Author: damazah@gmail.com

New vape shops will require planning permission and councils will get more powers to stop betting shops, under government plans aimed at improving high streets.Prime Minister Andy Burnham said town centres had been “hollowed out” by decades of decline and “for many people, the high streets they grew up with have become unrecognisable”.BBC News has exposed organised crime on high streets across the country, revealing shops selling illegal cigarettes and vapes, selling cannabis and cocaine, enabling illegal working and suspected money-laundering.The Conservatives and Reform said the proposals would lead to “more empty” shops, without tax relief for other small businesses.Burnham…

Nigeria’s healthcare sector needs more than additional funding to expand. It needs businesses capable of attracting capital, deploying it effectively and building institutions that can grow sustainably, healthcare stakeholders have said. That challenge was at the centre of the inaugural First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Healthcare Summit in Lagos, where the bank unveiled a N20 billion Healthcare Fund to support private healthcare businesses. The fund will provide financing to hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, maternity homes and other businesses across the healthcare value chain. The summit, themed “Financing Growth: Unlocking Opportunity, Building the Future of Healthcare,” brought together…

The rapid spread of generative AI tools has exposed deep vulnerabilities in conventional methods of academic assessment. This challenge came into sharp focus for me when I found evidence of widespread unauthorized use of artificial intelligence in an examination for my course on welfare economics and social-choice theory at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, last semester.Some students were reluctant to return to the classroom after a campus shooting earlier in the academic year, so I administered the midterm test as a take-home exam for the first time in nearly two decades of teaching the course. Although it was more…

The signs have been there since last year, when the collective strength of the players, not any masterplan from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), dragged the team to a 10th WAFCON title in Rabat. With twelve months to restrategise and rebuild a squad capable of surviving an increasingly competitive women’s football landscape, the Falcons, led by coach Justin Madugu, and the NFF instead stood still. So, there was no real surprise on Sunday when a 19th-minute free-kick from Cameroon’s Myriam Nyadjou was enough to end Nigeria’s title defence at the quarter-final stage in Casablanca, the earliest continental exit for the…

Academy Award nominee Jacob Elordi is in talks to star in Ari Aster‘s next film, A24’s “Scapegoat,” which already boasts fellow Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson leading the cast. The logline for the film is being kept under wraps, but there’s been plenty of early speculation about the plot. Some say the thriller is about a doctor who operates on an internet-famous person; others say it’s a sci-fi romance; and still others have described it as more of a traditional drama for Aster. Aster wrote and will direct the film, with Lars Knudsen producing for their Square Peg banner. News of…

The Nigerian Law School has confirmed the death of a student who fell from the rooftop of a hostel at its Lagos Campus. The student, who was from the Enugu Campus, was in Lagos for the school’s externship programme and was temporarily accommodated at the Lagos Campus hostel. The school, in a statement shared on its Facebook on Monday by the Secretary to the Council and Director of Administration, Aderonke Osho, said the incident occurred at about 4 a.m. on Friday, 7 August. “Preliminary information indicates that, at about 4:00am on Friday, 7 August 2026, the student fell from the…

At least 10 oil spill incidents were recorded across Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Imo states in July, according to a PREMIUM TIMES review of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA)’s Oil Spill Monitor. The incidents involved major oil producers, including Renaissance Africa Energy Company, Heirs Energies, Seplat Energy, Oando and Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO), with sabotage, corrosion, operational failures and equipment defects identified as the leading causes. The review shows that Rivers State accounted for the highest number of reported incidents during the month, while pipeline infrastructure remained the most affected oil facility.…

Hundreds of firefighters and helicopters battle a growing wildfire at Indonesia’s Mount Bromo.Close to 50,000 firefighters and disaster personnel, backed by dozens of helicopters, are battling wildfires in several parts of Indonesia after an unusually dry season in the sprawling archipelago.Increased El Nino conditions have raised the risk of more forest and land fires during the peak dry season, said Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Djamari Chaniago, on Monday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listAuthorities in East Java say the largest blaze is in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, where about 743 hectares (1,836 acres) of…

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said manufacturers are yet to enjoy relief from multiple taxes and levies despite the enactment of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025. The association disclosed this in its Manufacturers CEO Confidence Index (MCCI) report for the second quarter of 2026, noting that manufacturers continued to grapple with multiple tax collectors and regulatory agencies during the period. Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the new tax law, which was expected to reduce the burden of multiple taxation, had yet to deliver the intended benefits. “Manufacturers complained that they were still met with multiple tax collectors and…

Try explaining Australian rules football to anyone outside Australia, and “it sounds like you’re making it up,” says David Ashby, the multi-hyphenate comedic mind behind deeply silly spoofs such as Italian Spider-Man and Danger 5. “Eighteen players a side, running around on a cricket oval with a rugby ball that has to be bounced every so often and gets kicked between posts – like, what the fuck is happening?”Two years ago at a fantasy footy barbecue, Ashby had a brainwave: why not make a video game where Australia’s strange national sport becomes even stranger the more you play?Pro Jank Footy…