Author: OneAfricaYT

Brett James, the Grammy-winning songwriter known for Carrie Underwood’s 2005 smash “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and Kenny Chesney’s “When the Sun Goes Down,” died Thursday in a small-engine plane crash in North Carolina. He was 57. James was one of three people on board a Cirrus SR22T aircraft that crashed near Franklin, North Carolina. The National Transportation Safety Board told news outlets that it is said it is investigating. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced James’ death in a Facebook post on Friday. The performing rights organization ASCAP wrote in a tribute post, “We’re mourning the loss of Brett James … a 2-time…

The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Joint Defence Council held an emergency session in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday, to discuss urgent regional security measures in response to the recent Israeli strike on a Hamas office in Qatar’s capital, which killed six people.GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi said the attack on the State of Qatar can be considered an attack on all GCC countries.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listAlBudaiwi said member states would activate joint defence mechanisms, enhance intelligence sharing, coordinate aerial positions, activate an early-warning system against ballistic missiles and carry out joint training exercises, including a regional air…

Suranjana TewariAsia Business Correspondent andOsmond ChiaBusiness reporterGetty ImagesA much-awaited deal over TikTok may be close, with US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping set to discuss terms on Friday. Top officials from both sides struck a “framework” agreement this week, which reports suggest could see TikTok’s US operations sold to a group of American firms. If the deal goes through, it would be what one expert called a “rare breakthrough” in US-China trade negotiations – and one which settles an issue that has made headlines for years.Experts have been telling the BBC what a final deal might…

Russia ‘has shown full extent of contempt for diplomacy and law,’ EU’s von der Leyen saysThe European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in her statement that Russia “has shown the full extent of its contempt for diplomacy and international law” over the last month, as she criticised the largest-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.She specifically referenced the Russian strikes on Kyiv that hit the EU office in the capital, and Russian drone incursions into Poland and Romania. These are not the actions of someone who wants peace. The 19th package of sanctions comes in response to this…

James DiamondSomerset, WilitonBBCMore than 100 pharmacies operate under the Jhoots brand, but with different managementA pharmacy chain has serious questions to answer over allegations of financial mismanagement, according to MP Sadik Al Hassan.Staff at Jhoots Pharmacies run by Sarbjit Jhooty are owed £670,000 in unpaid wages, according to union Pharmacists Defence Association. There are about 150 Jhoots Pharmacies across the UK, of which 129 are run by Sarbjit.Mr Al Hassan said the situation was “shocking”, with patients left struggling to get prescriptions as Jhoots branches were regularly and unexpectedly closed, or open with low stock.Sarbjit said he was working to…

Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureWomen’s 200m: A false start from Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas, whose leg is heavily strapped after an injury in the semi-finals. She steps aside and we start again.ShareWomen’s 200m final: Our last event of the night and what a treat. A mere hundredth of a second separated the top two going into this final, with the defending champion Shericka Jackson just a whisker ahead of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.Jamaican Jackson is bidding to match Allyson Felix’s record of a third straight world title over the distance, while the US’s Jefferson-Wooden…

Donald Trump has claimed his administration has reached a deal with China to keep TikTok operating in the US, amid uncertainty over what shape the final agreement will take, with suggestions from the Chinese side that Beijing would retain control of the algorithm that powers the site’s video feed.“We have a deal on TikTok … We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,” Trump said on Tuesday, without providing further details.The deal, which was negotiated in Madrid between US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice premier He Lifeng, reportedly see the social media platform…

Caroline Hawleydiplomatic correspondent andAleks PhillipsVideo shows Barbie and Peter Reynolds after their releaseThe family of a British couple who were detained by the Taliban for nearly eight months say they are “overwhelmed with gratitude and relief” at the couple’s release.Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, were on their way home when they were stopped on 1 February.The couple were freed on Friday morning through Qatari mediation. A Qatari official said they would fly to Qatar for medical checks before travelling to the UK, despite their long-term home being in Afghanistan’s…

While ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel from the air “indefinitely” over comments on Charlie Kirk, the other late-night hosts talked Robert F Kennedy’s vaccine chaos and Kash Patel’s disastrous hearing on Capitol Hill.Stephen ColbertStephen Colbert opened Wednesday’s monologue with an announcement from Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, that in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, the justice department would target hate speech. “And conservatives were not thrilled by this news,” said Colbert. The conservative commentator Brit Hume posted on X: “Someone needs to explain to Ms Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by…

A collaboration between African and American researchers and a community living in one of the most hostile landscapes of northern Kenya has uncovered key genetic adaptations that explain how pastoralist people have been able to thrive in the region.Underlying the population’s abilities to live in Turkana, a place defined by extreme heat, water scarcity and limited vegetation, has been hundreds of years of natural selection, according to a study published in Science.It shows how the activity of key human genes has changed over millennia and the findings place “Turkana and sub-Saharan Africa at the forefront of genomic research, a field…