Russia's Africa Corps to stay in Mali after Wagner mercenaries leave
The Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled paramilitary force, said on Friday it will stay in Mali after Russia's Wagner mercenary group leaves following a three-and-a-half-year fight against Islamist militants.
Wagner has been in Mali since the army, which seized power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, kicked out French and UN troops involved in fighting Islamic insurgents for a decade.
The Africa Corps was created with the Russian defence ministry's support after Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed military mutiny against the Russian army leadership and left Russia for Belarus with other mercenaries.
About 70-80% of the Africa Corps is made up of former Wagner mercenaries, according to several Telegram chats used by Russian mercenaries seen by Reuters.
Wagner posted on social media that it was returning home after its mission in Mali had been successfully completed. It added it had brought all of the country's regional centres back under the control of the Malian military junta, pushing out Islamist forces and killing their commanders.
Wagner did not say what its fighters would do back in Russia.
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TimesLIVE
6 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Britain to invest £14.2bn in Sizewell C nuclear project
Britain will invest £14.2bn (R338.8bn) to build the Sizewell C nuclear plant in southeast England, the government said on Tuesday, as part of its wider spending review which will define its priorities over the next four years. Britain is seeking to build new nuclear plants to replace its ageing fleet to help boost its energy security and reach its climate targets. The Sizewell C plant in Suffolk is expected to create around 10,000 jobs during the peak of construction and produce enough electricity to power around 6-million homes when built. "We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy and tackle the climate crisis," Britain's energy minister Ed Miliband said. Britain has been seeking to bring new investors into the project but Tuesday's announcement did not mention any other parties. The government has not said how much the project is expected to cost in total or given a date for when it is expected to be completed. Sizewell is expected to use a regulated-asset-base (RAB) funding model where companies building new plants would be paid during the construction phase, cutting down their development risk and allowing them to secure cheaper financing. Critics of RAB said it will leave taxpayers liable for any cost over-runs and delays during construction and add costs to energy bills at a time when many people are struggling. It would be only the second new nuclear plant built in Britain in more than two decades, after French state-owned EDF's Hinkley Point C which has had several delays and cost overruns and is expected to start operations in 2029, with an estimated cost of between £31bn and £34bn at 2015 prices. Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF in the UK, welcomed the British government's decision to go ahead with Sizewell C and said: "It is also a vote of confidence in Hinkley Point C, which has restarted the UK nuclear industry and built the experience and skills that will benefit Sizewell C.' Sizewell C was originally an EDF project but is majority owned by the British government with EDF a minority shareholder. The UK government's stake was 83.8% and EDF's stake was 16.2% at the end of December, EDF financial results showed in February with EDF's stake expected to decrease after Tuesday's announcement. The project's developer last December told Reuters there were five investors involved in a bidding process.
The South African
7 hours ago
- The South African
The Trump-Musk faux 'feud': Did we all just get Punk'd?
In case you didn't know, that fancy French word 'faux' (pronounced 'foe' in English, 'faw' in French) means fake or false. Thanks to Ashton Kutcher, you're probably familiar with the meaning of Punk'd . And what we just witnessed last week may have been, what grifters (con artists) call, 'a play', or 'a work'; a hustle. A con. In short, we may have just been 'punked' by US President Donald Trump and 'mad genius' Elon Musk. In a previous article, I asked if Trump was role-playing, or merely playing all of us. It's starting to look more and more likely that it's both. An old East African proverb says: 'When (two) elephants clash, it is the grass that suffers.' If the two elephants are Trump and Musk, no prizes for guessing who's the grass in that metaphor. Last week, Musk posted a 'big bomb' revelation on X that implicated Trump in the Jeffrey Epstein files. He later deleted that post – and other posts related to the accusation, including one calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced by JD Vance. In the meantime, Big Don has threatened 'disrespectful' Musk with 'serious consequences' if he interferes with the spending bill or 'punishes any Republicans who vote for it', Trump told NBC News on Saturday – without specifying what those consequences would be. He also apparently said he had 'no desire' to repair his relationship with the South Africa-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, and 'no intention of speaking to him.' The accusations against Trump posted by Musk last week have prompted calls from the likes of ex-Trump advisor, Steve Bannon to deport Musk (but to where, many are asking?) Bannon also not only called for Trump to sign an EO to seize Musk's SpaceX company but also spilt the beans in an interview with the Washington Post about the punch-up Musk allegedly had with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the White House corridors of power. (No, that did not lead to Musk's