Author: OneAfricaYT

Betsy Lerner doesn’t see herself as a TikTok star – though the New York Times described her as one – or an influencer. That means payment and swag – all she’s had is a free pen. “I really do it for myself,” she says, “and for the people who follow me”.Lerner, 64, has for 20 years worked as a literary agent for writers including Patti Smith and Temple Grandin. She’s an author of nonfiction and now of a debut novel, Shred Sisters – “a love letter to loneliness”. But the “doing” she’s talking about is on TikTok, where she has…

In early August, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) exchanged fire with Syrian government forces near Manbij in Kurdish-majority northeastern Syria. The tensions in the north came just weeks after bloodshed in the south’s Suwayda governorate killed more than 1,400 people and displaced nearly 175,000. The violence between Druze and Sunni Bedouin groups continued for more than a week and has still not fully abated.In March, groups loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad clashed with government forces and allied armed factions in the coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartus, dominated by the Alawite community. From 1,400 to 1,700 people were…

In June, a video of a gang-rape started circulating online in South Sudan. Filmed and posted on social media by the perpetrators, it showed a gang of visibly intoxicated young men taking turns to sexually assault a 16-year-old girl in a murky room in the Sherikat neighbourhood of the country’s capital, Juba. Later, it emerged that the victim belonged to a rival gang, and that the rape and the video were an act of revenge.The rape prompted widespread outrage. Some called for mob justice; others for the perpetrators to be apprehended and sentenced to death. There was a city-wide crackdown…

Rescue workers are racing against time to save scores of passengers after a tragic boat accident in Sokoto State, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, confirmed yesterday. According to NEMA, the incident occurred when a boat conveying over 50 passengers to Goronyo Market capsized. The Director-General of NEMA, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, said the agency immediately activated its response team upon receiving reports of the mishap. She explained that the operation is being conducted in collaboration with local authorities, divers, and other emergency responders. “So far, about 10 persons have been rescued, while more than 40 passengers remain missing,” Umar said.…

Speaking with journalists on arrival, Mr Akpabio promised Nigerians “robust legislative engagements” when the Senate resumes. The President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has returned to Nigeria after what his office described as a short vacation in London. Mr Akpabio, who arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 4 a.m. on Monday, was received at the Presidential Wing by senators, aides, and supporters. His media office said his return “put an end to speculation that the Senate President was critically ill and admitted in a London hospital.” The speculation followed his absence after attending the Sixth World…

Andrew Leigh backs cancellation of Israeli MP’s visaThe assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, has defended the government’s decision to deny entry to a far-right Israeli politician who described Gazan children as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank.As Sarah Basford Canales reports, Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.Leigh did not comment on the specifics of the decision to deny him a visa but said the…

US president ramps up pressure on Ukrainian leader to accept deal with Russia ahead of talks in Washington, DC.United States President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Ukraine to accept an agreement to end Russia’s war, claiming that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could choose to end the conflict “almost immediately”.Addressing Zelenskyy a day before his high-stakes visit to the White House on Monday, Trump warned that the return of Russian-occupied Crimea and Ukrainian membership of NATO would be off the table in any negotiated settlement.“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or…

Early results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz take the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote, in surprise outcome.Bolivia is heading to a presidential run-off between a centrist and right-wing candidate, confirming the end of two decades of government by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), according to the South American country’s electoral council.With more than 91 percent of the ballots counted on Sunday night, preliminary results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote.Conservative former interim President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, of the Alianza Libre coalition, was in second place, with…

Nearly 40 years after their time in the NFL, the players from the 1988 New Orleans Saints grapple with the physical toll of football while honoring a bond forged through the toughest game.

It’s fun to think about the fundamental physical constants. These are special values used in our models of the physical universe. They include things like the speed of light, the gravitational constant, and Planck’s constant, and they’re “fundamental” in the sense that we can’t derive them theoretically, we can only measure them.We use these in solving physics problems all the time, so it’s easy to take them for granted. But why are there such numbers in nature, and why do they just happen to have those specific values? Because, listen, if they were only slightly different, the universe might be…