Author: News Room

With all of these swirling around, I didn’t know what to expect on this trip, and more than once I toyed with cancelling it. America didn’t quite look like the place it used to be, not just for me but even for many decent US citizens who have seen their country change in a rather grotesque way these past few months. Journalists like to think that the world would be finished without them. Nothing illustrates this vanity more than the joke by my old school journalism teacher that even when the world ends, reporters will be there to tell those…

Veteran Yoruba actor Adeoye “Elesho” Adewale has opened up on how the late actor and filmmaker Adeyemi “Adelove” Afolayan discovered him from obscurity and turned him into a household name in the industry. Adelove, a dramatist and producer who fathered renowned filmmaker Kunle Afolayan, died in 1996. He produced several well-known films, including “Ajani Ogun”, “Taxi Driver”, and “Ayanmo”. Speaking on the AfricanAList podcast, the 67-year-old actor revealed that he had worked in several industries before entering film. Elesho said: “The person who made me somebody in the industry was the late Adeyemi Afolayan (Adelove). He’s my boss. I remember…

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and Search for Common Ground have warned that voter apathy and the monetisation of politics pose grave threats to Nigeria’s democratic survival. The agencies noted that the challenges confronting Nigerian democracy stem largely from inadequate citizen participation and weak democratic culture rather than flaws in democracy itself. The Director-General of the Institute, Dr Joseph Ochogwu, and the Director of Programmes at Search for Common Ground, Gift Omoniwa, raised the alarm on Thursday in Abuja at a joint press conference with Search for Common Ground to commemorate Nigeria’s 2026 Democracy Day. Ochogwu specifically said…

A fire outbreak occurred on Thursday at a multi-storey building housing a Polaris Bank branch on Broad Street, Lagos Island, Lagos State. Videos circulating on social media showed thick smoke billowing from the building as residents and business operators gathered around the scene. Emergency responders, including firefighters, were seen making efforts to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to nearby structures. The cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained as of the time of filing this report. There was also no official statement from emergency management agencies or the Lagos State Government on the incident. No…

Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi claimed a runner-up finish in the men’s shot put event at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, recording a season’s best throw to extend an impressive run of form that has marked him out as one of the continent’s most consistent performers in the discipline this year. Enekwechi produced a best effort of 21.43 metres in the third round of competition to secure second place in a field stacked with some of the world’s leading throwers. Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri won the event with a throw of 21.91 metres, while New Zealand’s Tom Walsh completed the podium in third…

On today’s episode of Decoder, my guest is Hayden Field, senior AI reporter for The Verge. Often when Hayden comes on the show, it’s because something has gone wrong in the world of AI. Last weekend, that something was a pretty intense mix of Anthropic, the Trump administration, and Anthropic’s new AI model, Fable 5.On Friday, not even a week since Anthropic released Fable to the public, the US government said it was imposing export controls on the new model, as well as the underlying Mythos model that Fable is based on. Those controls restricted foreign nationals, even those working…

Bitcoin lending platform Ledn has expanded its services to include Tether Gold (XAUt), allowing investors to hold the tokenized asset and borrow against it in much the same way they can borrow against Bitcoin.Ledn announced Thursday that clients can use XAUt as collateral for loans instead of selling their holdings for cash. Under the company’s existing lending model, client collateral is held one-to-one and is not rehypothecated, lent out or used to generate yield.Loans are issued and repaid in Tether’s USDT or USAt stablecoins and can be repaid at any time without scheduled monthly payments. Tether launched USAt in the…

Summer House’s Ciara Miller is in her cool girl era. The reality star, 30, gushed about her recent career successes as she won the Allison Williams Cool Girl Award at the 2026 Las Culturistas Culture Awards, which took place in May and aired Wednesday, June 17, on Bravo. “Thank you so much. If by ‘cool,’ you mean utterly disappointed in everyone around me, yes, I am so f***ing cool,” Ciara said in her acceptance speech, alluding to ex West Wilson’s controversial relationship with her former BFF, Amanda Batula. She continued, “Obviously, this year has been a little rough, but you…

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered an immediate scale-up of waste evacuation operations across the state following growing concerns over the build-up of refuse in several communities. The governor announced the directive on Thursday, saying the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and the Ministry of Environment had been mobilised to address the situation. “LAWMA, LASEPA, and the Ministry of Environment are currently working around the clock,” Mr Sanwo-Olu said in a statement posted on his social media platforms. “We have deployed extra trucks and personnel to clear the backlogs across all affected neighbourhoods.…

The Bayelsa State Government has said it is yet to decide on the tariffs for usage of its gas-powered 60 megawatts electricity plant. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, the commissioner for information, orientation and strategy, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Thursday. Governor Duoye Diri’s administration inaugurated a 60-megawatt independent gas-fired power plant in April. NAN reports that phased test-running of the power plant has already commenced, providing reliable electricity supply to parts of Yenagoa City. Mrs Koku-Obiyai stated that the state government’s major concern was ensuring electricity transmission to communities. “We have yet…