Author: damazah@gmail.com

The prime minister has frequently claimed the government is spending £270bn on defence over this parliament which he says is “the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s”.This number represents the total cash spending figure for the MoD budget set out in the 2025 Spending Review, covering the four years to 2028-29.Sir Keir said today that the DIP increases this by “a further £15bn”.So this £15bn figure is an increase in defence spending over four years relative to previous plans.Reports suggest that the original DIP would have increased spending by £13.5bn over four years. That suggests that, over…

A jungle huntsman spider during a speed testChristofer Clemente/University of the Sunshine Coast A huntsman spider found in Queensland, Australia, has been crowned the fastest spider in the world with a top speed of nearly 3.6 metres per second, according to a global study of arachnid sprinting prowess. Currently, the official world record is held by the Moroccan flic-flac spider (Cebrennus rechenbergi) which can hit speeds of 1.7 metres per second when it is startled, using a rolling-tumbling motion. But some experts regard this as incorrect. “The flic-flac is a special type of locomotion,” says Jonas Wolff at University of…

The Los Angeles Clippers are trading Kawhi Leonard back to the Toronto Raptors, according to ESPN. The deal sends Leonard back to the team with whom he won the 2019 championship and Finals MVP. That summer, he left Toronto to sign a free-agent deal with the Clippers. Now, seven years later, the Raptors bring the most talented player in franchise history back to Canada in one of the biggest trades of the offseason.The return package for the Clippers includes Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, one pick swap and two second-rounders, per ESPN.The Leonard era in Los Angeles included…

Author Harlan Coben and Netflix proved to be a match made in mystery-thriller heaven with the impressive launch of “I Will Find You” earlier this month — and even more so with the limited series’ Week 2 numbers. On Tuesday, Netflix announced via its weekly Top 10 rankings that Coben’s “I Will Find You,” the latest of more than a dozen adaptations of Coben’s work released by the streamer, had the highest second week of viewers for an English-language scripted series launch in 2026, so far. Following a massive 24 million views (making it Netflix’s top TV show launch of…

The controversy surrounding the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for Ekiti State’s Moba/Ilejemeje/Ido Osi Federal Constituency has escalated. Kolawole Akinlayo, the current representative for the constituency, has released salary records that he claims raise fresh questions about the eligibility of the party’s candidate, Kunle Ibrahim. Mr Akinlayo stated that he obtained copies of Mr Ibrahim’s payslips for April and May 2026. He insists that these documents prove the former presidential aide remained on the federal government payroll after claiming to have resigned his appointment. This development follows Mr Akinloyo’s call on 29 June for the APC leadership to strictly…

Gov. Mutfwang By Golok Nanmwa Jos – Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has approved a restructuring of the state’s security architecture with the appointment of retired Brigadier General Nash Yakubu as Coordinator of Operation Rainbow, the state-owned security outfit. The appointment was announced in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Secretary to the Government of the State, Arc. Samuel Jatau. According to the statement, Brig.-Gen. Yakubu (Rtd) brings over three decades of military experience, having served in various local and international operations during his 35-year career in the Nigerian Army. “His service record includes participation in operations linked to…

James Emejo in Abuja Norrenberger Advisory Partners Limited (NAPL), said it has strengthened its position in the Nigerian capital market, executing transactions worth about N608.93 billion in the first half of 2026,.The investment banking firm has continued to expand access to long-term financing for businesses across critical sectors of the economy under the leadership of its Managing Director, Oladipo Olakunle-Jinadu.In a statement, the firm said it advised on, structured and participated in 20 capital market transactions during the six-month period, comprising 18 debt capital market deals valued at N540.76 billion and two equity transactions worth N68.17 billion.The transactions spanned a…

CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei attends a working lunch with G7 leaders, G7 outreach partners and global tech CEOs on innovation and AI, during the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026, in Évian-les-Bains, France.Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesAnthropic is starting an internal drug discovery program as part of an effort to develop artificial intelligence tools designed for drugmakers, becoming the latest company to try and crack the healthcare market.At an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Anthropic’s life sciences head Eric Kauderer-Abrams said the company will focus on discovering treatments for “neglected” diseases that traditional biopharmaceutical…

For fusion startups, the hard part is over: Thanks to a groundbreaking experiment in 2022, we know that controlled nuclear fusion reactions can generate more power than they consume. But now companies need to prove their reactors can make enough electricity to be profitable. One option is to simply turn up the temperature, generating more heat to produce more steam to spin a bigger turbine. Another is to harvest electricity directly from the fusion reactions themselves, an approach that promises to be more efficient. Realty Fusion announced that an experiment it conducted on June 19 successfully powered a lightbulb using…

Andy Burnham will have to find an extra £4.7bn for defence in his first budget, after Keir Starmer announced a £298bn defence investment plan (Dip) without having fully identified how it will be funded.Sources close to the Makerfield MP said he would not try to renegotiate the Dip after the outgoing prime minister announced its details at a press conference on Tuesday.Those close to the likely next prime minister acknowledged he would have to find nearly £5bn more than expected to fund the plans over the next four years, which one Burnham ally likened to an “unexploded bomb”. The Guardian…