo after addressing officers deployed for the election. Iniedu said the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, had directed the police to ensure a safe, peaceful and credible election while protecting lives and property. He also warned that the police would not tolerate vote-buying during the poll.…

Zambia’s electoral commission has suspended the counting of votes from Thursday’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections over alleged attacks on polling staff.The authority said the process would be halted nationwide with immediate effect as it expressed concern over reports of violence that had “resulted in the theft of marked ballot papers in ballot boxes”.President Hakainde Hichilema is seeking a second five-year term. Brian Mundubile is the main opposition candidate among 13 challengers.The electoral commission had previously set itself the target of announcing the results by the end of Sunday.Counting got under way immediately after polls closed on Thursday but no…

By Rosemary Iwunze The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has threatened to sanction  Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) that fail to meet prescribed targets under the ongoing Retirement Savings Account (RSA) data recapture exercise. PenCom, in its first-quarter 2026 report, disclosed that only 17.03 per cent of the industry’s legacy RSA holders had completed the mandatory data recapture exercise. According to the report, 58,220 RSAs were recaptured during the quarter, bringing the cumulative number of recaptured accounts to 1,485,052 out of an estimated 8,722,609 legacy accounts. The Commission warned that, at the current rate, completing the outstanding recapture exercise would take more than…

Alien: Isolation redefined Alien games on its release in 2014, bringing the original taut, haunted house theme of the first movie to fans who had mostly been fed action-packed shooters. Cowering under desks and inside lockers wasn’t a new thing; being hunted by an intelligent and lethal xenomorph that could spring down from a duct at any moment was.“I was thinking about what we could do for a sequel while we were still finishing the first game,” reveals Creative Assembly’s Alistair Hope, creative lead on Alien: Isolation and its sequel. “But we didn’t actually start the project until around the…

“I think the other parties were cowards not to stand,” said Mary Williams, who travelled to Clacton from Wales to support Farage.”They’ve tried to make it into a circus. They’re all absolutely convinced he’s going to be found guilty of something.”Pressure on Farage intensified after the Sunday Times reported he had not declared benefits, including staff and security, supplied with help from his long-term ally George Cottrell.He has also faced questions about a £5m gift from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne in early 2024, which he did not register.”I’m worried. I’m really concerned because I think Nigel Farage is the only…

A field experiment among Côte d’Ivoire cocoa farms suggests an approach to improve auditor reporting