This is a really beautifully done interview by Jason Okundaye with Michael Kiwanuka, the first after he had a devastating stroke in July last year. Kiwanuka is still in a rehabilitation centre and, but the piece, while sad, also manages to convey the hope and healing power of music

‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating stroke

The Mercury prize winner hasn’t been able to go home since falling ill last summer. In his only interview, he opens up about the ‘poignancy’ of finally releasing the new album his stroke shelved

theguardian.com

Great piece by Nick Dall about the mass sardine die-off around 1,600 miles of South Africa and Namibia's coastlines. It's yet another flashpoint in the battle between conservationists trying to save the endangered African penguin and the sardine fishing industry

Mass sardine die-off pits survival of South Africa’s penguins against fishers’ livelihoods

Known as the ‘energy bars of the sea’ the fish are a key food source for many species, but closing fisheries to allow numbers to recover would cost millions

theguardian.com

La Réunion is a tropical island, but its airport doesn't use air conditioning - only natural ventilation. Always nice to do a positive story once in a while. And to give myself yet more places that I want to visit

‘We wanted to prove we didn’t need air conditioning’: the airport cooled by natural ventilation

At Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, the ceiling design funnels a light tropical breeze into the terminal

theguardian.com

Usually Madlanga Commission avoidees are "too ill" to attend, but this is a new one. Taxi boss Oupa Bafana Sindane said he can't attend hearings this week, because he's on a "sacred ancestral initiation journey" to become a sangoma, "in a period of sacred spiritial seclusion".

Taxi boss Sindane’s lawyers say his ‘sacred’ sangoma journey prevented Madlanga appearance | News24

Taxi boss Oupa Bafana Sindane’s lawyers told the Madlanga Commission he would not be able to appear before it this week because he was engaged in the “sacred ancestral initiation journey of the called Isangoma” – and was “in a period of sacred spiritual seclusion”.

news24.com

Shadrack Sibiya, one of South Africa's top police officers, has been arrested and charged with raping an 18-year-old woman and grooming a 16-year-old girl. Sibiya was already suspended as deputy national police commissioner over allegations he interfered in political killings investigations

Top South African police officer charged with raping woman, 18, and grooming 16-year-old girl

Arrest of Shadrack Sibiya comes as country is reeling from cases of femicide and alleged police corruption and criminality

theguardian.com

Worrying scenes in the Channel today, for all interested in asylum policy and maritime tactics. A small boat from Normandy spent more than 30 hours at sea. Those on board now on their 2nd rescue vessel as Border Force forced to play cat and mouse with far-right activists who have their own boat.

Heartrending investigation by Louisa into Trump's deportation of migrants to third countries they have no ties to

Louisa Loveluck@leloveluck.bsky.social · 4d ago

Barred from deporting asylum seekers back to places they face jail or death, Trump struck 35 secret deals to send people to places which will deport them there instead. - 25,000 people deported - $410 million spent. - UN aid used to sweeten the deals. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

An Afrikaner family reportedly decided to go back to South Africa for healthcare, 15 days after arriving in the US as refugees. They were then reportedly denied boarding when they tried to return to the US six days later, as they didn't have the "necessary travel documents". But this is odd...

Afrikaner ‘refugee’ family who came back to SA for healthcare can’t return to US | News24

An Afrikaner family granted refugee status in the US have been denied re-entry after they undertook a quick trip back to South Africa.

news24.com

The RNLI has said the abuse of volunteers in Portsmouth has forced it to close the lifeboat station there and stop operating since September 10. Nearby stations have been providing cover to the area instead. One of the UK's largest coastal cities without a lifeboat because of the far-right.

The nursery next door seems to be having a parent's party and they just played Don't Stop Believin' and me being a millennial has got me feeling some kind of way.

RIP to Bonnie Greer - a real one.

Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · last wk.

Bonnie Greer making a fool of Nick Griffin on *that* Question Time. RIP Bonnie. youtu.be/afE05e6n4Zk?...

South African domestic cricket teams have the best names

The ANC uploaded the information of 181 local government election candidates to the electoral commission's website, but didn't press the submit button. They argued that uploading means submitting, but the electoral court rejected their case. The party is planning to appeal

Electoral Court dismisses ANC’s candidate lists case against IEC | News24

The ANC has suffered a defeat in the Electoral Court after judges dismissed the party’s appeal against the Electoral Commission of South Africa.

news24.com

Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo did not return from a run on 9 September. The body of the 38-year-old, who leaves behind an 8-year-old daugther, was found on Saturday. At least seven women have been found dead in two months in Ekurhuleni. South African women are furious and afraid

‘We are prey’: discovery of seven women’s bodies fuels anger over femicide in South Africa

String of female murder victims found near Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week

theguardian.com

The US has announced visa restrictions for South Africans who "enact or enable policies that promote race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation in South Africa". The announcement did name specific people (I would guess it will include Malema)

Fascinating piece on how the surge of solar means grids and big utility companies are creaking, as wealthy customers stop paying utility bills.

