Category: World

South Africa’s diesel shock has turned a distant Middle East conflict into a domestic economic threat, exposing how sharply the country’s transport, mining, farming and power systems now depend on imported refined fuel. The Iran war and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed global energy markets into a new phase of volatility, but South Africa’s vulnerability is not driven by crude oil alone. The deeper weakness lies in diesel, the fuel that moves freight, powers generators, supports mechanised agriculture

Forty high-performing schoolgirls from underprivileged communities in Ghana will receive annual scholarships under the newly launched Educating Linda programme, a joint initiative of Merck Foundation, Ghana’s First Lady Lordina Dramani Mahama and the Lordina Foundation aimed at keeping girls in classrooms until graduation. The programme, formally launched in Accra, is designed to remove financial barriers that often force girls out of school, including tuition costs, uniforms, stationery and other basic learning needs. It marks a new phase in Merck Foundation’s partnership

Donald Trump has urged Saudi Arabia and Qatar to move first in a renewed push to expand the Abraham Accords, linking wider recognition of Israel to US efforts to secure a deal with Iran and recast the Middle East diplomatic order. The US president said countries involved in the Iran negotiations should join the normalisation framework, naming Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan among those he wants brought into the accords. He described such participation as “mandatory” and

Wes Streeting has intensified pressure on Keir Starmer to impose tougher curbs on children’s access to social media, warning that Britain’s current approach to mobile phones and online platforms amounts to “giving children a hammer and saw” without enough protection from the harm they can cause. The former health secretary, who quit government this month after accusing Starmer of lacking the ambition needed to improve Britain, said ministers had been too cautious in responding to evidence of harm linked to addictive

Pope Leo XIV has used the first encyclical of his papacy to call for tighter regulation, transparency and human oversight of artificial intelligence, warning that unchecked systems could intensify misinformation, deepen inequality and make war easier to wage. The document, Magnifica Humanitas, places AI at the centre of the new pontificate’s social agenda, treating the technology not as a narrow technical issue but as a test of human dignity, democratic accountability and peace. Released at the Vatican on May 25, the

Mexico will host Iran’s national football team during the 2026 World Cup, with the squad expected to sleep in Tijuana and cross into the United States only on match days after Washington declined to accommodate the team for a tournament-long stay. President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government had agreed to the arrangement after football authorities sought Mexico’s help, making clear that Mexico saw no reason to deny the Iranian delegation a base during the competition. The decision moves Iran’s operating camp

MTN Uganda is exploring a partnership with Starlink as the arrival of satellite broadband reshapes the country’s data market and pushes established telecom operators to treat the new entrant as a possible infrastructure ally rather than a direct threat. The talks follow Uganda’s decision to clear Starlink Services LLC for operations after a long regulatory process. The Uganda Communications Commission signed a memorandum of understanding and a five-year operational licence agreement with Starlink on May 15 at State House, Entebbe, in

Rugby Africa has appointed former NBA Africa executive Aïcha Diop as chief of staff to its president, Herbert Mensah, in a move aimed at strengthening the organisation’s governance, commercial execution and continental growth strategy. Diop will work directly with Mensah as Rugby Africa seeks to sharpen coordination across its 40 member unions, expand competitions, deepen partnerships and raise the profile of the sport in markets where participation is still developing. Her appointment places a senior executive with experience in basketball, brand

Nicolas Cage’s first leading television role has arrived with a strong critical start, as Spider-Noir opened on MGM+ with a 91 per cent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes from 45 reviews, giving Sony’s live-action Spider-Man television experiment an early boost before its global Prime Video launch on 27 May. The eight-episode series places Cage at the centre of a 1930s New York crime story as Ben Reilly, a weary private investigator forced to confront his past as the city’s masked vigilante.

Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty opened its ninth season with “There’s Something About Morty,” an episode that turns abstract logic into narrative machinery, using mathematical incompleteness, self-reference and paradox as more than decorative references in the show’s familiar multiverse chaos. The season premiered on Sunday, May 24, at 11pm ET in the United States, restoring the animated science-fiction comedy to its weekly Adult Swim slot after a shortened gap between seasons. The first episode places Rick’s isolation and Morty’s increasingly separate

Australia is moving to extend its domestic gas reservation scheme across liquefied natural gas projects and export arrangements, including volumes tied to existing contracts, sharpening a policy shift aimed at easing pressure on households, power generators and manufacturers exposed to volatile east coast gas prices. The draft design framework for the scheme requires LNG exporters to supply gas equal to 20 per cent of their export volumes to the domestic market from 1 July 2027. The measure marks one of Canberra’s

Gold rose more than 1 per cent on Monday as hopes of a possible US-Iran agreement pushed oil prices lower, weakened the dollar and reshaped inflation expectations across commodity and currency markets. Spot bullion climbed to about $4,559 an ounce, while US gold futures traded near $4,560, extending gains as investors assessed signals that Washington and Tehran had moved closer to a framework that could ease pressure on Gulf energy flows. Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel during Asian and

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Orange County after an overheating chemical storage tank at a Garden Grove aerospace facility raised fears of an explosion, toxic release or hazardous spill affecting tens of thousands of residents. The emergency proclamation covers a GKN Aerospace site where a tank holding roughly 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate began heating and emitting fumes on May 21. The volatile, highly flammable liquid is widely used in plastics, resins and

President Donald Trump said a proposed agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has been “largely negotiated”, raising hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough after months of conflict disrupted one of the world’s most important energy routes. Final terms are still being discussed among Washington, Tehran and regional governments, with an announcement expected once the remaining points are settled. Trump said the framework followed calls with leaders and representatives from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan

Cannes handed its top prize to Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, giving the Romanian film-maker his second Palme d’Or for a stark Norway-set drama that turns family conflict into a wider examination of political polarisation, migration, parenting, faith and the limits of cultural tolerance. The award, announced at the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, places Mungiu among a select group of directors to have won the Palme d’Or twice. His first victory came in 2007 with 4 Months,

British Columbia fusion developer General Fusion is weighing a Toronto Stock Exchange listing alongside its planned Nasdaq debut, a move that would give Canadian investors a direct public-market route into one of the most closely watched private energy technologies. Vancouver-headquartered General Fusion, backed over the years by investors linked to Jeff Bezos and Shopify founder Tobias Lütke, is preparing to go public through a business combination with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III. The transaction values the combined company at about US$1

Bangladesh Bank has launched a 600 billion-taka support package to revive closed factories, expand credit to small businesses and lift growth after a prolonged slowdown in production, exports and private investment. Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman announced the programme at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka, setting out a refinancing and support structure aimed at restoring industrial capacity, creating jobs and easing pressure on businesses hit by high borrowing costs, weak demand and foreign exchange volatility. The fund, worth about $5 billion,

K Raveendran Cockroach Janta Party may have begun as satire, but its popularity has exposed something far more serious than a passing joke on the internet. The response it has drawn from government functionaries suggests that the ruling establishment is less disturbed by the humour itself than by the possibility that the satire has found a willing audience. That audience is not laughing merely because the idea is absurd. It is laughing because the absurdity feels familiar. The Modi government’s apparent discomfort with the satirical rise of Cockroach Janta

Seychelles and Bangladesh have moved to accelerate bilateral cooperation, with pending agreements and memoranda of understanding now expected to take clearer shape this year after talks in Victoria between Bangladesh High Commissioner Dr Zokey Ahad and Seychelles Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Minister Barry Faure. The meeting, held on 21 May at Maison Quéau de Quinssy, centred on formalising cooperation frameworks that have been under discussion since Dr Ahad’s accreditation as Bangladesh’s non-resident envoy to Seychelles in July 2025. Both sides reviewed

Singapore business leader Teo Siong Seng has been accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a multi-year conspiracy to restrict output and fix prices of standard dry shipping containers, a case that places one of the city-state’s most prominent maritime figures at the centre of a major antitrust action. The indictment names four container manufacturing companies and seven executives in an alleged scheme that prosecutors say covered nearly all of the world’s standard unrefrigerated containers from as early as November