International
South Africa reacts to US expulsion of ambassador Ebrahim Rasool
The South African presidency on Saturday said the expulsion of its Ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, is “regrettable.”
The presidency disclosed this in a short statement published on X on Saturday.It also called for decorum on both sides to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
“The Presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool,” the statement read.
“The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter.
“South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America.”
The ppolitician was expelled after he was seen as a race-baiting politician” who hates the US and President Donald Trump.
Rubio wrote on X that Rasool was “no longer welcome in our great country”, adding: “We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.
”Rubio linked his remarks to an article by the right-wing media outlet Breitbart, wherein Rasool is quoted as saying Trump mobilised a “supremacist instinct” and “white victimhood” as a “dog whistle” during the 2024 elections.
But South African political analyst Sandile Swana said the “core of the dispute” was Pretoria’s decision to form a genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Israel, a close US ally, over its war on Gaza.
In February, Rasool, an anti-apartheid campaigner, told the Zeteo news site that what South Africans experienced during apartheid rule “is on steroids in Palestine”.
Moreover, Swana explained that in the fight against apartheid, the US “supported the apartheid regime”.
“[So] Rasool continues to point out the behaviour of the United States, even now is to support apartheid and genocide,” he added.
Land policy
Still, the decision by Washington to expel the South African ambassador comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries, since Trump cut financial aid to South Africa after citing his disapproval of its land policy that he alleged allows land to be seized from white farmers.
Last week, Trump pushed this further and said South Africa’s farmers were welcome to settle in the US, repeating that the South African government was “confiscating” land from white people.
South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, has also accused the country of having “openly racist ownership laws”.
However, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the policy, saying the government was not confiscating land but aiming to level racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation.
International
Just In: People trapped in Japanese mall hit by earthquake, with others missing after factory chimney collapse
Reports in Japan say 20 to 30 shopping centre staff may be missing – but the figure has not been confirmed.
Image credit : BBC
Many people are trapped inside a Japanese shopping centre after an earthquake, the fire service says.
One witness reported the second floor of the mall in Kumamoto collapsing – BBC Verify has looked at some of the images from the site.
Reports in Japan say 20 to 30 shopping centre staff may be missing – but the figure has not been confirmed
Elsewhere in the Kumamoto prefecture, people are reported missing at a paper factory after a chimney collapsed
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit inland on Kyushu island at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT), causing power cuts, damaged roads, a collapsed castle wall, and a destroyed footbridge.
International
India’s Gen Z protesters force out education minister
The latest education protests erupted in May after NEET, India’s biggest medical entrance exam, was cancelled following a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million students to retake the test. More than 20 students died by suicide, with their families blaming the scandal.
Indian’s Gen Z protesters have forced out the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday, after more than a week of intense street protests.
In the words of 22-year-old Sakhi, a student activist in Delhi, “for the first time, it felt like we can make things happen through protests”.Soon after Pradhan quit, social media seized on an old video of a senior Modi minister boasting that “resignations do not happen in our government”, reflecting the confidence of the nationwide youth movement that had demanded his exit.
The latest education protests erupted in May after NEET, India’s biggest medical entrance exam, was cancelled following a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million students to retake the test. More than 20 students died by suicide, with their families blaming the scandal.
The outrage was channelled by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online campaign launched after India’s chief justice likened unemployed people with “fake and bogus degrees” to cockroaches.
Its founders staged a sit-in in Delhi, demanding Pradhan’s resignation, education reforms and compensation for the bereaved families.
International
Spain and France wildfires force more than 300,000 to flee as Macron calls crisis meeting
The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history.
•Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) and Castilla-y-Leon unit’s firefighters battle a fire in a forest next to La Atalaya residential area in El Tiemblo, 80 kms west of Madrid, on July 25, 2026. (Photo by Cesar MANSO / AFP via Getty Images)Cesar Manso | Afp | Getty Images
Wildfires are ravaging southern France and spreading into Spain, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee ahead of further expected heatwaves during the week.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday, while Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit areas hit by fires in Valencia, in the East of Spain.
The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history, according to French broadcaster France 24 and local news outlets.
The wildfires have also affected 77,000 hectares of the Avila and Toledo areas in Western Madrid.
The situation remains highly unfavorable,” France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X on Saturday, according to a Google translation.
“At the start of the night, in Gironde, the fire became extremely virulent and unpredictable again, generating its own wind and spreading erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. By the end of the night, it had calmed down somewhat.”
Source: CNBC
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