Worldcrunch
As part of a plan that sounds almost like a movie plot, 500 white rhinos will be evacuated from South Africa’s Kruger National Park and secretly taken to new homes to protect them from poachers. Although international trade in rhino horns has been illegal since 1977, demand remains high in some Asian countries, the BBC […]
Can you spot the odd one out?
It’s a geological phenomenon known as giant’s kettles, where erosion carves out cauldron-like shapes in stone. In this picture of Bourke’s Luck Potholes — in the upper Blyde River Canyon, in the South African Drakensberg mountain range — it seemed the giant himself was staring at us.
It’s no wonder Pretoria is known as The Jacaranda City. The streets lined with thousands of jacaranda trees are definitely a sight worth seeing. The beautiful purple blooms tend to coincide with year-end exams at the University of Pretoria, and legend has it that if a flower drops on a student’s head, it’s a sign […]
I find it amazing, in hindsight, that over the 300,000 miles or so I’ve driven during my lifetime, I’ve only had two flat tires — one in France and one in Czechoslovakia. That’s it. No accident, no bumping into a hippo in South Africa or a camel in Algeria.
A February double murder in the South African city of Soweto illustrates a quiet rise in demon worship among teenagers, influenced in part by American pop culture icons.
We haven’t seen much of Sub-Saharan Africa over the course of our travels, except for Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa, where I took this picture, in one of the continent’s largest game reserves. This lion was feeding on giraffe remains by the side of the road. As grim as it sounds, there is something about […]
War, famine and poaching are taking direct aim at the signature five beasts of Africa’s savannah that Ernest Hemingway once made legendary. What can be done now to save them?
The deadline of John Kerry’s diplomacy efforts are coming. What is going to happen if he returns to Washington humiliated? Calcalist founder Yoel Esteron’s pessimistic outlook for Mideast peace.
A controversial French general, colorful British criminal and one of the great leaders of the past century were among those to whom we said Farewell over the past month.
A wide and swift look around the world at the events that are likely to shape 2014.
The last of the past century’s ‘counter-history’ leaders, Mandela represented the ultimate triumph over the destructive powers of the notion of racial superiority.
Two farewells for a pair of towering figures in world history: the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II and Tuesday’s mass public ceremony to mark the death of Nelson Mandela. Not since the global public outpouring in Rome more than eight years ago to pay respects to the Polish pontiff has the world come […]
JOHANNESBURG – When Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president 19 years ago, he proclaimed that South Africa was entering “a covenant” to create a society that guaranteed human rights for both blacks and whites, “a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” Mandela, who died on Thursday at the age of 95, […]
JOHANNESBURG — “As long as he’s alive, his family members still refrain, but you’ll see when he passes away …” Earlier this year, a man close to several of Nelson Mandela’s relatives told Le Monde of his fear that the unity displayed during the moments of reverence around South Africa’s global icon of reconciliation, would […]
SOUTH AFRICA NIGERIA EGYPT KENYA FRANCE GERMANY BELGIUM SWEDEN SPAIN IRELAND ITALY
Around the world, famous and regular folk alike are mourning Nelson Mandela, as South Africa prepares for a 10-day commemoration. Here’s a selection of reactions from heads of state to a certain former heavyweight champ to the people of his nation, to as the world says goodbye to the father of South African democracy and […]
Here are some musical tributes to Nelson Mandela, whose lifetime work for peace and equality inspired artists around the world and across musical genres.
BBC, REUTERS Worldcrunch PRETORIA – South African “blade runner” Oscar Pistorius was officially indicted Monday on charges of murdering his girlfriend, with the trial set to begin in March 2014. The March 3 start date has been agreed by all parties during the hearing at Pretoria magistrates’ court Monday, the BBC reports. The 26-year-old star […]
MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa), SKY NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG – The world is celebrating a very special Mandela Day on Thursday, as the ailing Apartheid icon spends his 95th birthday in a Pretoria hospital, slowly recovering from a recurring lung infection. “Madiba Nelson Mandela’s nickname remains in hospital in Pretoria but his doctors have […]
Forty years after government killings here sparked the militant anti-Apartheid movement, the ailing grandfather of modern South Africa is a reminder not to return to the past.
“COUNTERTERRORISM” UNDERWAY IN EAST UKRAINE The Ukrainian police arrested 70 pro-Russian protesters who were occupying government buildings in the eastern city of Kharkiv as part of what acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov described as “a counterterrorism operation,” Ria Novosti reports. According to Reuters, the standoff continues in Luhansk and Donetsk. VERBATIM“I was besotted,” Oscar Pistorius […]
The South African paralympian, accused of killing his girlfriend, has no immediate plans to travel abroad, his lawyer says.
