Latest news with #Taz
IOL News
09-07-2025
- General
- IOL News
Remembering a Durban hero: The story of lieutenant McGarr
Lieutenant Clement A. N. McGarr was a true South African hero from Durban who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II. Image: Supplied / Taz During the Second World War, countless South Africans answered the call to rescue a world in peril, leaving behind their families, homes, and futures. Thousands of miles from home, they confronted the forces of tyranny - on land, at sea, and in the air. They did so not for recognition or reward, but to defend the ideals of freedom, democracy, and justice. In total, over 334,000 South Africans served across the globe, and more than 11,000 were killed. Among the young men who went off to war but never returned was Lieutenant Clement Aldwyn Neville McGarr. McGarr was born on 24 November 1917 in Johannesburg and moved with his family to Durban in 1923. He loved the city deeply and began his schooling there. At the age of twelve, he was struck by polio and became paralysed from the waist down. But McGarr refused to give up. Through determination and relentless effort, he recovered the use of his legs and attended Glenwood High School, where he excelled academically and athletically. He was a proud member of the school's First XV rugby team, and one of his greatest passions was riding motorcycles. After completing his studies, McGarr worked in the laboratories of Lever Brothers, and later joined the Treasury Department of Durban Corporation. In May 1940, as the war intensified, McGarr enlisted in the South African Air Force (SAAF). Motivated by a sense of duty and love for his country, he trained diligently to become a pilot. On 26 April 1941, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and awarded his pilot's brevet. Soon after, he was posted to Egypt and, in October 1941, joined No. 2 Squadron SAAF, flying Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk fighters over the Libya–Egypt frontier. On 6 October 1941, while on patrol over the Egyptian desert, McGarr's squadron was intercepted by German fighters. During the fierce aerial combat, his aircraft was hit, and he was forced to bail out. He landed in the desert with only one shoe - the other lost mid-air - and wandered for three days without food or water before being captured by the German Afrika Korps. After a brief internment in Libya, he was sent to Germany and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III. There, McGarr immediately volunteered to join one of the most daring prisoner-of-war operations of the war: The Great Escape. The plan aimed to enable up to 200 Allied prisoners tunnel out of the camp, not only to free them but also to disrupt German operations by forcing them to divert resources. McGarr's role was to oversee security teams - watching for guards and preventing the tunnels from being discovered. A picture of McGarr's grave at the Poznań Old Garrison Cemetery in Poland. Image: Paul On the night of 24–25 March 1944, McGarr was among the 76 men who escaped. This extraordinary feat was later immortalised in Paul Brickhill's 1950 book The Great Escape and made famous globally by the 1963 film adaptation, starring Steve McQueen. While dramatised, the film brought long-overdue recognition to the real heroes behind the escape, including McGarr. Following the escape, German forces launched a massive manhunt. McGarr braved freezing temperatures and remained on the run for a short time, but he was eventually recaptured by German forces and taken to Görlitz prison. Enraged by the escape, Adolf Hitler ordered the Gestapo to execute 50 of the recaptured prisoners - an act in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. On 6 April 1944, a truck arrived at Görlitz. Six names were called. One of them was Lieutenant Clement McGarr. Alongside his fellow escapees, he was taken into Poland, ordered off the truck and executed. He was just 26 years old - with so much life ahead, and so much to give. Cremated by the Gestapo, McGarr's ashes were initially interred at Sagan. After the war, they were exhumed and re-interred at the Poznań Old Garrison Cemetery in Poland. A beautiful headstone marks his grave - a quiet and eternal reminder of his heroism and sacrifice. The story of Lieutenant Clement A. N. McGarr is one that goes beyond a single life; it echoes the stories of countless South Africans who fought and died for a better world. Each had a name, a voice, a life - that deserves to be remembered. It is our solemn duty to honour their memory, to uphold the values they fought for, and to ensure the world never forgets the brave young souls who gave everything they had for everything we have today.
