11 h. ago More rice, bigger chairs and reinforced toilets: sumo wrestling comes to London | Andy Bull

Royal Albert Hall to host Grand Sumo Tournament marking only the second time a full competition is held overseasThey play Major League Baseball at the Olympic Stadium, Tottenham’s ground is a second home for the National Football League, the National Basketball Association is staging a game at the 02 Arena next year, and South Africa just beat New Zealand in a rugby Test at Twickenham, but it’s been a long time since London has hosted anything on the scale of the Grand Sumo Tournament taking place at the Royal Albert Hall this week. Forty wrestlers have flown over from Japan to compete in it. That’s around six tons of elite athlete to be fed, watered, transported and supported.“We’ve actually had to source and buy new chairs which can take up to 200kg in weight,” says Matthew Todd, the Royal Albert Hall’s harassed director of programming. “Our usual standard is only 100kg.” They’ve also had to reinforce the toilets. “It’s the ones that are screwed into the wall which are the most ch...

Politics

11 h. ago Remembering Mama Africa: struggle of fearless singer Miriam Makeba told in daring dance drama

Mimi’s Shebeen, choreographed by Alesandra Seutin, charts South African legend’s exile and ascendancy with ‘beautiful songs, strong messages and moments that hit’“You speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa and it’s like speaking about a queen,” says Alesandra Seutin. The legendary singer Makeba was known as Mama Africa, and the Empress of African Song; but she also hung out in Greenwich Village with Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. She was a teenager sent out to work to support her family in Johannesburg who later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife of a Black Panther. And her rich life and legacy are the inspiration for choreographer Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, about to get its UK premiere.Mimi’s Shebeen blends dance, live music and spoken word in a piece of theatre that’s no straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to N...

Events

11 h. ago More rice, bigger chairs and reinforced toilets: sumo wrestling comes to London

Royal Albert Hall to host Grand Sumo Tournament marking only the second time a full competition is held overseasThey play Major League Baseball at the Olympic Stadium, Tottenham’s ground is a second home for the National Football League, the National Basketball Association is staging a game at the 02 Arena next year, and South Africa just beat New Zealand in a rugby Test at Twickenham, but it’s been a long time since London has hosted anything on the scale of the Grand Sumo Tournament taking place at the Royal Albert Hall this week. Forty wrestlers have flown over from Japan to compete in it. That’s around six tons of elite athlete to be fed, watered, transported and supported.“We’ve actually had to source and buy new chairs which can take up to 200kg in weight,” says Matthew Todd, the Royal Albert Hall’s harassed director of programming. “Our usual standard is only 100kg.” They’ve also had to reinforce the toilets. “It’s the ones that are screwed into the wall which are the most ch...

Politics

21 h. ago South Africa qualify for first World Cup in 16 years while Nigeria handed play

South Africa 3-0 Rwanda: Bafana Bafana will compete in their first World Cup in 16 years, while Nigeria guaranteed themselves a play-off lifeline with a 4-0 win over Benin in Group C

Politics

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Kruger National Park attracts nearly one million visitors each year

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Super Eagles handed lifeline as Bafana Bafana punch their ticket to the 2026 World Cup

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22 h. ago South Africa vs Rwanda LIVE: World Cup qualifier result, latest updates and reaction

Bafana Bafana needed a favour from elsewhere to seal qualification

Politics

23 h. ago South Africa vs Rwanda LIVE: World Cup qualifier latest score, match stream and goal updates

Bafana Bafana need a favour from elsewhere in order to seal automatic qualification

Sport

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Bafana Bafana need a favour from elsewhere in order to seal automatic qualification

Sport

24 h. ago Nigeria v Benin live: Osimhen gets Super Eagles off to perfect start in crunch World Cup qualifier

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Politics

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Events

26 h. ago Nigeria v Benin live: World Cup 2026 qualifier score and updates plus South Africa

The Super Eagles battle Benin and South Africa in a tense finale to World Cup 2026 qualifying

Politics

26 h. ago South Africa vs Rwanda LIVE: World Cup qualifier match stream, latest team news, lineups, TV, prediction

Bafana Bafana need a favour from elsewhere in order to seal automatic qualification

Politics

33 h. ago What Nigeria and South Africa need to qualify for World Cup in exciting finale tonight

Super Eagles face a must-win match at home to Group C leaders Benin while Bafana Bafana host Rwanda on pivotal evening

Politics

55 h. ago Bus crash in mountainous region of South Africa kills at least 42 people

Authorities say a bus veered off a road and plunged down an embankment on a steep mountain pass in northern South Africa, killing at least 42 people and injuring another 49

Events

57 h. ago At least 42 killed as bus crashes off mountain road in South Africa

At least 42 people were killed in a bus crash in a mountainous region of northern South Africa, authorities said on Monday.

Events

69 h. ago Reviving this African game reserve meant catching and transporting hundreds of wild animals

The Banhine National Park in Mozambique was a wildlife haven 50 years ago

Sport

3 d. ago Nigeria team plane forced to make emergency landing after windscreen cracks in mid

Problem occurred as the Super Eagles were travelling back from World Cup qualifier against Lesotho in South Africa

Politics

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A baby eastern black rhino has made its debut at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, giving a boost to efforts to conserve the endangered species

Politics

4 d. ago Zimbabwe vs South Africa LIVE: World Cup qualifier result, match stream and latest updates

Bafana Bafana out to revive automatic qualification hopes after losing three points through FIFA sanction

Politics