UK minister faces stinging criticism over fraud in transfer of refugees to Rwanda, which recruits refugees in military
The Home Office pushed through its policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda despite repeated concerns from UK government officials, it has emerged from documents submitted to a high court hearing. The government disclosed the documents, which raise numerous concerns about the Rwanda plans, ahead of a full hearing later...
Violence against women: Media and researchers should stop revelling in calling South Africa ‘rape capital’
Researchers and journalists in South Africa tend to portray sexual violence as an ever-worsening crisis, focusing on either the latest police statistics or the most violent and horrific recent incidents. Since the late 1970s, the media has displayed a near obsession with reporting rape numbers and gruesome case details. The...
Milestone as US Marines get first Black four-star general after 246 years; to head Africa Command
In the late 1980s, Maj Ronald Bailey met a young Marine he knew had promise. Michael E. Langley was a powerlifter who dominated flag football games, an intellectual who set records for how many training courses he wrote and a problem-solver whose bosses frequently tapped him to mediate workplace disputes....
South Africa loses 5,000 licensed firearms every year, now mass shootings have become too common
In just two days in early July, 25 people were shot dead in four separate incidents at taverns across South Africa. In one of these shootings, in Soweto, 16 people lost their lives. The killings made international headlines and were shocking even in South Africa, a society with one of...
After failing to capture Kyiv, Russia has shifted to devastating bombardments of cities in east, south Ukraine
Russian forces kept up their bombardment of cities across Ukraine, with intense shelling of Sumy in the north, cluster bombs targeting Mykolaiv and a missile strike in Odesa in the south, authorities said on Tuesday. After failing to capture the capital Kyiv at the outset of the invasion on February...
How Arsenal midfielder Zinchenko fled war in Ukraine, unpaid debts to standoff with Guardiola
Eight years after being forced to play football for free, Ukraine captain Oleksandr Zinchenko is set to become a £30 million footballer. The 25-year-old is poised to leave Manchester City for Arsenal, representing the next step in a journey which might have been over before it began. It’s testament to...
UN rapporteurs warn South Africa is on precipice of xenophobic violence, racism and hate speech
South Africa stands on the precipice of “explosive violence”, senior independent human rights experts warned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government as xenophobia, racism and hate speech are on the rise. A seeming lack of accountability against these offences aimed at migrants, refugees, asylum seekers as well as citizens perceived as outsiders...
US military strikes and kills two Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia southern Jubaland state
The US military said it had killed two fighters from the al Shabaab militant group in an airstrike in a remote part of Somalia’s southern Jubaland state on Sunday. The United States has been carrying out air strikes in Somalia to try to defeat al Shabaab, an al Qaeda franchise...
Senegalese President and AU Chair Macky Fall in South Sudan to give impetus to wobbly peace process
The Senegalese President Macky Sall arrived in South Sudan capital, Juba, on Monday to support the country’s peace process. President Sall, the current chairperson of the African Union (AU), was received by his South Sudan counterpart, Salva Kiir at the Juba International Airport. “I have come to support the peace...
Man United looks set to let go ‘anonymous’ midfielder in favour of AC Milan’s dynamo Ismael Bennacer
Manchester United are ready to give up Donny van de Beek this summer to boost their push to sign AC Milan star Ismael Bennacer, reports from Old Trafford say. The 24-year-old has already played 105 times for the Serie A giants across all competitions. He is also an international for...