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Investment Research Team
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(UNICEF Donates Infection Prevention Materials. Photo by Facebook Punchnewspaper)
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has supplied hygiene and infection control materials to more than 200 health facilities spread across all 27 local government areas in Borno State.
The donation was announced on Friday by the UNICEF Chief of the Maiduguri Field Office, Francis Butichi, at a meeting held in Maiduguri with officials from the Borno State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency and the state’s healthcare services.
Butichi explained that the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Facility Improvement Tools (WASHFIT) were provided to raise the quality, safety, and long-term sustainability of healthcare services, particularly for women and children in the state.
He noted that the tools are designed to strengthen infection prevention and control, improve access to clean water, encourage proper hygiene practices, and enhance the management of healthcare waste all of which are critical to shielding patients, health workers, and surrounding communities from infections that could otherwise be avoided.
The donated items, which include buckets, sprayers, and detergents, were assessed in line with national standards as well as global guidelines from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Butichi also highlighted the urgent need for such intervention, pointing out that maternal deaths during childbirth remain a serious concern in Nigeria, with a woman dying every seven minutes during delivery often due to unsafe environments or poorly managed equipment.
He emphasized that the donation reflects UNICEF’s commitment to helping the government close critical gaps in facilities that fall short of minimum hygiene and infection control standards.
In response, the General Manager of the Borno State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Muhammad Aliyu, praised the gesture, describing it as a well-timed intervention for vulnerable women and children in the state, and pledged that the materials would be properly used and maintained.
Tyisha Mcnaught
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A healthcare worker inoculates a man suspected to have Ebola in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo on 27 July 2019.
JC Wenga/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Health officials have raised the alarm over an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the continent’s top public health body, said on Friday that it has recorded 246 suspected Ebola cases and 65 deaths in the Ituri province in the northeast of the country.
Concern is high regarding the potential spread of the virus, with efforts to control it complicated by a precarious security situation in the affected area, which sits on the border with Uganda and South Sudan.
The DRC government struggles to secure the east of the country due to activity by armed groups seeking control of valuable mineral deposits.
Preliminary laboratory results have reportedly detected the Ebola virus in 13 of 20 samples tested. The outbreak comes about five months after the DRC’s last Ebola bout was declared to be over, leaving 43 people dead.
READ | Democratic Republic of Congo declares end to Ebola outbreak
Africa CDC expressed concern over the risk that the new outbreak could spread rapidly due to intense population movement, the poor security situation in affected areas, and control challenges.
The agency said it is convening an urgent high-level meeting with health authorities from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, together with key partners, including UN agencies and other countries, to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and response efforts.
An Ebola treatment centre in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Ituri is in a remote eastern part of the DRC with poor road networks, and is more than 1 000km (620 miles) from the capital, Kinshasa.
First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a highly contagious and deadly disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, causing severe bleeding and organ failure.
“Four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, pending confirmation,” Africa CDC said, referring to the capital of Ituri.
It added in its statement:
The meeting will focus on immediate response priorities, cross-border coordination, surveillance, laboratory support, infection prevention and control, risk communication, safe and dignified burials, and resource mobilisation.
The DRC has seen more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks, the deadliest coming between 2018 and 2020, killing nearly 2 300 people.
Security risks make efforts to control such outbreaks highly challenging. The eastern DRC has been plagued for decades by groups seeking control of the mineral-rich region. Last week, an attack by armed rebels in Ituri province killed at least 69 people.
Following a rapid assault by the M23 rebel group, supported by Rwanda, in January last year, the DRC government has struggled to regain control of key cities amid a fragile ceasefire.
news24
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For the last two decades, most businesses have competed for visibility.
Google rankings, paid search, website traffic, marketplace positioning and social reach became the foundations of modern customer acquisition. Entire industries were built around helping brands climb search results, generate clicks and capture online demand more efficiently than competitors.
That ecosystem created clear winners. Companies learned how to optimise websites, dominate search rankings and engineer discovery at scale. In many sectors, visibility itself became the commercial advantage.
But AI is quietly reshaping that entire model.
A growing debate within the technology and marketing world has focused on how artificial intelligence could compress traditional online sales funnels. Instead of manually filtering through pages of options, consumers increasingly ask AI-driven platforms to recommend outcomes directly.
That is a fundamentally different type of discovery.
Historically, search has largely operated as a filtering exercise. A customer searches broadly, narrows options and gradually works towards a decision. AI changes that dynamic entirely.
Instead of asking “show me serviced offices in London”, the query becomes far more specific and outcome-driven: find me a 30-desk office near Monument with strong breakout space, hospitality-led service, natural light and flexibility to scale over the next 12 months.
