Author: damazah@gmail.com

It’s September 2024, and Mamadou Sangare has been called up to the Mali squad for the very first time. As is normal in modern football, new players have to do an initiation song while stood on top of a chair.As Yves Bissouma introduced him onto the ‘stage’, the Mali captain asked Sangare what position he’d like to play in the team. “Yours,” Sangare told Bissouma, in a big, bold statement. “I loved that,” Tom Saintfiet, the Mali manager at the time, tells Sky Sports. “He’s an open, intelligent person – and confident. He knows what he can do.”Sangare did not…

Reading Festival’s organisers are set to learn if their application to allow music on their main stage for a fourth day will be allowed despite residents’ objections.More than 100,000 people typically attend the August bank holiday weekend event and Festival Republic wants to allow music on its main stage on Thursdays from 17:00 BST until midnight.But associations representing hundreds of residents oppose the change over potential disruption and increased noise affecting those living nearby.Any change to the festival’s event licence, to be decided by Reading Borough Council’s licensing applications sub-committee later, would come into effect from 2027.Traditionally Wednesdays and Thursdays…

As the sun disappears behind the high tree line, our campfire spits and crackles. Four plump trout are sizzling on a flame-heated slab of rock, a cooking technique used by people in the Gurghiu mountains, part of Transylvania’s Eastern Carpathians, for centuries. Apart from gentle birdsong, it’s the only sound up here, 1,550 metres above sea level and far from any town or village.“This area is very wild,” says Samir Teslovan, who drove us up through the densely forested peaks from his guesthouse in Toplița. “When I come here to the mountains, I charge my battery, charge my soul. I…

Oil prices have risen again after the two-month window to negotiate a peace deal in the US-Israel war on Iran expired on Monday with no end to the conflict in sight.Iran said on Monday that it would take a more aggressive stance if talks with the US failed, while Donald Trump demanded Tehran “put up the white flag of surrender” in an interview with Fox News.He also threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the war, the second time he has directed such a threat at the longtime US strategic partner. “If…

Russia has accused the UK of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” following confirmation that British-made drones had been used in strikes on targets in Russia. “In doing so, the United Kingdom is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks,” the Russian Embassy to the UK wrote in a statement. “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” it said, adding that the deeper its involvement in the conflict, “the higher the price it will pay”.In response, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told…

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSEThe yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury has surged to its highest level in nearly two decades, and some strategists see scope for the selloff in long-dated government bonds to go further.The 30-year Treasury yield, which is typically sensitive to geopolitical events, advanced more than 4 basis points to 5.311% on Monday, reaching its highest level since June 2007. Foreign holdings of Treasurys fell in June, the Treasury Department reported on Monday, with top holders U.K., China and Japan all reducing their holdings.”Long-term yields look likely to push up to…

Sonos released an update to its mobile app that finally introduces support for iOS’ Live Activities, giving iPhone users quick access to playback controls on their lockscreen. The added functionality is a “much requested, anticipated, and needed feature,” according to a post Sonos shared to Reddit today that was spotted by 9to5Mac.While some features like displaying album art are not available, the Sonos Live Activity provides basic details and controls when listening to music or podcasts through a Sonos system without having to fully unlock your iPhone and open the app.Support for Live Activities and lockscreen controls similar to what’s…

By Henry Umoru National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, Senator representing Bayelsa West, has announced the appointments of former Editor of Sun News Papers, Steve Nwosu as his spokesperson. Dickson has also approved the appointment of Sani Takori, VinMartin Obiora Ilo to key positions within his political and administrative team The appointments which, according to the former Governor of Bayelsa, take immediate effect, are aimed at strengthening operations, administration and strategic communication around both the National Leader and the NDC, which Dickson midwifed. Similarly, Steve Nwosu, a long-standing associate of Sen. Dickson’s, is a…

Fossilized microbial mats known as stromalites provide important records of some of Earth’s earliest life.Credit: Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/UIG via GettyEarth & Life: A Four Billion Year Conversation Andrew H. Knoll Princeton Univ. Press (2026)On 14 February 1990, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft turned around briefly to snap a picture of Earth before heading to the fringes of the Solar System. The image it captured — known as the pale blue dot — instantly became a classic.Carl Sagan, the astronomer who suggested taking the picture, noted in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot how, from afar, “our planet is a lonely…

The New Orleans Saints will be without prized rookie wide receiver Jordyn Tyson for a while. According to a report from NFL Media, Tyson will miss approximately two months due to a hamstring injury sustained during a training-camp practice last week. Tyson has been consulting with specialists and could begin the season on injured reserve as he rehabs from the injury. Tyson has a history of hamstring issues dating back to his time at Colorado and Arizona State, but the NFL Media report stated that this appears to be a new injury unrelated to his prior ailments. “I think my understanding of this…