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Kimi Antonelli is Formula One’s man of the moment but Mercedes’ 20-year-old championship leader faces a Monumental challenge in Spain this weekend, along with all his rivals. Fresh from becoming the first Italian since 1966 to win his home race at Monza, Antonelli will be entering new territory when the Spanish capital’s Madring makes its grand prix debut with a signature “La Monumental” banked curve.

By Samya Kullab and Srdjan Nedeljkovic Kyiv — President Volodymyr Zelensky chided the international community on Wednesday for not taking a tougher stance against Russia over its escalating bombardment of civilian areas of Ukraine. At the end of August, Russia launched a week of night and daylight attacks on Kyiv in its heaviest sustained bombardment of the Ukrainian capital since its full-scale invasion began more than four years ago.

Story audio is generated using AI US president Donald Trump and his Republican Party are taking the unusual step of staging a national Republican convention ahead of November’s midterm elections, gambling that a high-profile show of party unity can energise supporters and help Republicans defy historical midterm losses, despite Trump’s low approval ratings.

An enormous collective effort will be required from the Springboks if they are to succeed in burying the All Blacks in the fourth and final Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Baltimore on Saturday, Cameron Hanekom says. The powerful loose forward, who will play off the bench at the M&T Bank Stadium, says everyone must buy into the Boks’ game plan for the deciding game of the series (kickoff 11pm SA time).

Story audio is generated using AI Former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has explained the cash payments made towards extensive renovations at her house in Bruma, Johannesburg. Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering stemming from her tenure as minister of defence and military veterans between 2016 and 2019.

Prince George started at Eton College on Tuesday, as the future British king followed in the footsteps of his father, the heir to the throne, Prince William, by attending the prestigious 600-year-old school. The 13-year-old grandson of King Charles was joined by his parents William and Kate, the Princess of Wales, for his arrival at his new school, with footage showing them smiling and looking relaxed as they were greeted by Eton’s headteacher, Simon Henderson.

Joburg mayor Dada Morero has rejected claims that the city has failed to deliver on the Lilian Ngoyi Street rehabilitation project. He said cash-flow challenges and the complexity of rebuilding underground infrastructure caused the two-month delay. Morero made the remarks during a walkabout at the site on Wednesday morning, where he said the entire project was expected to cost about R192m.

Russia hopes that US-mediated peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine will resume soon, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. No such talks between Russia and Ukraine have taken place since February, but President Donald Trump sent his negotiators to Moscow and then Kyiv at the weekend in a bid to relaunch the stalled process.

Story audio is generated using AI Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday dissolved parliament and announced snap elections for next month as he seeks to extend his hold on power by running for prime minister. Vucic, a populist who has been in power as ‌president or prime minister for 12 years, has faced nearly two years of anti-corruption demonstrations triggered by the collapse of a railway station awning in the city of Novi Sad in November 2024 that killed 16 people.

Alphabet’s Google will invest at least €13bn ($15.1bn or R241.63bn) in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Finland over the next two years and has signed its first nuclear power contract outside the US, it said on Wednesday. The Finnish deal includes a 22-year purchase agreement for up to 50% of the energy output of one of Finland’s two nuclear plants, its operator Fortum said separately.