IOL News
09-07-2025
- General
- IOL News
Remembering a Durban hero: The story of lieutenant McGarr
Lieutenant Clement A. N. McGarr was a true South African hero from Durban who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II. Image: Supplied / Taz During the Second World War, countless South Africans answered the call to rescue a world in peril, leaving behind their families, homes, and futures. Thousands of miles from home, they confronted the forces of tyranny - on land, at sea, and in the air. They did so not for recognition or reward, but to defend the ideals of freedom, democracy, and justice. In total, over 334,000 South Africans served across the globe, and more than 11,000 were killed. Among the young men who went off to war but never returned was Lieutenant Clement Aldwyn Neville McGarr. McGarr was born on 24 November 1917 in Johannesburg and moved with his family to Durban in 1923. He loved the city deeply and began his schooling there. At the age of twelve, he was struck by polio and became paralysed from the waist down. But McGarr refused to give up. Through determination and relentless effort, he recovered the use of his legs and attended Glenwood High School, where he excelled academically and athletically. He was a proud member of the school's First XV rugby team, and one of his greatest passions was riding motorcycles. After completing his studies, McGarr worked in the laboratories of Lever Brothers, and later joined the Treasury Department of Durban Corporation. In May 1940, as the war intensified, McGarr enlisted in the South African Air Force (SAAF). Motivated by a sense of duty and love for his country, he trained diligently to become a pilot. On 26 April 1941, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and awarded his pilot's brevet. Soon after, he was posted to Egypt and, in October 1941, joined No. 2 Squadron SAAF, flying Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk fighters over the Libya–Egypt frontier. On 6 October 1941, while on patrol over the Egyptian desert, McGarr's squadron was intercepted by German fighters. During the fierce aerial combat, his aircraft was hit, and he was forced to bail out. He landed in the desert with only one shoe - the other lost mid-air - and wandered for three days without food or water before being captured by the German Afrika Korps. After a brief internment in Libya, he was sent to Germany and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III. There, McGarr immediately volunteered to join one of the most daring prisoner-of-war operations of the war: The Great Escape. The plan aimed to enable up to 200 Allied prisoners tunnel out of the camp, not only to free them but also to disrupt German operations by forcing them to divert resources. McGarr's role was to oversee security teams - watching for guards and preventing the tunnels from being discovered. 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 ✕ Ad loading A picture of McGarr's grave at the Poznań Old Garrison Cemetery in Poland. Image: Paul On the night of 24–25 March 1944, McGarr was among the 76 men who escaped. This extraordinary feat was later immortalised in Paul Brickhill's 1950 book The Great Escape and made famous globally by the 1963 film adaptation, starring Steve McQueen. While dramatised, the film brought long-overdue recognition to the real heroes behind the escape, including McGarr. Following the escape, German forces launched a massive manhunt. McGarr braved freezing temperatures and remained on the run for a short time, but he was eventually recaptured by German forces and taken to Görlitz prison. Enraged by the escape, Adolf Hitler ordered the Gestapo to execute 50 of the recaptured prisoners - an act in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. On 6 April 1944, a truck arrived at Görlitz. Six names were called. One of them was Lieutenant Clement McGarr. Alongside his fellow escapees, he was taken into Poland, ordered off the truck and executed. He was just 26 years old - with so much life ahead, and so much to give. Cremated by the Gestapo, McGarr's ashes were initially interred at Sagan. After the war, they were exhumed and re-interred at the Poznań Old Garrison Cemetery in Poland. A beautiful headstone marks his grave - a quiet and eternal reminder of his heroism and sacrifice. The story of Lieutenant Clement A. N. McGarr is one that goes beyond a single life; it echoes the stories of countless South Africans who fought and died for a better world. Each had a name, a voice, a life - that deserves to be remembered. It is our solemn duty to honour their memory, to uphold the values they fought for, and to ensure the world never forgets the brave young souls who gave everything they had for everything we have today.
CairoScene
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Taz Waves Drops Sudanese Electronic Journey 'Jannah Al Yasmeen'
Blending synth-driven club music with Sudanese sonic heritage, Taz Waves' EP 'Jannah Al Yasmeen' marks a bold step in East African electronic music, rooted in memory and made for the dance floor. Jun 29, 2025 Sudanese electronic producer Taz Waves has officially released his debut EP, 'Jannah Al Yasmeen', a five-track record that bridges ancestral sound with contemporary energy. Known by some as The Unknown Traveller, Taz uses this project to explore themes of love, ego, and movement, both geographic and emotional, through immersive beats and textured samples. Drawing on his time spent in Amman, Jordan, the EP blends traditional Sudanese rhythms with ambient pads, vocal snippets, and club-ready percussion. The result is a genre-defiant soundscape that feels both intimate and expansive. The EP was released as the first official drop from the Sudanese Music Project, a larger initiative to spotlight Sudan's musical identity within the global electronic scenes. The stunning cover photo was shot by Omar Al Sudani, grounding the project visually in the same spirit of rooted exploration. With early DJ sets in Amman at venues like The Village and Bar Shams, Taz has steadily built a reputation for sounds that travel, between cities, histories, and identities.
