South Africa

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Abducted US Pastor Rescued in Chaotic Shootout

Josh Sullivan, 45, was 'miraculously unharmed,' 5 days after being taken in South Africa

(Newser) - An American missionary who was abducted at gunpoint in South Africa almost a week ago has been rescued, but not before a white-knuckle shootout between his captors and local police. CBS News reports that the rescue operation for 45-year-old pastor Josh Sullivan went down on Tuesday on the outskirts of...

In South Africa, Nobel Winner's Death Is Getting a Second Look

New evidence challenges original accident ruling on Albert Luthuli

(Newser) - South African prosecutors have reopened the case of African National Congress leader Albert Luthuli's mysterious 1967 death, challenging decades-old conclusions and promising new insights into a pivotal moment of the apartheid era, per the AP . The government declared Luthuli, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was struck by a...

A Pair of Orcas Are Terrorizing Sharks

A pair of orcas off the coast of South Africa are on a gruesome rampage

(Newser) - There's something striking fear into the hearts of great white sharks off the coast of South Africa: two killer whales with an appetite for their livers. As the Washington Post reports, a pair of male orcas known as "Port" and "Starboard" are terrorizing shark populations in the...

South Africa Crowds Cheer Envoy Expelled by US

Rubio had said Ebrahim Rasool hates Trump

(Newser) - The South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was given a hero's welcome on his return home Sunday, when hundreds of supporters gathered at an airport and sang songs praising him. The crowds at Cape Town International Airport...

Trump Offered Asylum, 67K White South Africans Jumped

Group finds tens of thousands are interested in coming to US as refugees

(Newser) - South Africa has been in President Trump's crosshairs over the past few months, with Trump accusing the African nation's government of confiscating land from white farmers—a claim that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denies. Trump issued an executive order in February that cut aid to South Africa...

Trump Administration Orders Ambassador to Leave by Friday

It's not clear whether South Africa's ambassador to the US is still in the country

(Newser) - The State Department says South Africa's ambassador to the United States, who was declared "persona non grata" last week, has until Friday to leave the country. After Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was no longer welcome in the US and posted his decision...

Rubio: Ambassador Who Criticized Trump Is Out

Post says South African envoy 'hates America and hates @POTUS'

(Newser) - The US has expelled South Africa's ambassador, described by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Friday post on X as "a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS." South Africa's presidential office on Saturday called the decision "regrettable," the BBC reports, and...

First Openly Gay Imam Killed in South Africa

Supporters believe Muhsin Hendricks was assassinated because of his teachings

(Newser) - A man regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam has been fatally shot while sitting in a car in South Africa in what many are calling an assassination because of his teachings. Muhsin Hendricks, 57, was ambushed by two men in a pick-up truck while visiting the southern city...

Afrikaner Groups Tell Trump They Won't Budge
Afrikaner Groups
Tell Trump They
Won't Budge
the rundown
Feb 8, 2025 3:25 PM CST

Afrikaner Groups Tell Trump They Won't Budge

Executive order cutting off aid accuses nation of human rights violation, proposes resettlement

(Newser) - President Trump followed through on his promise to punish South Africa by signing an executive order Friday stopping all aid to the country over what he called a human rights violation against a white minority group. The executive order includes a plan to resettle white South African farmers and their...

Rubio Snubs G20, Piles on South Africa

Top diplomat echoes Trump attacks, says he won't attend meeting over 'anti-Americanism'

(Newser) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend this month's G20 meeting in South Africa, days after President Trump accused the country of "confiscating land" from white farmers. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa disputed the allegations, noting no private property has been expropriated (we have an explainer...

New Target of Trump Anger: South Africa
New Target of Trump
Anger: South Africa
the rundown
Feb 3, 2025 9:51 AM CST

New Target of Trump Anger: South Africa

President says land is being confiscated from farmers, which the government denies

(Newser) - Add South Africa to the list of nations in President Trump's dog house. On Sunday, Trump threatened to cut off all aid to the nation after claiming it was confiscating land from farmers, which the South African government says is a distortion of the truth. Another wrinkle in the...

Tourist Trampled by Elephant While Trying to Protect Kids

Death occurred Saturday at South Africa's Kruger National Park

(Newser) - The death of a tourist on safari in South Africa is being called a "tragic accident." South African National Parks on Saturday said a tourist was charged and trampled by an elephant while in Kruger National Park and died. A follow-up post identified the deceased as South African...

King's Wife Fails to Block Attempt to Marry 3rd Wife

But insiders say Zulu king has decided against getting married again

(Newser) - The first wife of the king of South Africa's Zulu Kingdom failed in an effort to legally block her husband's attempt to take a third wife—but the marriage was still called off, for undisclosed reasons. King Misuzulu kaZwelithini married Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela in a civil service in...

'Smoke Them Out' Policy Leaves Dozens of Miners Dead
'Smoke Them Out' Policy
Leaves Dozens of Miners Dead
the rundown
Jan 16, 2025 12:02 PM CST

'Smoke Them Out' Policy Leaves Dozens of Miners Dead

It's a brutal scene at an abandoned mine in South Africa

(Newser) - At least 87 miners are dead, and dozens more bodies may remain underground—the brutal outcome of a protracted dispute at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa. The issue revolves around the practice of illegal miners— known as zama zamas —venturing down into abandoned mines to look for...

Monkey Gets Hold of Home's Panic Remote, Really Likes It

South African primate hit the button over and over and over again, eventually made off with the remote

(Newser) - What do you get the monkey who has everything? For one South African primate, the answer to that appears to be a home alarm's remote control. Per UPI , the security firm Mi7 National Group received "multiple panic activations" from a home in Northdale on Thursday morning, according to...

YouTuber Graham 'Dingo' Dinkelman Dies From Snake Bite

Conservationist known as 'South Africa's Steve Irwin' died after month in induced coma

(Newser) - A wildlife conservationist and YouTuber known as "South Africa's Steve Irwin" died over the weekend, a month after being bitten by a venomous snake. USA Today reports that Graham "Dingo" Dinkelman, 44, had been in an induced coma in intensive care from anaphylactic shock since he was...

Novo Nordisk's Insulin Change Attracts Critics

Company is no longer making pens containing human insulin

(Newser) - As a teen, Lecritia Roberts injected herself with insulin using a glass vial and a syringe to manage her type 1 diabetes, and not without struggle. The 31-year-old South African woman tells the Guardian the glass vials the insulin came in had some downsides, among them less precision and the...

17 Dead in 2 Mass Shootings in Same Rural Town

Search is underway for suspects in South Africa

(Newser) - Seventeen people were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday. A search was underway for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe said in a statement, per the AP . The victims were...

US Student, 20, Found Dead on South African Mountain

Brook Cheuvront was hiking in Table Mountain National Park

(Newser) - An American college student who disappeared on a hike in South Africa has been found dead on a Cape Town mountain. Brook Cheuvront, 20, was a University of North Carolina sophomore in South Africa for an internship at the University of Cape Town, CBS 17 reports. A friend says Cheuvront,...

After 40 Years, Former Circus Elephant Goes Back to the Wild

'Our dream is that at his own pace, Charlie will learn to be the elephant he was always meant to be'

(Newser) - After 40 years in captivity, a former circus elephant in South Africa is learning a new trick: living in the wild. Male elephants in the wild don't leave their mothers until they are teenagers, but Charlie was captured in Zimbabwe when he was just two years old. He was...

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