The same pattern is emerging across sectors. Consumers are no longer simply searching for products. Increasingly, they are asking systems to identify the best option for a particular outcome. That changes commercial priorities dramatically.
AI becomes less about presenting inventory and more about recommending trusted solutions. Visibility alone becomes less valuable. Recommendation becomes paramount.
Flexible offices may prove one of the clearest real estate examples of this shift because the market already behaves more like a consumer industry than a traditional property one. Faster decision-making, shorter commitment cycles and constant comparison between operators have made digital discovery central to the sector’s growth. And we are already seeing early signs of the transition.
Client satisfaction metrics are becoming increasingly important, with operators investing more heavily into platforms such as Resonate and using Net Promoter Scores alongside structured client feedback not simply as operational tools, but as commercial signals. Google reviews are now actively encouraged throughout the client journey, with many operators integrating review requests directly into customer touchpoints and renewal discussions.
Reputation management has moved beyond marketing. Increasingly, it is becoming part of the sales infrastructure itself. And because recommendation engines naturally favour consistency, satisfaction and trust, that matters. The internet rewarded visibility. AI rewards quality.
This is also why expertise is unlikely to disappear, despite the inevitable predictions that accompany any technological shift. In the office market, there is frequent speculation around whether AI will reduce the role of brokers. The reality is probably the opposite at the top end of the market.
The lower-value parts of the process — filtering options, comparing specifications and narrowing shortlists — will inevitably become more automated. But the best brokers have never simply provided options. They act as advisers, negotiators and market interpreters. They understand growth trajectories, operational requirements and commercial risk in ways algorithms still cannot.
As markets become more complex, that strategic guidance arguably becomes more valuable, not less. In many ways, this mirrors what has already happened across multiple industries, where technology compresses administrative friction while increasing the value of genuine expertise.
For years, much of modern marketing has revolved around lead generation mechanics: search rankings, paid acquisition, conversion funnels and traffic optimisation. Increasingly, businesses may need to think more carefully about trust, recognition and recommendation.
If AI narrows the shortlist before a customer even visits a website, brand becomes significantly more important. Companies consistently referenced, discussed and positively reviewed gain an advantage long before direct engagement begins.
That helps explain why so many businesses are now investing heavily into customer experience, content, hospitality, events and broader brand positioning. Across the flexible office market there has been a noticeable shift away from simply marketing desks and square footage towards building recognisable operator identities with clearer positioning and stronger customer engagement.
At Halkin, we have invested heavily into exactly that over the past year. Not simply because branding looks good in a pitch deck, but because the market increasingly rewards businesses with a recognisable identity and reputation for delivery. Increasingly, the experience around the product becomes part of the product itself.
That may ultimately become one of the defining commercial shifts of the AI era. The last two decades rewarded those best at capturing attention. The next will reward those most trusted by the systems directing it.
Freddie Bailey
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President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Saturday in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
President Trump has signed an executive order to make certain psychedelic drugs more available to treat mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. He directed $50 million in federal funds to make them more accessible, and ordered the Food and Drug Administration to fast track a review of such drugs as psilocybin and ibogaine.
“Can I have some, please?” Trump joked to a laughing audience in the Oval Office.
He was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Also standing in back of Trump was former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan was the basis of the film Lone Survivor, and podcast host Joe Rogan.
During the announcement, Rogan said he had texted Trump about ibogaine and the president responded, “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.”
And Luttrell told him, “You’re going to save a lot of lives through it. It absolutely changed my life for the better.”
Next week, the FDA will issue national priority vouchers to three psychedelics, which the agency’s commissioner, Mary Makary, said will allow the review of those drugs to be approved quickly – perhaps in just weeks. This is the first time the FDA has offered to fast-track any psychedelics.
During the ceremony, the president framed psychedelics as a way to deal with a national mental health crisis that includes suicide. “Today, over 14 million American adults have a serious mental illness, defined as having a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder,” the order notes. “And about 8 million are on prescription medication for these conditions.”
Trump touted the success of some psychedelic drugs tested on active military personnel and veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. The Department of Veterans Affairs is now participating in at least five trials of the drugs in New York, California, and Oregon.
In the 1950s, scientists reported potential advances in using the drugs to treat addiction and other psychiatric conditions. But government research ended in the 1960s, when recreational use became popular. Now, studies on the effects of psychedelics have resumed. A 2025 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that a single dose of the psychedelic LSD could ease anxiety and depression for months. At least 21 million American adults have reported at least one major depressive episode, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Around one in 10 Americans have also been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD.