black eye). Reportedly, Donald Trump and Elon Musk's friendship imploded well before the Tesla CEO fired off that series of scathing X posts last week. According to the Washington Post , before the fallout escalated, Trump was still trying to make sense of Musk's public attacks, liasing with close confidants and acquaintances, and at one point, Trump was supposedly overheard by insiders saying Musk was 'a big-time drug addict'. (Which is odd, because last month, at an Oval Office farewell ceremony for Elon – who has stepped down as head of DOGE – Trump specifically said he was unaware of Musk's addiction when it was exposed in a damning surprise report by the New York Times .) The Post also reported that the President told insiders Musk's addiction and physical fight with Treasury Secretary Bessent was 'too much'. However, Trump recently came out and apparently denied the physical altercation between Musk and Bessent, saying there was an argument but no fight. Not everybody's buying this Trump-Musk 'clash' as authentic. Many, particularly on the left, believe that what we witnessed last week could all be 'a political act.' Even staunch Trump/Musk supporters are crying foul. Legal analyst Lionel (Nation) is convinced this was all some kind of coordinated, distracting 'Psyop'. Something to take all the attention off the many controversial issues plaguing Trump right now. 'All of this, in public?' He said. 'Come on…it's a distraction.' 'Look how it just took all of the attention, all of the focus, from the left to the right', he pointed out. 'The game is rigged. You know it. Anybody who's even paying remote attention to this knows what's going on. They can feel it. The headlines are a distraction. They're the rodeo clown, the outrage cycles, all choreographed.' 'And beneath the surface of this, the elites are playing an entirely different game', he added. 'They love distraction, they love confusion.' Then he used an expression, an allegory he's used many times before. He leaned into the camera and said, 'It's wrestling.' (Comparing it to rigged, choreographed, WWE -type wrestling matches.) To which he might've added, 'Bread and Circuses'; a strategy that's worked for distracting, placating and manipulating the populous since the days of ancient Rome. But a distraction from what? Trump's controversial bill? His failing negotiations with Russia, China, Iran and Israel? What I'm wondering at this point…is this the only political Kabuki theatre act we've seen coming out of the White House? Think back to the little drama that unfolded in the Oval Office during Zelensky's visit. Who in that room was involved in that spat? We've got Trump, the award-winning reality TV producer-presenter. JD Vance, the award-winning writer-producer. And Volodymyr Zelensky, the award-winning actor-comedian… who once actually played the Ukrainian President in a highly successful comedy TV series. Are you thinking what I'm thinking…? To what end, you might ask? To confuse Putin, with mixed signals. What happened with SA President Cyril Ramaphosa and his entourage in the Oval Office a few weeks ago also kinda qualifies as a 'show' …or at least a 'show-and-tell'. (Except, in Ramaphosa's case, unlike Zelensky, I don't think Cyril was given the script or invited to the dress rehearsal.) However, not everyone thinks that this recent break-up between Trump and Musk is role-playing political 'theatre'. Some believe it's not only a genuine fallout, but one that was inevitable…and predictable. On 18 May this year, in an interview with Full Measure's Sharyl Attkisson, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie made what has turned out to be an accurate prediction. He said, 'That's the real untold story here, I think we may be on a collision course.' Wearing a mini, digital, debt clock (that he designed) on his lapel (ticking up the nation's $36 trillion tab in real time), Massie explained what he saw coming; 'I think there's three cars coming together at an intersection, and they don't realize they're going to hit', he said. 'One of them is Congress, with Mike Johnson. Trump, obviously, is one of these cars…maybe he's the train . And then there's another car, which is DOGE.' 'And I don't think Elon Musk is going to suffer these fools once he finds out how foolish or duplicitous they are', Massie said. 'You don't land rockets backwards. You don't get cars to drive themselves on the interstate, by ignoring the fools that you're working with', he added. Massie has supported Musk's condemnation of the 'Big Beautiful Bill', calling it a 'suicide pact that will spend us into oblivion.' Here's what worries me… Ever seen a great, satirical, dark comedy called… Wag the Dog ? Starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman? It's the story of how, shortly before a national election, the president's advisor and spin doctor (De Niro) teams up with a Hollywood producer (Hoffman) on fabricating a war…to cover up a Presidential sex scandal. If that story sounds familiar…it's because it eerily, prophetically, predicted a real-life scandal, starring two main characters – named President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. The film was released in 1997, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke in January 1998. (A scandal that, believe it or not, was kinda predicted in the early '90s by our very own Zulu sangoma, author and 'diviner', the late great Credo Mutwa, in a documentary called A Voice in the Wilderness.) When the heat from the Lewinsky scandal reached fever pitch, then-president Bill Clinton went and bombed Afghanistan and Sudan with airstrikes in August 1998 – allegedly as a response to the Kenya-Tanzania bombings of American embassies. Of course, the attack temporarily took attention off his affair with Lewinsky…and the DNA evidence on that darn