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South Africa

Pilani Bubu found her music community after she moved from South Africa to New Orleans. She understood that the people she met wanted to learn more about her culture back home. That’s when she started to incorporate South African music into her repertoire

South Africa’s Pilani Bubu has ‘jumped off the shoulder of giants’ to create music filled with tradition

Music

The singer-songwriter has always straddled between the worlds of globalization and the traditions of her homeland.

A Ryanair plane parks at the airport in Weeze, Germany

‘It’s absolutely ludicrous’: Traveler up in arms after being forced to take Ryanair’s Afrikaans-language test to fly

Borders
Smoke rises after fires re-ignited late afternoon from the Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa

Fire reignites at South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town

Infrastructure
Portraits of China's former top leaders from left Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and including the current President Xi Jinping are seen at a military camp in Beijing, China

Chinese Communist Party cements Xi Jinping’s rule

Top of The World
Looters outside a shopping centre alongside a burning barricade in Durban, South Africa

South Africa’s democracy is ‘standing firm’ despite civil unrest, says analyst

Violence
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Large container ship being pulled by a tugboat

‘Formal solution’ reached over Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal

Top of The World

Egypt agrees to a deal to release the impounded Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal. And, a ransomware attack has affected hundreds of companies worldwide. Plus, supporters of former South African President Jacob Zuma have surrounded his home as a human shield to prevent his arrest.

Volunteers sit in plastic chairs as a medical professional gives a talk

South Africa begins coronavirus vaccine trial

COVID-19

In June, South Africa became the first country in Africa to launch a new COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

Singer Johnny Clegg performs on stage.

Remembering trailblazing South African musician and activist Johnny Clegg

Obituary

South African musician and activist Johnny Clegg died Tuesday at age 66. His music was widely known and lauded, as was his activism against the apartheid regime in South Africa, which ended in 1994.

McDaid and Lekalakala

Two friends from South Africa share the Goldman Environmental Prize

Environment

Two winners of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize were a team of grassroots activists from South Africa. Their efforts quashed a secret deal between Russia and the South African government to build expensive and wasteful nuclear power plants.

ANC members celebrate after Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of the ANC in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Young South Africans once worshipped the ANC. Now ‘the party of Mandela’ is tarnished.

Global Politics

This week Cyril Ramaphosa was elected the new president of South Africa’s African National Congress. It was seen as a modest victory for reformers. But will it be enough to restore young South Africans’ faith in the party and country?

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