Melissa is a warning – violent storms are increasing

The Conversation|Published

Hurricane Melissa is tearing through the Caribbean, bringing record-breaking wind and torrential rain to Jamaica – the island’s first ever category 5 landfall. What ...

Africa’s air links are poor: can the G20 push for more direct flights

The Conversation|Published

In Africa, less than one in five continental airline routes are direct, so getting from one country to another often requires travellers to fly to Europe or the ...

The politics of forgetting

Opinion|Published

Beyond BEE: The DA’s post-racial vision and the politics of forgetting

Final farewell to Durban

Frank Chemaly|Published

The old picture today is from the Facebook site Durban Down Memory Lane and shows the Edinburgh Castle leaving the port of Durban for the last time, probably in ...

The world's first pop star: why did women go gaga for pianist Franz Liszt?

The Conversation|Published

One widely circulated drawing from the 1840s crystallises the image. Women swoon or faint, others hurl flowers toward the stage. Men also appear to be struck by ...

The dark history of medical illustrations

The Conversation|Published

They were pregnant. Some were prisoners. Others were the poorest of the poor, forgotten in death as in life. Yet dissection and depiction of their bodies have become ...

For US presidents, Nobel Peace Prize long fraught with politics

The Washington Post|Published

It was perhaps not a coincidence that the announcement Friday of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for which President Donald Trump has so openly campaigned coincided with ...

Guided by the Global Governance Initiative: Jointly Shaping a Just and Equitable International Order

Ambassador Jiang Feng|Published

The Global Governance Initiative is set to reshape international relations as the G20 Summit approaches in Johannesburg, writes Ambassador Jiang Feng.

Black Wednesday: The Impact of SANEF's Exceptionalism on Journalism and Democracy

Clyde N.S. Ramalaine|Published

To invoke Black Wednesday today is not nostalgia; it is moral accounting.  It demands that the journalism which once confronted tyranny rediscover its conscience, ...

Indian cuisine that brings back memories

Frank Chemaly|Published

We’d heard about a new Indian restaurant in Umhlanga called The Host. The Poet even insisted we hold off until she got back from India to try it.

When sovereignty starts leaking: what the flotilla, failing towns, and a few honest cops are trying to tell us

Prof Armand Bam|Published

This thought-provoking commentary uses the Gaza flotilla interception as a mirror for South Africa’s own crisis of leadership. Linking state paranoia abroad with ...

On World Homeless Day, shouldn't we at least listen to the homeless

Dr Raymond Perrier|Published

The much-vaunted plan by eThekwini to create a homeless shelter for 800 people in Lower Illovo – on which they are spending at least R10 million just for construction ...

Green Shoots: The revolution in your bin

Ashley Green-Thompson|Published

From waste pickers salvaging recyclables to neighbours learning to separate refuse, South Africans are slowly embracing the principles of the circular economy. It’s ...

How many beers is too many? Understanding SA's drink-driving limits

Rhys Evans|Published

South Africa's drink-driving limit according to the Road Traffic Act amounts to a legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0. 05 grams per 100 millilitres of blood ...

Waiting for the Rapture: Judgment Day in Pentecostal thinking

Prof Mookgo Solomon Kgatle|Published

The Second Coming represents a core belief in the Christian tradition, asserting that Jesus Christ will return to Earth following his ascension into Heaven.

University ranking systems are being rejected. African institutions should take note

The Conversation|Published

The Sorbonne University, founded in Paris in 1253 and known globally as a symbol of education, science and culture, has just announced that, starting in 2026, it ...

The post-American order starts in Riyadh and Islamabad

Bloomberg|Published

Given the long history of cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, it’s tempting to dismiss their announcement last week of a mutual security pact as mere ...

Protecting our teachers, protecting our schools

The Editor|Published

The teaching profession in South Africa stands at a dangerous crossroads. Increasingly, teachers face hostility not only from unruly pupils, but now also from parents ...

The Ganges is drying faster than ever – here’s what it means for the region and the world

The Conversation|Published

Climate change, shifting monsoons, relentless extraction and damming are pushing the mighty river towards collapse, with consequences for food, water and livelihoods ...