Across the world, political uncertainty is being exploited to fan the flames of hatred. Now, the very principles that make South Africa great are at risk
This week, South Africa has been rocked by protests that have caught the world’s attention. These have been led by anti-immigration civic groups campaigning against what they describe as a crisis of illegal immigration. But to understand these protests, it’s key to view them as part of a broader conservative nationalist turn, as has been seen across countries in the west.
For the past two months, these groups have marched through townships and city centres demanding identity documents from African foreign nationals, ordering non-citizens to close their businesses and calling on undocumented migrants to vacate the country. They declared 30 June as the deadline for immigrants to leave and as the date of a nationwide shutdown.
Zanele Mji is a writer, investigative journalist and podcaster based in Johannesburg
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Continue reading...Despite a deadly heatwave sweeping through Europe, the US president’s ineptness has created reason for optimism on the climate crisis
Two real-life climate-themed movies are playing in parallel across the globe. They are about the world today, but they are also a snapshot of the future. The first is a slow-building horror story; the second, a feelgood summer hit. Both are worth watching.
Horror films are suddenly box-office gold, so let’s start there. The World Health Organisation says the extreme, record-breaking heatwave blanketing Europe has killed more than 1,300 people. But everyone knows that number will end up a dramatic understatement.
Continue reading...An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. I was one of them
After my adoptive father died in November last year, my adoptive siblings found a short story by Enid Blyton among his possessions. The Child Who Was Chosen was read to us as children to explain the circumstances of my adoption. It follows a nice middle-class couple whose domestic bliss is marred by childlessness, prompting them to go to a “very kind lady” who helps them to find a “chosen baby” instead. In its foreword, Blyton advises adoptive parents to tell the tale to their adopted child “again and again … so that to him ‘adoption’ means something lovely”.
The “chosen child” narrative, where parents tell adoptees they were specially picked, helped to shape the still widespread public perception of adoption as unambiguously altruistic. But it has also long been criticised by adult adoptees for masking the trauma of separation from their original parents. Reading Blyton’s saccharine story, I was struck by its glaring omissions. There is no mention of how the boy, who is unnamed until he is adopted, came to be put up for adoption; nor any suggestion that he once had another family and identity. There is no recognition of his first mother or her loss, only the loneliness of the prospective adoptive mother. The woman from the adoption agency also tells the couple that if this child isn’t the one they really want, she will find another one – as though she’s running a baby market.
David Batty is a news editor and writer for the Guardian
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Continue reading...The president made $2.2bn last year, with plenty of help from his own political decisions. This is called corruption, folks
In financial disclosures released on Tuesday, Trump reported earning more than $1bn last year from his several cryptocurrency ventures.
All told – including other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets – Trump made at least $2.2bn last year, as opposed to the roughly $622m his businesses raked in in 2024, before he returned to the presidency.
Continue reading...The outrage following the 11-year-old girl’s killing is justified. But the case reveals a deeper systemic neglect of child protection
When the body of an 11-year-old girl was found in a disused grain silo on a farm in the Gers region of south-west France last month, the news sent shockwaves across the country. Lyhanna had been missing for nearly a week. Members of the public had been out combing the area. Suspicion quickly focused on Jérôme Barella, the 41-year-old father of one of Lyhanna’s classmates, in whose car Lyhanna had last been seen alive.
Barella was charged in connection with the case, but denies any wrongdoing or involvement in the killing. But shock turned to public outrage after a local prosecutor revealed that the suspect had been the subject of several accusations of sexual violence against young girls before Lyhanna’s disappearance, yet until then had never been questioned by police.
Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, writer, film-maker and activist
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Continue reading...The Blue Sharks will become the smallest nation in history to play a knockout match at the World Cup when they face Argentina on Friday
The Festival da Gamboa is the largest music festival on Santiago Island, Cape Verde. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the small stretch of beach, nestled at the foot of the plateau of Praia, has been transformed for a weekend from the home of a dozen or so fishing boats to one of the country’s biggest shindigs, attracting thousands of partygoers.
It has staged some of Cape Verde’s greatest musicians playing the rhythms of mornas, funaná, coladeira, batuque and tabanca. But last Friday, on opening night of the three-day event, it staged Cabo Verde’s newest and most popular act, the Tubarões Azuis, the Blue Sharks.
Continue reading...Egypt face Australia in a historic World Cup game on Friday and the manager has been keen to highlight president Al-Sisi’s role in the achievement
After Egypt’s 3-1 victory over New Zealand at the World Cup, the national team coach, Hossam Hassan, issued a statement of gratitude to the country’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
Al-Sisi had sent a congratulatory message to the team and, for Hassan, that almost seemed like a bigger event than the result. The president’s message, he said, was “a medal on his chest,” adding that it has the “effect of magic” before praising the “unprecedented development” of Egyptian sport under al-Sisi’s leadership.
Continue reading...FA’s preferred acclimatisation option ruled out
Tuchel reveals Declan Rice came off ‘in terrible pain’
Thomas Tuchel says England will be at a “huge” disadvantage in the high altitude of Mexico City on Sunday when they face Mexico in the last 16 of the World Cup as he lamented a Fifa rule that has shut down one possible acclimatisation plan.
The Football Association has looked into how the altitude will affect the England players and spoken to teams from other sports as part of its research. They included the British Olympic team. One of the findings is that if it is not possible to travel to the venue 10 days beforehand to get used to the conditions, then it would be preferable to go on the day of the game – arriving as close to kick-off as possible.
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Julian Nagelsmann is set to resign as Germany coach, according to reports in the newspaper, Bild.
It was reported on Friday the 38-year-old had agreed to leave following talks with senior German soccer officials, a three-hour “secret summit” on Thursday at the German Football Association (DFB) headquarters in Frankfurt.
That pundit was Ange Postecoglou, and now, Asia’s No 1 team need him to not just talk the talk but walk the nation to the top level of the global game. The federation in Tokyo should do all they can to get his signature on a lengthy contract as he is going to be in demand this summer.
Continue reading...This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...Beach-hopping, gorge hikes and awesome archaeological sites feature in your best memories of Greece
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We first noticed Milos as we travelled home from Crete, flying directly above it and deciding that was where we must go next. It didn’t disappoint. The island was calm, peaceful and strikingly beautiful. Milos isn’t well known, but it should be; the true home of the Aphrodite of Melos, displayed in the Louvre, Paris as the Venus de Milo. The northern coast was spectacular, shaped by volcanic activity and particularly picturesque. Sarakiniko is the perfect stop for photographs with its white rock. Truly an unforgettable trip.
Chris Rimell