Fewer and fewer people have an appetite for the world's most popular fast food, McDonalds
On this day, July 28
1715 All 11 galleons of a Spanish treasure fleet sink off Florida during a hurricane. According to Cuban records, many ships, including pirates, took part in the initial salvage.
1848 Ireland's Tipperary Revolt – an uprising against British rule – is put down.
1907 In England, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who fought at Mafikeng, forms the Boy Scouts.
1907 The Orient, loaded with wheat, runs aground at East London. A popular beach is named after the wreck site.
1945 Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, the Xhosa poet, dies near King William's Town. His first collection of poems, Imihobe nemiBongo (1927) includes Nkosi sikelel' iAfrica.
1949 Moscow ends the Berlin Blockade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
13 hours ago
- eNCA
Prince Harry cleared of 'bullying' in charity row
LONDON - The UK charity watchdog Wednesday cleared Prince Harry of accusations of bullying in a row with a charity he founded, but criticised "all parties" for letting the bitter internal dispute play out in public. The charity Sentebale was at the centre of an explosive boardroom dispute in March and April when chairperson Sophie Chandauka publicly accused Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, of "bullying". Days earlier, Harry and co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho had announced they were resigning from the charity they established in 2006, after the trustees quit when Chandauka refused their demand to step down. Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, launched the charity in honour of his mother, Princess Diana, to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and later Botswana. After a months-long inquiry, the Charity Commission "found no evidence of widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity," it said in its conclusions published Wednesday. But it "criticised all parties to the dispute for allowing it to play out publicly" saying the "damaging internal dispute" had "severely impacted the charity's reputation". It found there was "a lack of clarity in delegations" which led to "mismanagement in the administration of the charity" and issued the charity with a plan to "address governance weaknesses". - 'Heartbreaking' - Sentebale said in a statement it "welcomes" the findings. Chandauka, who was appointed to the voluntary post in 2023 and remains the charity's chair, said she "appreciated" the conclusions, saying that they "confirm the governance concerns I raised privately in February 2025". She did not address the fact that claims of systemic bullying had been dismissed. A spokesperson for Prince Harry said the probe "falls troublingly short in many regards. "Primarily the fact that the consequences of the current chair's actions will not be borne by her -- but by the children who rely on Sentebale's support," the spokesperson said in a statement. "The Duke of Sussex will now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana." Harry said in an April statement that the events had "been heartbreaking to witness, especially when such blatant lies hurt those who have invested decades in this shared goal". - Objections - Speaking to British media after accusing the prince of trying to force her out, Chandauka criticised Harry for his decision to bring a Netflix camera crew to a polo fundraiser last year. She also objected to an unplanned appearance by his wife Meghan at the event. The accusations were a fresh blow for the prince, who kept up only a handful of his private patronages, including with Sentebale, after a dramatic split with the British royal family in 2020. That was when he left Britain to live in North America with his wife and children. Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when the prince was just 12. It means "forget me not" in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye. "Moving forward I urge all parties not to lose sight of those who rely on the charity's services," said the commission's chief executive David Holdsworth.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- TimesLIVE
US Coast Guard says Titan submersible's design a primary factor in implosion
A US Coast Guard investigative board concluded on Tuesday that the 'inadequate design' of the Titan submersible was a primary contributing factor in its implosion in 2023 that left five people dead. The Titan was on a tourist expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic — a British passenger liner that sank in 1912, killing at least 1,500 people on board — when it lost contact with its support vessel during descent. Its remains were found four days later, littering the seabed about 488m from the bow of the Titanic wreck. The implosion was preventable, the chair of the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Jason Neubauer said as a 300-page report was released after a two-year probe. 'There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators exploring new concepts outside the existing regulatory framework,' he said. A media spokesperson at OceanGate, the US-based company that managed the tourist submersible and suspended operations after the incident, was not immediately available for comment. The board determined the primary contributing factors were OceanGate's 'inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan'. It also cited 'a toxic workplace culture at OceanGate', an inadequate regulatory framework for submersibles and other novel vessels, and an ineffective whistle-blower process. The report added 'for several years before the incident OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations and the company's favourable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny'. The board found OceanGate failed to investigate and address known hull anomalies after its 2022 Titanic expedition. It said data from Titan's real-time monitoring system should have been analysed and acted on during that expedition. It also criticised OceanGate for failing to properly store the Titan before the 2023 Titanic expedition.