Psilocybin and ibogaine are currently listed as Schedule I drugs, meaning they have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Psilocybin is the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms.” Ibogaine, a derivative of the West African iboga plant, has in the past been used to treat certain drug addictions.
Trump said that his order would expedite the reclassification of those drugs, and that he expects the FDA to approve them quickly. In 2024, the FDA rejected approval for MDMA to treat PTSD.
Former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Mohammad Danjuma Goje, has denied defecting to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stating that a membership card circulating online is not his own.
Naija News reports that Goje made this known in a statement by his Special Assistant, Ahmed Isa Kashere, while reacting to a fake ADC membership card circulating on social media.
Goje described the purported membership card as the handiwork of ingrates aimed at tarnishing his image and portraying him in a bad light.
The former Governor maintained that he remains a proud and committed founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), committed to promoting its ideals across Gombe State and the country.
Goje further stated that he has never contemplated joining any other political party since he joined forces with others to form the APC in 2013, stressing that “I cannot build a solid house and abandon it because of the antics and blackmail of ingrates.”
While describing President Bola Tinubu as the father of the country and APC’s national leader, Goje said he will leave no stone unturned in delivering Gombe State for him during the next election.
He said, “The attention of the Office of Senator Mohammad Danjuma Goje, Sarkin Yakin Gombe has been drawn to a fake membership card circulating on social media. Preliminary investigation reveals that it was the handiwork of ingrates in Gombe State to tarnish the image and portray Senator Goje in a bad light.
“The fake membership card was a last resort of these ingrates after failing to mobilise constituents against the people’s Senator. Twice, they mobilised their cronies from the Yamaltu/Deba and Akko LGAs of Gombe Central Senatorial District. But to their dismay, the people shamed them as they unanimously endorsed Senator Goje for another term in the Senate.
“Senator Goje remains a founding member of APC in Gombe State and the country. He is APC, APC is Goje in Gombe State. The cheap blackmail and negative machinations by the ingrates and their cronies will not stop the good people of Gombe Central and indeed Gombe State from their massive support for Senator Goje.”
The draw left Spurs 18th in the Premier League, a point from safety.
The post Tottenham remain in relegation zone after Brighton draw appeared first on Vanguard News…
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Saudi Transport General Authority announced that public transport usage across the Kingdom recorded a remarkable growth in 2025, reaching 420.6 million passengers, according to Arab News.
This represents a 129% increase compared to 183.3 million passengers in 2019.
The current success coincided with the World Public Transport Day on April 17, reflecting rapid expansion of the Kingdom’s public transport sector and its increasing contribution to promoting quality of life, reducing traffic congestion as well as lowering carbon emissions.
Moreover, the authority recorded a 61% increase in passenger numbers between 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2026 has witnessed a 20% rise compared to the same period last year.
This rise has been underpinned by the remarkable expansion of city bus services, which now operate across 17 cities and governorates, compared to just four in 2019.
To further boost operational efficiency and improve connectivity, this network is also supported by modern, technology-enabled fleets.
The authority said that taxi trips across the Kingdom surpassed 377 million between 2019 and 2025, marking a 15% increase.
At the same time, ride-hailing applications saw even stronger growth, recording over 548 million trips, marking an increase of 64%.
As for automated rail systems, they also recorded robust performance in 2025, with the King Abdulaziz International Airport train in Jeddah carrying more than 34 million passengers.
The Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University train in Riyadh also served more than 3 million passengers.
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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara has dismissed allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq plotted the prosecution of former Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki, over the 2018 Offa robbery incident.
The post APC says PDP, Saraki allegations against AbdulRazaq baseless appeared first on Vanguard News…
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New Orleans Saints defensive line coach Bo Davis has reportedly met with Indiana EDGE Mikail Kamara, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC-2 Houston.
The 24-year-old spent the first two seasons of his career at James Madison, posting 65 total tackles (35 solo), two passes defended, 11.5 sacks and five forced fumbles over that span, while earning second-team All-Sun Belt honors in 2023 as a sophomore.
Kamara transferred to Indiana as a junior, where he earned first-team all big 10 and third-team All American in his first season with the Hoosiers after posting 47 total tackles (19 solo), one pass broken up, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles.
This past season, Kamara helped lead Indiana to a national championship, earning Defensive Player of the Game honors. He finished his senior year with 34 total tackles (12 solo), one pass defended and two sacks.
Kamara also posted a 77.7 overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus in 2025, ranking 133rd among 852 qualifying edge rushers. His 78.4 pass-rush grade ranked 122nd with 47 total pressures, while his 78.8 run-defense grade ranked 105th at the position.
The Saints are clearly focused on adding another pass rusher in the draft, and Kamara could be an intriguing developmental piece.