Local Germany
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
How German media reveals its bias when foreigners commit crimes
A shocking incident occurred in Hamburg last Friday, when a 39-year-old woman – reportedly suffering from severe mental health issues – injured 18 people at the city's main railway station in a mass stabbing attack. Four of the victims – three women and one man – sustained what were initially described as life-threatening injuries. Updated reports said all 18 victims were in a stable condition and recovering well. The incident has raised questions about bias is German media reporting. In Germany the ethnicity of attackers only seems to be highlighted when they are foreigners. In this case, the heroic actions of a Syrian refugee were also largely ignored. A heroic act The number of victims of the Hamburg attack – and the severity of their injuries – could easily have been worse, if not for the courage and heroism of two men who happened to be on the scene. When Muhammad Al Muhammad, 19, saw people on the platform running away from a woman wielding a knife, he chose to run in the opposite direction in other words towards the woman to try and stop her, according to reporting by Der Spiegel . A second man, reportedly of Chechen origin, kicked the attacker in the knee, causing her to fall and allowing Muhammad to restrain her effectively. Muhammad comes from Aleppo and arrived in Germany in 2022. Commenting on the story for Taz , journalist Gilda Sahebi made a point of highlighting his background. Sahebi wrote : 'The political and public debate is now so dripping with racist toxicity spread by a far-right party and its influencers in the media and on social media, but also by democratic political and media actors, that it is necessary to tell the story of Muhammad Al Muhammad.' Advertisement Immigrants more often portrayed as villains in German media According to police statistics for 2023, native Germans were the suspects or perpetrators in 66.7 percent of violent crimes. In the same year, Germany's television news stations devoted 84.2 percent of its reporting on violent crimes to cases in which a foreigner had been identified as a suspect, according to analysis by Dr. Thomas Hestermann at Hochschule Macromedia in Hamburg. Hestermann found the same bias in German print media, with 82 percent of its violent crime coverage focused on foreign perpetrators. READ ALSO: Why experts say Germany's rising crime rate is misleading To give a more recent example: in February, an immigrant from Afghanistan drove into a crowd in Munich . In March, a German man drove into a crowd in Mannheim . Two nearly identical crimes, but media analysis indicates that the former received almost twice as much attention as the latter. Advertisement What are the rules on crime reporting in Germany? In recent years, the Deutsche Presserat (German Press Council) has repeatedly updated its guidelines in an attempt to address long-standing concerns about potential discrimination and bias in crime reporting. According to the guidelines, the media should avoid mentioning the ethnicity, religion, or other minority status of suspects or perpetrators unless there is a justified public interest. The guideline is rarely followed in practice, however, with many editors and journalists reluctant to keep this information from the public. Critics argue that omitting such information can create suspicion among readers and lead to accusations of a lack of transparency or censorship. In response, campaigners have suggested that the ethnicity and religion of all suspects should be included in reports – so far without success. As a result, the words ' Einwanderer ' (immigrant) or "Ausländer" (foreigner) appear alongside the words "Gewaltverbrechen" (violent crime) with wildly disproportionate regularity. How was the case resolved in Hamburg? The person who attacked so many people with a knife at Hamburg Main Station is in police custody. A police spokesman at the scene was quick to reassure reporters that there did not appear to be any political motive for the attack. Instead, he said, the police were 'pursuing the theory that the suspect may have been experiencing a psychological emergency.' While it is absolutely right to hope that she receives the medical care and attention she needs, it is also legitimate to wonder whether the police and the German media would have shown such understanding if the perpetrator had been a man from Syria or Afghanistan. According to reports in Bild , Muhammad Al Muhammad has become the target of online disinformation campaigns. Despite his heroism – and public expressions of gratitude from the police – numerous fake images that cast doubt on his existence and fuel and conspiracy theories are already circulating on social media.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Heartbreaking moment wrestling legend fights tears in tribute to his biggest rival who died at age 60
Professional wrestling legend Taz fought back tears as he paid tribute to his greatest rival, Sabu, on live television, as the squared-circle icon passed away at age 60 on Sunday. Taz, who now works as a color commentator for All Elite Wrestling, was asked about his bitter rivalry with Sabu, whose real name was Terry Brunk, from the 1990s during Wednesday's broadcast of 'Dynamite'. The duo turned real-life drama into a storyline that lasted multiple years in former cult-favorite promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling. Two decades later, it is clear Taz has plenty of love for the late grappler. 'I'm gonna try and do this the best I can,' Taz began. 'But this guy, he was a machine. His work ethic was off the charts. His presence was always amazing. His energy was freaking infectious. And when I wrestled him, every time he brought the best out of me.' 'Sabu was aura, before aura was aura, before aura was cool. That's what this man was. And behind the curtain I promise you, he was loved by his peers worldwide. I'm gonna miss you brother. I love you.' The duo were given the huge honor of squaring off during ECW's first-ever pay-per-view in 1997. Taz and Sabu wrestled for a final time in 1999 in a brutal match won by the late high-flyer over 'The Human Suplex Machine'. Sabu wrestled in his retirement match last month against former AEW talent Joey Janela during WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas. During the match, Sabu was driven from the ring to the hardwood floor and through a barbed-wire laced table. According to reports, he made what is believed to have been his last public appearance at last weekend's Tri-State Wrestling Alliance reunion convention in Philadelphia. Sabu reached the most fans at once during a brief tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment as part of a revived ECW brand. During that span, he wrestled John Cena and squared off with Rey Mysterio in a match for the World Heavyweight Championship. On the same show where Mysterio faced Sabu in June 2006 was Taz's retirement match, submitting Jerry Lawler in a matter of seconds.