‘Offensively cheap’: solar power is looking up

Chinese-made panels on rooftops across the world are changing the facts of life for big utilities

ft.com

For some white South Africans who thought they victims of racism, Trump's refugee program seemed like an answer to their prayers. But, in the past few months, dozens of applicants have been rejected, with many left dismayed and confused as to why they would be left to face a “white genocide”

‘I believed the hype’: the white South Africans denied refugee status in the US

Drive to save thousands of Afrikaners from false claims of ‘white genocide’ appears to show signs of slowing

theguardian.com

Kenya will host the 2029 World Athletics Championships. Great to see that one of the centres of the sport will finally get to host a major championship

You can buy a spoonful of sugar, a single nappy or a few millilitres of cooking oil at social enterprise Gcwalisa's six shops in Joburg's Alexandra township. An innovative way to help the community afford the basics and a damning indictment of the state of South Africa. Story by Julie Bourdin

A spoonful of sugar: how South Africa’s weigh-and-pay shops are tackling ‘poverty tax’ head on

Run by a social enterprise, the six shops operate from shipping containers across Johannesburg’s Alexandra township and sell food and household goods by weight in small, affordable amounts

theguardian.com

NEW: Don Trump Jr’s luxurious wedding was secretly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch close to Putin. A saga involving private islands, the Olympics, and a Russian government-backed biker gang: www.propublica.org/article/dona...

Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch

The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...

propublica.org

South African police have just confirmed that the family of Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo have identified her dead body. She went missing on Wednesday while out for a run and leaves behind an 8-year-old daughter. Today, another woman's body was found near Kempton Park, the fifth in two months.

Toyota Hiluxes remain the workhorse of desert-based rebel groups

E. Rosalie@erosalie.infoepi.com · 2w ago

The Houthi-aligned Bani Hashish tribes are massing in preparation to “liberate” the remaining Yemeni territory outside Houthi control. It’s a sea of Toyotas with mounted machine guns. I think this is what we should mean when we say Toyotathon from now on.

Brilliant piece by Ruby Tandoh on Saudi Arabia's bid to become a Michelin-starred food destination. Featuring this perfect anecdote, courtesy of the chair of a French-Saudi development agency, who has been both France's defence and foreign ministers. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Seeing some of the stories, photos and videos from 9/11 flash up on Instagram and Threads (not here, tbh) and it hits harder these years than it did when I was 10 years old. I remember hearing the first fragments of the news when my friend and I went to the village shop to buy sweets after school.

My husband didn't know who Kelis was. He had heard Milkshake before, but thought it was Missy Elliott or Fergie. He had never heard Trick Me or Millionaire. Now, he's a few years older than me, but still! You can't tell me that clubs weren't playing Kelis in the mid-00s!

This thread, and the response to it that explains where this AI bot came from, is so strange and unsettling. None of this is necessary and yet humans have willed it into being at huge cost.

Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2w ago

I have received an email from an AI asking to write about borders for my newsletter, and it is giving me a genuine insight into how AI psychosis happens. it is so difficult not to understand this as "an actual sentient being addressing me" even though it has been entirely honest about being an AI

Zimbabwe's president has declared his birthday, September 15, a national holiday. Earlier this year, his term of office was extended from 2028 to 2030

Outcry as Zimbabwean President Mnangagwa declares his birthday a public holiday | News24

In a government gazette released late on Thursday, 83-year-old Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared his birthday a public holiday.

news24.com

When is a debt restructuring not a debt restructuring? When it is a reprofiling, of course!

Senegal must clear $3.5 billion arrears, reprofile debt, prime minister says

Senegal must clear 1.956 trillion CFA francs ($3.5 billion) in payment ​arrears as part of efforts to restore its public ‌finances, Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo said on Tuesday.

reuters.com

Popcorn Guy Enjoys Popcorn While Relaxing

ALT: Popcorn Guy Enjoys Popcorn While Relaxing

static.klipy.com

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wonderful detail here in the increasingly chaotic mismanagement of Pakistan’s tour of England. ‘Hesson also refuted suggestions that Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Imran Jr were both called up as replacements because the PCB was confused by their names’. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

One reason England does so well is our second generation immigrants outperform their peers which is not true in most OECD countries. We are also very good at integration. And it's v sad that this is never acknowledge in debates on immigration.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w ago

New PISA data out England is now top ten in all three areas (reading, maths, science) and the second highest performing country outside of east Asia (after Estonia). This is a huge public policy success.