9 h. ago ‘We don’t get to discriminate’: How a Raleigh ministry decided to help resettle Afrikaners

Marc Wyatt, director of Welcome House Raleigh, a ministry of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, received a call recently from the North Carolina field office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants asking if he could help furnish two apartments for three newly arrived refugees, among the 59 who arrived in the U.S. last week from South Africa

Events

11 h. ago South Africa moves to change empowerment law for Musk’s Starlink

Potential loosening of Black ownership rules came after billionaire said his satellite internet group would not comply

Politics

12 h. ago The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: a boon to the UK, as well as audiences elsewhere | Editorial

Britain would benefit from pledging more sustained and committed support in this age of disinformation and global turmoilTwo years ago, BBC Arabic radio left the airwaves after decades. Soon afterwards, Russia’s Sputnik service began broadcasting on the frequency left vacant in Lebanon. That detail illuminates a larger picture. China, Russia and others see global-facing media as central to their global ambitions and are investing accordingly – pumping out propaganda to muddle or drown out objective, independently minded journalism. These outlets are state-controlled as well as state-owned.Meanwhile, conspiracy theories and disinformation proliferate online, attacks on press freedom intensify and the Trump administration is dismantling media organisations including Voice of America and Radio Free Asia (RFA), which have been essential sources of information for audiences under repressive regimes. Official Chinese media were gleeful at what RFA’s president, Bay Fang, cal...

Events

13 h. ago US university scholars and international students: are you considering working or studying elsewhere?

We’d like to hear from scholars and students from abroad in light of the Trump administration’s attack on universitiesInternational students at Harvard University were ordered this week to transfer schools or lose their legal status following the Trump administration’s revocation of the university’s eligibility to enroll students from abroad.While that order was swiftly blocked by a judge, it is one of a series of events creating uncertainty on campuses across the US. It follows the US government’s revocation of hundreds of student visas on various grounds, including minor infractions or participation in protests against the war in Gaza. (Some of those visas have been reinstated.) Academics have also felt the impact of funding cuts and subsequent hiring freezes, leading to hundreds looking to leave the US to work elsewhere. Continue reading...

Society

15 h. ago White House doubles down on stance on Harvard and calls university’s lawsuit ‘frivolous’ – live

Harvard’s president says school’s ‘refusal to surrender’ behind Trump administration’s ‘unlawful’ and ‘unwarranted’ latest actionFresh attack on Harvard intensifies chaos for international students in USHarvard University has sued the Trump administration over its decision to revoke the Ivy League school’s ability to enrol international students, a move the school called unconstitutional and retaliatory.Reuters reports that in a complaint filed in Boston federal court, Harvard called the revocation a “blatant violation” of the US constitution’s first amendment and other federal laws.HHS alleged that Columbia violated Title VI, which prohibits those receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, or national origin -- including discrimination against individuals based on their actual or perceived Israeli or Jewish identity or ancestry.The notice, both from HHS and the Department of Education, “articulates extensiv...

Society

16 h. ago Hundreds of workers trapped deep underground in South African gold mine

Rescuers are attempting to provide food to the trapped workers in the three-kilometre-deep Kloof gold mine near Johannesburg

Politics

17 h. ago Trump’s ambush of South Africa’s president shows how low the US has fallen | Justice Malala

Instead of embarrassing Cyril Ramaphosa, the US president’s ‘gotcha’ moment illuminates the fact-free reality show that is Trump’s AmericaDonald Trump should really try harder.When the US president unexpectedly and dramatically dimmed the lights inside the Oval Office on Wednesday and played a video clip of the alleged burial site of white victims of “genocide”, he meant to embarrass and humiliate his guest, Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa. It was his “gotcha!” moment after four months of relentless social media attacks, executive orders, boycotts, and threats of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Continue reading...

Politics

19 h. ago Trump launches extraordinary attack on Labour's Net Zero drive branding wind farms 'unsightly' and urging more 'drilling' in North Sea

Donald Trump criticised Keir Starmer for focusing on 'costly and unsightly windmills' - insisting there should be more drilling in the North Sea.

