When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
InterNations
Geopolitics

South African Mine Clash Kills 35

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 the mine last Friday, reports SABC.

According to witnesses, police opened fire on the strikers, who were armed mostly with clubs and machetes, reports BBC News.

The circumstances that led police to open fire remain unclear, but eyewitness reports suggest the shooting took place after a group of miners rushed at a line of police officers, adds BBC News.

(Warning: this video may not be suitable for all viewers)

The Marikana mine, owned by the world's third-largest platinum producer Lonmin, has been at the center of a violent pay dispute and exacerbated by tensions between two rival trade unions: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mine Workers and Construction Union (AMCU).

The miners, who earn between $300 and $500 a month, are demanding $1,500 a month, explains CNN.

This is the worse police-related death toll since the end of apartheid in 1994. Labor unions have called for an inquiry into what actually happened, reports the Mail & Guardian.

In January, three people were killed during a strike at the world's second-largest platinum mine, run by Impala Platinum. Trade union rivalry was also blamed for the violence.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

BDS And Us: Gaza's Toll Multiplies Boycotts Of Israel And Its Allies — Seinfeld Included

In Egypt and elsewhere in the region and the world, families and movements are mobilizing against companies that support Israel's war on Gaza. The power of the people lies in their control as consumers — and the list of companies and brands to boycott grows longer.

A campaign poster with the photo of a burger with blood coming out of it with text reading "You Kill" and the Burger King logo

A campaign poster to boycott Burger King in Bangkok, Malü

Matt Hunt/ZUMA
Mohammed Hamama

CAIRO — Ali Al-Din’s logic is simple and straightforward: “If you buy a can (of soda), you'll get the bullet too...”

Those bullets are the ones killing the children of Gaza every day, and the can he refuses to buy is “kanzaya” – the popular Egyptian soft drink. It is just one of a long list of products he had the habit of consuming. Ali is nine years old.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

The clarity and simplicity of this logic has pushed Ali Al-Din to boycott all the products on the lists people are circulating of companies that have supported Israel since the attacks on Gaza began in October. His mother, Heba, points out that her son took responsibility for overseeing the boycott in their home.

A few days ago, he saw a can of “Pyrosol” insecticide, but he thought it was one of the products of the “Raid” company that was on the boycott’s lists. He warned his mother that this product was on the boycott list, but she explained that the two products were different. Ali al-Din and his younger brother also abstained from eating any food from McDonald's. “They love McDonald’s very much,” his mother says. “But they refuse.”

Keep reading...Show less

The latest