Author: OneAfricaYT

Top United States diplomatic negotiator Steve Witkoff visited Moscow on Wednesday in a last-ditch push to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine before an August 8 deadline set by President Donald Trump.After Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, the White House said that Russia had sought a meeting with Trump. The US president, the White House said, was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Trump, who during his re-election campaign had promised he would be able to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours if he came to power, has so far failed…

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Michael Butler’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position: 4thChelsea kitsProspectsSecuring Champions League qualification on the last day of the Premier League season and an unlikely Club World Cup triumph have transformed the club, their finances and ambitions for 2025-26. Chelsea stayed relatively under the radar for much of the Club World Cup – in part because of their relatively kind route to the later stages – but their commanding 3-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the final means they are again regarded as a potentially dominant…

Returning from holiday, asked where I have been, I want to say “offline”. The more precise answer is France, where the internet is available. But I tried not to use it compulsively because there isn’t much point in getting away from it all if you carry it all with you on a phone and check it every few minutes.At some point in the past decade or so, the condition of vacation came to be defined more by detachment from the digital realm than departure from home. The break begins not in a departure lounge but with the act of logging…

Gareth Ward’s lawyer argues criminal convictions alone not the ‘unworthy conduct’ needed as grounds for expulsionJordyn BeazleyGareth Ward’s lawyer has argued the MP for Kiama’s convictions cannot alone be considered the “unworthy conduct” needed as grounds to expel him from parliament.Ward was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men in 2013 and 2015. He is appealing his convictions, which include three counts of indecent assault and one for sexual intercourse without consent.Ward’s barrister, Peter King, said: It’s not, in our respectful submission, justice according to law to say to someone, ‘well you’ve been convicted, we’re now going…

Traders and residents in Mityana Municipality are raising concerns over the persistent darkness that falls over their roads and workplaces every evening due to non-functioning or missing streetlights. This lack of public lighting is more than an inconvenience–it poses a serious threat to safety, business, and livelihoods. By day, Mityana is a bustling hub, but at night, streets, shops, and roadside work areas are engulfed in darkness, making movement difficult and providing cover for criminals. Without proper lighting, people rely on phone torches or navigate blindly through narrow streets. “We fear for our lives every time night falls,” says Elerina…

AmyAmy has had multiple emergency ambulance callouts this yearAs a child, Amy was often violently attacked. At 15, she was threatened with a knife. Now diagnosed with complex PTSD, she’s spent over a decade isolated at home with her mum, desperately seeking help. She has seen a psychiatrist only once.”I was self harming and felt suicidal and didn’t want to be alive anymore,” says Amy, who’s stuck on the long waiting list for NHS mental health treatment.She has bounced up and down the list for years despite being known by crisis teams at her local hospital and GP surgery.Amy is…

Here are the key events on day 1,260 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.Here is how things stand on Thursday, August 7:Fighting Russian artillery shelling on a car belonging to Ukraine’s state emergency services killed three people, including an emergency worker, and injured four others in the southeastern Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said. Dozens of Russian drones attacked a gas pumping station in southern Ukraine, part of an LNG imports scheme from the United States and Azerbaijan, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said. Russia struck a gas facility in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as…

Watch: Hazy skies return to US as wildfires rage in CanadaMore than 400 additional deaths are estimated to be linked to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year, according to a new study. The figure, published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, looks at deaths that have been attributed to factors caused by the wildfires, like poor air quality and delays in accessing healthcare.It is a higher figure than the official death toll tallied by Los Angeles County, which counts deaths caused directly by the fires and jumped to 31 last month after additional human remains were…

Lady Gaga is set to drop a new song for season 2 of Netflix‘s Wednesday, and it will come with a Tim Burton-directed music video, a source familiar with the matter confirms to The Hollywood Reporter. The insider reveals that the video was shot in Mexico, though it’s not immediately clear when that happened. Gaga was in Mexico back in April for a pair of Mexico City concerts at the Estadio GNP Seguros. Variety first reported the news of the Gaga Wednesday track, which is titled “Death Dance.” Per Variety, the song will release next month. THR had reported Gaga’s…

An American game hunter was killed by a buffalo he was stalking during a hunting expedition in South Africa over the weekend, according to multiple reports.Asher Watkins, 52, of Texas, died on 3 August while tracking a 1.3-ton Cape buffalo in South Africa’s Limpopo province, according to a statement from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris (CV Safaris), the company that organized the hunting trip.“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts we confirm the tragic death of our client and friend Asher Watkins from the USA,” CV Safaris said in the statement, obtained by the Metro new outlet and other publications.“On Sunday…