blue dress. Many from the public and several publications accused Clinton of authorising the airstrikes to detract from his sex scandal, with at least one outlet describing it as Clinton 'Wagging the Dog.' Clinton doubled down and followed up by bombing Iraq in December that same year. Why do I bring this up? Well, because, like Trends analyst, Gerald Celente often says… And in case you haven't noticed, the US economy, Trump's presidency, his big beautiful bill, negotiations with Russia, Israel, Iran and tariffs on China…are all failing. Due in no small part to the fact that, on just about every issue and policy, Trump seems to be flip-flopping more often than a click beetle on crack. Trump's bases are loaded (to use a baseball term). He needs a big public distraction from the Epstein files, the spending bill crisis, a defiant and non-compliant Netanyahu, a faltering peace deal with Russia-Ukraine and failing tariff wars with China – among other damaging scandals, sagas and challenges. For a while back there, it looked like that distraction might come in the form of a possible war with Russia, China, Yemen, Iran or North Korea (and the jury's still out on all 5). Instead, he may have just gotten his big, beautiful, welcomed distraction…with the sudden recent outbreak of violent riots in LA. Let us know by leaving a comment below or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
15 hours ago
- IOL News
Israel deports Greta Thunberg, bans her for 100 years after intercepting Gaza-bound aid boat
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg talks to journalists upon her arrival to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, as she left Israel on a flight to Sweden via France, after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat, on June 10 Image: Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, France Israel deported campaigner Greta Thunberg on a flight to Sweden via France on Tuesday, after detaining her along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat. Of the 12 activists on board the Madleen, which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza, four including Thunberg agreed to be deported immediately, while all of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years, the rights group that legally represents some of them said in a statement. The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, and brought before a detention review tribunal on Tuesday, rights group Adalah said. "The state asked the tribunal to keep the activists in custody until their deportation", Adalah said, adding that under Israeli law, individuals under deportation orders can be held for 72 hours before forcible removal. Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod. They then transferred them to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, from where Thunberg flew to France ahead of a scheduled flight to Sweden. On arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, 22-year-old Thunberg accused Israel of "kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel". "This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing," she said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Four French activists who were also aboard the Madleen were set to face an Israeli judge, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. He had earlier posted on X that five would face court action and only one would depart voluntarily. Barrot told reporters that French diplomats had met with the six French nationals in Israel, and that French-Palestinian European MP Rima Hassan was among those who refused to leave voluntarily. The activists, from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, aimed to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. In what organisers called a "symbolic act", hundreds of participants in a land convoy crossed the border into Libya from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine. Dire humanitarian conditions Israel's interception of the Madleen, about 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of Gaza, was condemned by Turkey as a "heinous attack", while Iran denounced it as "a form of piracy" in international waters. In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, was damaged in international waters off Malta as it headed to Gaza, with the activists blaming an Israeli drone attack. A 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach the naval blockade of Gaza, left 10 civilians dead. On Sunday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the blockade, in place since well before the Israel-Hamas war, was needed to prevent Palestinian militants from importing weapons. Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies. Israel recently allowed some deliveries to resume after barring them for more than two months and began working with the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But humanitarian agencies have criticised the GHF and the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality. Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on Tuesday that in Gaza's north, "Israeli military operations have intensified in recent days, with mass casualties reported". An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday that Israeli attacks on schools, religious and cultural sites in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians. "In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a report. AFP has contacted Israeli authorities for comment on the report but has yet to receive a response. The Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile on Tuesday that had entered Israeli airspace from Gaza. It later called for residents to evacuate several neighbourhoods in the north of the Palestinian territory. The October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead. AFP