Daily Maverick
7 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Dulce de membrillo is the star of this cheese board
Dulce de membrillo is a jelly-like quince paste from Spain that is often used as a component of a cheese board. We used it as the focal point of exactly that. A creative soul from Barrydale in the Klein Karoo, Jonathon Rees, turned a crop of quinces from his garden into a healthy batch of dulce de membrillo, a quince 'paste'. Membrillo, to shorten its name, is not well known in South Africa. Yet. It really ought to be, though, given how many quinces grow here. It is generally regarded as Spanish (though is found elsewhere) and is sometimes called quince cheese, and now that I have used it on a cheese board I really don't like it being called that at all, and Jonathon agrees. Jonathon, who on another note has just held an exhibition of his jazz performance images in the Settlers Monument in Makhanda during the National Arts Festival, acknowledged that 'some people call it quince cheese, but that is misleading'. 'My understanding is that membrillo will last for up to six months in the fridge,' he says. 'Mine is wrapped in baking paper, cling film and tin foil and is good as new. I made some more chocolates at the weekend.' This followed email conversations earlier in the year, which led to a rectangular old chocolate box arriving by courier at my Cradock home. Inside it were the aforementioned layers and, finally, a gleaming block of the moist, reddish-brown dulce de membrillo. I peeked, covered it in its layers again, and it was in the fridge for about two months before I tentatively opened it, wondering what effect, if any, time may have had on it. It was visibly unchanged from its original state. In mint-jelly condition, you might say. Since then, he and I have exchanged new emails. 'The quince has a rich history and I've read that the apple that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden may have been a quince,' he says. 'A lot of old gardens in SA seem to feature quince trees, often gnarly and old, particularly in the Karoo, though we had one growing up in Edenvale. I doubt people used all the fruit so it probably added to the diet of pigs. 'The two acres we are restoring in Barrydale certainly have an abundance of them, and with a few years of feeding and pruning they now produce abundantly. Harvest is from late March through May.' I have made quince jelly in the past, which is a beloved preserve in the small towns of the Karoo – a clear pink jelly, quite unlike the much denser membrillo. When we make our venison fynvleis pies, some quince jelly goes in to finish it off. And you'll find it served alongside venison in our small town restaurants and hotel dining rooms. Jonathon says: 'In SA the only widely known use of quince I have found is the making of jelly; and while you see ingelegte kwepers sold at farm stalls I've never been served them.' Chunks of quince are bottled in a very sweet syrup and sold throughout, while my friend Heyla Meyer preserves whole slices of quince, an unusual alternative. The fruit is inedible when raw, as Jonathon points out. He also finds it time consuming dealing with them, 'as the shape is irregular and so hard to peel, and the core spreads through the fruit. But what a rewarding flavour if you get it right. 'Reducing it to a paste seems to be the only way to really get the unique sweet/tart flavour. I decided obsessively to try and make use of and add value to my entire crop. We didn't quite get there but I did process hundreds of kilograms in March/April with my assistant Stanley.' Here's how Jonathon prepared his dulce de membrillo, which he gladly shared with us. (No, he doesn't have much of a stock of it, he says.) And of course you'll have to wait for the next quince season if you want to have a go yourself.) 'My method is as follows. I don't recall where I sourced it but it appears to be the common/standard. 1 kg quince fruit, peeled, cored, cubed and rinsed 3 ½ cups white sugar (I tried reducing the sugar but the membrillo didn't set) 1 litre of water 2 Tbsp lemon juice (I squeeze it fresh) Put everything into a heavy-bottomed pot on a stove at medium heat (I use a stock pot and make up to 5x the recipe in a batch). Once the sugar melts, reduce to simmer and leave for hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. You have to stir more and more often, and almost constantly at the end. Enjoy watching the pale-yellow quince transform through a pink blush to a rich ruby red. 'It takes longer than you think… but at some point the mixture transforms into a paste that will stick without near-constant attention. A good test is to scrape some off the bottom of the pot with a spatula. If the pot remains visible for a second or two then it is probably ready. 'But it is highly idiosyncratic and each batch has its own behaviour. Even the colour seems to change across batches and I haven't worked out why. Sometimes it comes out a rusty orange, sometimes a deep dark red. 'Blend the paste with a stick or jug blender and pour into shallow trays lined with baking paper – and put into the fridge to set. In cool weather it would likely set at room temperature. 'If it hasn't firmed up after five hours then you took it off too early. So cook it some more. 'Serve with Manchego cheese, smoked meats or on any platter.' Jonathon also sent me a few chocolate membrillo sweets when he first sent the block of dulce de membrillo. They were homemade and rustic, delicious, and reminded us a little of Turkish Delight. Jonathon has been inventive with quinces in other ways too. 'I have tried quince as a fruit in stews – I fried some slices up in bacon and layered them on top of a beef short rib potjie made with honeybush tea instead of stock. It was incredible.' Tony's cheese and dulce de membrillo cheese board (Serves 6-10) Ingredients A round or rectangle of dulce de membrillo 4 or 5 wedges of cheeses that you like Small bunches of grapes Mixed nuts Friends Method Lay the membrillo on a board and use a wide, round cutter to carve out an attractive round of membrillo. Or cut it square, or into cubes or wedges, as you like. How we did it: using a smallish sharp knife, mark out wedges of it for people to cut out when helping themselves. Cut out one wedge yourself and pull it out a little, for decoration and as a guide. Take a cracker, put some cheese on it, and top with membrillo. It's a most desirable combination. If membrillo is new to you or your friends, tell them all about it. And if you want to buy some in future, send me an email next winter and I'll find out if Jonathon has made a much bigger batch (which he has in mind) in which case you may well be able to have some delivered to your front door. Otherwise, check speciality food stores. DM