Politics

20 h. ago Nearly 300 workers trapped deep underground in South African gold mine

Around 289 workers are trapped in the three-kilometre-deep mine

Politics

21 h. ago Hundreds of miners trapped underground in South Africa as urgent rescue operation launched

The operator of the mine near Johannesburg, Sibanye-Stillwater’s Kloof, have said they are trying to get the men out while also attempting to provide them with food

Events

22 h. ago South Africa mine rescue LIVE: At least 300 Kloof workers trapped underground

The 300 miners have been stuck in Shaft 7 of Sibanye-Stillwater's Kloof mine since last night without any food, according to reports, with a major rescue operation underway

Events

26 h. ago South Africa’s president praised for ‘calm demeanour’ during Trump meeting

In an Oval Office encounter in which the US president made false claims of ‘white genocide’, Cyril Ramaphosa kept his coolTrump’s ‘white genocide’ claims ignore the reality of life and crime in South AfricaMany South Africans praised their president Cyril Ramaphosa for staying calm when Donald Trump ambushed him in the Oval Office with a video purporting to back up his false claims of a “genocide” against white Afrikaner farmers.Others asked why Ramaphosa, who brought ministers, golfers and a billionaire with him, chose to walk into what he knew was likely to be a trap. Continue reading...

Politics

28 h. ago Trump’s evidence of South Africa ‘white genocide’ contains images from Democratic Republic of Congo

Other images displayed by Trump during meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa were false or misleadingThe evidence of supposed mass killings of white South Africans presented by Donald Trump in a tense White House meeting on Wednesday were in some cases images from the Democratic Republic of Congo, while footage shown during the meeting was falsely portrayed as depicting “burial sites”.“These are all white farmers that are being buried,” said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by a picture during the contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Karoline Leavitt gets fiery and doubles down after press questions alleged ‘white genocide’ in South Africa

Leavitt takes aim at NBC reporter for ‘ridiculous’ line of questioning

Events

35 h. ago The Guardian view on the US and South Africa: Trump looks to his base and partners look elsewhere | Editorial

The president’s cynical ambush of Cyril Ramaphosa was not about American interests but racial grievancesThe most telling moment of Donald Trump’s meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa was not the cynical screening of footage promoting false claims of “white genocide” in South Africa. It was when a reporter asked the US president what he wanted his counterpart to do about it. Mr Trump replied: “I don’t know.”Leaders enter the Oval Office uneasily, especially since the kicking administered to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The South African president came armed with gratitude, two golf stars, a billionaire and compliments on the decor – and kept a cool head and a straight face as he was ambushed. Mr Ramaphosa later described it as “robust engagement”. But, in truth, it was a clash of two worlds rather than an interaction.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, ...

Politics

36 h. ago Martin Rowson on Donald Trump’s Oval Office clash with Cyril Ramaphosa – cartoon

Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago Ramaphosa withstood Trump’s bizarre ambush – but he let down South Africans | Zanele Mji

Rather than trying to charm his US counterpart with golf, the South African president could have addressed the white supremacist attitudes holding our country backZanele Mji is a writer, investigative journalist and podcaster based in Johannesburg, South AfricaThe dust is still settling from Donald Trump’s latest “ambush” in the Oval Office. What started off as a series of pleasantries about golf between the US president and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s delegation quickly turned into a lecture – complete with a video screening and reams of printed-out news articles – about how a white genocide is supposedly under way in my home country.The delegation was largely successful in correcting that narrative. It emphasised that crime affects South Africans of all races and that white citizens are not specifically targeted. Zingiswa Losi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, rightly pointed out that in rural areas, it is Black women who bear the brunt of vio...

Politics

38 h. ago Watch Trump and South Africa’s president in tense exchange during Oval Office ambush

Donald Trump confronted South Africa’s president over unsubstantiated claims of genocide against white farmers in South Africa in a tense Oval Office exchange on Wednesday (21 May).

Politics

39 h. ago South African political party reacts to Donald Trump's 'white genocide' claim rejected by President Ramaphosa by issuing statement: 'Kill the Boer, kill the farmer!'

The words come from a chant referring to white farmers, which is rooted in the anti-apartheid struggle and has been defended by campaigners as a metaphor.

Politics

41 h. ago Trump uses photos from wrong country as evidence of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa

Trump appeared to mistake an article about violence in the DRC for the ‘burial sites of white farmers’ in South Africa

Politics