Italy’s coastguard on Saturday successfully coordinated the rescue of around 3000 migrants in the Mediterranean after receiving distress calls from more than 20 overcrowded vessels drifting in waters off Libya. One of the biggest single-day rescue operations to date appeared to have been concluded without any reports of casualties. Two navy ships, the Cigala Fulgosi
Trump widens lead
Republican Donald Trump is pulling away from the pack in the race for the party’s U.S. presidential nomination, widening his lead over his closest rivals in the past week, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Friday. Republican voters show no signs they are growing weary of the brash real estate mogul, who has dominated political headlines
China shares take a dive
Alarm bells rang across world markets on Monday as a near 9 percent dive in China shares and a sharp drop in the dollar and major commodities panicked investors. European stocks were more than 5 percent in the red and Wall Street was braced for similar losses after Asian shares slumped to 3-year lows as
Ex-Saffer foils terror attack on French train
When a gunman armed with an AK-47 attempted to attack a packed passenger train in a terror attack in France, Chris Norman, 62 – who grew up in South Africa – thought he was going to die. But he was determined to die fighting, and therefore “sprang into action”. Ayoub El-Khazzani, 25, has been arrested
South Korea talks tough after landmine incident
South Korean President Park Geun-hye talked tough on Monday, demanding that North Korea apologise over a recent landmine incident, even as the bitter rivals held marathon negotiations in a bid to defuse tensions that have brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict. Park said anti-North propaganda broadcasts would continue unless Pyongyang took responsibility
Six boys suspended for school gang rape
The two seven-year-old school girls allegedly gang raped by six boys at a school in Vosloorus are receiving counselling and the perpetrators have been suspended. The attack on the girls took place during school hours at Rebonthseng Primary on Monday. The Gauteng Education Department says it was only informed of the incident by the local
No pics allowed at Mandela grandson hearing
A stern message was issued on Friday morning to the media in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court not to take photos inside or outside the court in the matter of a struggle icon’s grandson’s appearance on charges of rape. Magistrate Paul du Plessis reminded the media that these are preliminary investigations and ordered that no pictures
Call for gay sex education in SA
High schools should teach pupils about homosexual sex. That’s the view of the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce’s (Sweat) psycho-social manager, Dr Gordon Isaacs . Isaacs told the Cape Argus that far too little is being done to educate schoolchildren about other forms of sex that are prevalent in society, aside from the traditional
Insouciance Rules The West
Europe is being overrun by refugees from Washington’s, and Israel’s, hegemonic policies in the Middle East and North Africa that are resulting in the slaughter of massive numbers of civilians. The inflows are so heavy that European governments are squabbling among themselves about who is to take the refugees. Hungary is considering constructing a fence,
Ilana Mercer: Motormouth Megyn Kelly & The Mad Matriarchy
It’s “R & R for Megyn Kelly,” the Fox News channel announced last week on its website, followed by a gooey note from Kelly herself. Why was FNC broadcasting the vacation schedule of the Golden Goose that henpecked Donald Trump? Had Kelly been licked into shape by Trump? Was she off to lick her wounds?
Read more: Ilana Mercer: Motormouth Megyn Kelly & The Mad Matriarchy
Getting rid of ‘racist Old Dixie’
The Riviera Beach City Council in South Florida, US, will vote this week on the mayor’s proposal to rename the “racist” Old Dixie Highway after President Obama. “Each member will vote Yay or Nay to rid this city of a street name that still invokes memories of racism and slavery in the Old South” said
Key figure from #blacklivesmatter outed as white
An investigative blogger has accused Shaun King, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement, of misleading media icon Oprah Winfrey by pretending to be biracial in order to qualify for an “Oprah scholarship” to historically black Morehouse College. The blogger says King is white and has been lying about his ethnicity for years.
Black taxi drivers torch George buses
Five Go George buses have been set alight by black taxi drivers in a protest action in George. The taxi drivers complain that the buses hamper their profits. The first bus was set alight in front of the depot, and more were set alight near the N2 Garden Route Mall. A heavy police presence was
Xenophobia rules Soweto
The Mozambican man cowered, trying to protect his head, as the blows pounded his body on Tuesday. The suspected thief, known only as Johannes, begged the growing crowd of angry residents of Snake Park, Soweto, to stop assaulting him. But he and his alleged accomplice found no mercy from this impoverished community. Its residents are