South Africans reject the African National Congress
African National Congress has lost its monopoly on South African politicsSaturday's election results showed the party failed to win an outright majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
The ANC won about 40% of the vote, the largest share but a sharp drop from the nearly 58% it received in the last election in 2019. The ANC won international acclaim under Nelson Mandela, but that also cost it its parliamentary majority to choose a president, leaving it with just two weeks to form a government and elect a president.
Yet rivals deride the ANC as corrupt and have vowed never to ally with it. A big question is whether the ANC will ally with its former leader, Jacob Zuma, who resigned as president in 2018 amid corruption charges. A new party he helped start six months ago won nearly 15% of the vote.
The Democratic Alliance, a potential ally of the ANC that some ANC members accuse of pursuing policies that would effectively return the country to apartheid, came in second with nearly 22 percent. The following may happen next.
Voter frustration: South Africa faces one of the world's highest unemployment rates, power and water shortages and rampant crime. Many see the ANC as Some kind of relic“Maybe they have a plan against apartheid, but they don’t have an economic plan,” one voter said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa: The ANC leader, who must unite the factional party and form a coalition government, is likely to blame him for the defeat and seek a new party leader.
To overcome rising anti-incumbent sentiment, Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has focused almost exclusively on his popular leadership. Despite the arrests and other repression, the opposition has presented its most united front in years, but exit polls show it will struggle to make a dent in the BJP’s majority in parliament.
Biden urges Israel to ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Put on the spot President Biden has called for a ceasefire in Gaza over the past few days and outlined Israel's broad conditions. “It is time to end this war,” Biden said.
In response, Netanyahu reiterated on Saturday that Israel would not agree to any deal that did not lead to the “destruction of Hamas's military and governing capacity.” But it is worth noting that Netanyahu's oft-cited goal of “complete victory” over Hamas was not achieved.
During the Russian occupation of Kherson, Ukraine, officials took away dozens of children from foster homes. A year later, my colleagues Found their photos on the Russian Federation adoption websiteExperts say what happened to the children could amount to a war crime.
My colleague is This video.
Life experience:
U Tin Oo Died at the age of 97is the leader of the Burmese democracy movement. He served as Minister of Defense before opposing the authoritarian government.
Birubala Rabha is against branding women as witches in India. She died at the age of 75.
Conversation starters
Starlink arrives on Amazon
The Marubo people have long lived in communal huts spread over hundreds of miles along the Itui River deep in the Amazon. For centuries, they have maintained their way of life through isolation.
But since September, Marubo has high-speed internetThanks, Elon Musk. The 2,000-member Marubo tribe (like hundreds across Brazil) is logging on using Starlink, the satellite internet service run by Musk.
Initially, the internet brought clear benefits, such as video chatting with distant loved ones and calling for help in emergencies. Now, they are grappling with challenges that are already familiar to families around the world: teens obsessed with their phones, addictive social networks, online strangers, violent video games, scams, misinformation and underage pornography.
“People have been paying attention to it,” said my colleague Jack Nicas, Brazil bureau chief. Explained in the video“This has severely impacted their hunting and farming activities which are necessary for their survival.”