AFP; MAIL & GUARDIAN, NEWS24 (South Africa); SOWETAN LIVE (Soweto) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG – Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital with a recurrent lung infection. The news was confirmed by current President Jacob Zuma’s office on Thursday morning, according to Cape Town’s News24. Mandela in 2008. Photo by South Africa The […]
CNN, REUTERS AFRICA, NEWS 24, EYEWITNESS NEWS (South Africa) Worldcrunch PRETORIA– Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail after a hearing that lasted four days. He is charged with the shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day. In Friday’s ruling, Magistrate Desmond Nair stated that his decision does not mean that the State’s case […]
EYEWITNESS NEWS, JACARANDA NEWS, NEWS24 (South Africa), TWITTER Worldcrunch PRETORIA– It has emerged that the lead investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius case is facing seven counts of attempted murder himself, according to Eyewitness News. Pistorius, the legendary paralympian accused of shooting his girlfriend to death, is back in court Thursday as a bail hearing […]
The Greek tragedy featured man-made wings melting under the sun. In South Africa, the bladerunner may have gotten too close to the gods as well.
BUSINESS DAY LIVE, MAIL & GUARDIAN, NEWS 24 (South Africa), THE GUARDIAN (UK) REUTERS Worldcrunch PRETORIA – Oscar Pistorius released a statement to a packed courtroom Tuesday denying he murdered his girlfriend, saying he was “desperately trying to protect Reeva” from what he thought was an intruder in his home when he fatally shot her […]
BEELD, MAIL & GUARDIAN (Africa), THE GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES (US) Worldcrunch PRETORIA – A sobbing Oscar Pistorius appeared in court Friday, as the South African double-amputee Olympic runner was formally charged with the murder of his model girlfriend. Appearing in front of the central magistrate’s court this morning, Pistorius broke down in […]
AFP, EYE WITNESS NEWS, NEWS24 (South Africa), REUTERS Worldcrunch PRETORIA– Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee who broke barriers for the disabled by competing in the London Olympics, has been charged on suspicion of killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home early Thursday. South African police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said: […]
I’ve been dreadknapped!? And they didn’t even take my wallet.
PRETORIA – Jacob Zuma sang in the choir when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island in the 1970s. South Africa’s president has a remarkable voice, and these days he uses it particularly effectively during election campaigns. Not necessarily when he gives speeches (he tends to read these) but in the songs he sings; […]
SOWETAN, THE MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa) Worldcrunch South Africa’s former president and national hero Nelson Mandela is being treated for a lung infection. After much speculation, South African officials finally revealed Tuesday why Nelson Mandela, aged 94, was initially admitted to hospital in the nation’s capital Pretoria on Saturday. President Jacob Zuma’s office released […]
MANDELA MEMORIAL TODAY • Mourners gathered for former South African leader Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in rainy Soweto today. • In his remarks at the memorial, President Barack Obama characterized Mandela as “a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.” • Notably, and in […]
MOGALE CITY – Patience Pumlangadu’s black skin is now a yellowish color. “I put this powder on my face to protect it from the sun,” explains the South African mother of three. Pumlangadu makes this sun protection herself by mixing water with bits of crushed rock she says are “good for your health.” But in […]
WELKOM – It’s a small open-air factory, impossible to spot from the road. You have to go into Thabong, the township in Welkom, three hours south of Johannesburg, to discover it in an old mining town in the G-Hostel, where a dozen workers are clustered, busy transforming rocks into gold. Behind the apparent disorder hides […]
MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa), BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), RFI (France) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG – Events are taking place across South Africa today to mourn the 44 people killed in recent violence at the northwestern Marikana platinum mine, reports CNN. Politicians, religious leaders, workers and members of the local community are attending […]
MAIL & GUARDIAN, SABC (South Africa), BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG– Thirty-five people were killed Thursday in a shooting between police and miners in Marikana, northwest of Johannesburg, reports the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, confirmed this figure, bringing the death toll to 45 since the strike started at […]
AFRISCOOP, INFOPLUS GABON, BUSINESS DAY Worldcrunch For the first time ever, the African Union has a woman president: South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will lead the continent-wide body, after defeating incumbent Jean Ping following four rounds of voting. Senegalese website AfriScoop reports that Dlamini-Zuma, 53, who had been serving South African Minister of Home Affairs and […]
MAIL & GUARDIAN (SOUTH AFRICA), AFP (FRANCE) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG – As many as 30 people were feared dead when a train collided with a farm truck in South Africa’s northeastern province of Mpumalanga. Andre Visser, a spokesperson for South African emergency services, told the Johannesburg daily Mail & Guardian that a coal train had collided […]