Water gets the wine treatment in South African tastingsThu, 29 Jan 2026 07:53:45 GMT

Most tourists to Stellenbosch come for the wine but this small group was here for the water, sampling a selection of the world’s finest varieties in an experience new to South Africa. In a tasting room lined with elegant glass bottles from across the globe, water sommelier Nico Pieterse extolled the qualities and even “emotional connection” …

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South Africa drops ‘Melania’ just ahead of release

South Africa’s main cinema houses have pulled a documentary about US First Lady Melania Trump just ahead of its release, with the distributor citing “the current climate”, local media reported.”Melania” was not listed on the websites of the Nu Metro or Ster Kinekor theatres on Thursday, the day before its international release on January 30.News24 media reported Wednesday the South African distributor Filmfinity had abruptly dropped the film.”Given the current climate, the film will no longer be releasing theatrically in (the) territory,” the site quoted the distributor’s head of marketing, Thobashan Govindarajulu, as saying. It was not clear what “climate” he was referring to and AFP could not immediately reach a company representative for details.Nu Metro confirmed to AFP Thursday that it had been told by Filmfinity to withdraw the film. “The rights sit with Filmfinity, and it’s at their request that we are not releasing it,” Nu Metro said in a statement. The South African government has strained ties with the administration of President Donald Trump, which has criticised Pretoria’s position on a range of domestic and international policies.Trump has notably repeated false claims that Pretoria is behind a “genocide” of the white Afrikaans community, which he has invited to settle in the United States.

South Africa drops ‘Melania’ just ahead of releaseThu, 29 Jan 2026 07:48:25 GMT

South Africa’s main cinema houses have pulled a documentary about US First Lady Melania Trump just ahead of its release, with the distributor citing “the current climate”, local media reported.”Melania” was not listed on the websites of the Nu Metro or Ster Kinekor theatres on Thursday, the day before its international release on January 30.News24 …

South Africa drops ‘Melania’ just ahead of releaseThu, 29 Jan 2026 07:48:25 GMT Read More »

Senegal coach Thiaw banned, fined after AFCON final chaosThu, 29 Jan 2026 07:42:20 GMT

Senegal coach Pape Thiaw has been banned for five Confederation of African Football (CAF) matches and fined $100,000 after the chaotic scenes at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final against Morocco this month, it was announced on Thursday.A CAF statement said the tactician was guilty of “unsporting conduct” and “bringing the game into disrepute” …

Senegal coach Thiaw banned, fined after AFCON final chaosThu, 29 Jan 2026 07:42:20 GMT Read More »

Trump-era trade stress leads Western powers to China

Britain’s Keir Starmer is the latest Western leader to thaw trade ties with China in a shift analysts say is driven by US tariff pressure and unease over Donald Trump’s volatile policy playbook.The prime minister’s Beijing visit this week to promote “pragmatic” co-operation comes on the heels of advances from the leaders of Canada, Ireland, France and Finland.Most were making the trip for the first time in years to refresh their partnership with the world’s second-largest economy.”There is a veritable race among European heads of government to meet with (Chinese President) Xi Jinping,” Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, told AFP.This is “driven by internal rivalry to secure investments and market access before the China-US summits in February and April”, he said.It’s not just China looking more appealing these days: on Tuesday, India and the European Union announced a huge trade pact two decades in the making, a move to open new markets in the face of a strained status quo.Vietnam and the European Union also on Thursday committed to deeper cooperation on trade, technology and security.India and other emerging markets such as South America “are too small to sustain the world’s most export-dependent economies, which are in Europe”, Lee-Makiyama said.So they have no choice but to turn to Beijing — despite concern over its human rights record, and accusations of economic coercion.”Half of economic growth is generated by either the United States or China,” Lee-Makiyama said, adding that “the United States is hardly opening up”.- ‘No longer reliable’ -Trump’s unpredictable tariff onslaught signals that “the United States is no longer a reliable trading partner”, said William Alan Reinsch at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.For the new EU-India Free Trade Agreement, “you can argue that, ironically, Trump’s policies have pushed it across the finish line” 20 years since negotiations began, Reinsch told AFP.Starmer told Xi on Thursday it was “vital” to develop the two countries’ relationship, with the Chinese leader also stressing the need for stronger ties in the face of geopolitical headwinds.London and Beijing enjoyed what they described as a “Golden Era” a decade ago but relations deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong.Nonetheless, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer’s centre-left government is keen to boost UK economic growth.While the European Union also wants stronger ties with China, it is alarmed by the current trade imbalance, with a gaping deficit of more than $350 billion to Brussels’s disadvantage.Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin urged “open trade” in his talks with Xi in early January, while France’s Emmanuel Macron denounced the trade imbalance on a visit to Beijing in December.- More Trump threats -China and India are also seeking ways to cope with Trump’s tariffs designed to boost US manufacturing and “make America great again”.”A select few countries should not have privileges based on self-interest, and the world cannot revert to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak,” Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said at the World Economic Forum this month.In some cases, Trump has retaliated with more tariff threats, including a new 100 percent levy on all Canadian goods if the US neighbour makes a trade deal with China.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China in Beijing this month, touting a “preliminary but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs.Under the deal, China, which used to be Canada’s largest market for canola seed, is expected to reduce tariffs on the products to around 15 percent, down from the current 84 percent.In return, Canada will import 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles under a preferential tariff rate.Carney’s visit “signalled a fundamentally new approach to how Ottawa intends to navigate a more fragmented, contested and uncertain world”, wrote Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy at APF Canada. But she warned it could risk being misinterpreted as “a softening of Canada’s assessment of the national and economic security challenges China poses”.Reinsch at the CSIS predicted that the latest agreements would leave the United States at a disadvantage in the long run, while noting they were “surprisingly traditional”.Negotiations on lower tariffs and reducing non-tariff barriers are “exactly what the world has been doing for the past 75 years”, he said.”The outlier is the United States.”

EU expected to put Iran Guards on ‘terrorist list’

EU foreign ministers are expected to agree Thursday to put Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the bloc’s “terrorist list” after a deadly crackdown on mass protests, the EU’s foreign policy chief said.”If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as terrorists,” top diplomat Kaja Kallas told journalists ahead of the ministers’ meeting in Brussels.She said the step puts the Revolutionary Guards on the same level as jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.The symbolic move from the EU will send a strong message of condemnation to Iran after thousands were reported killed during the protests that rocked the country.The 27-nation bloc is also set to approve visa bans and asset freezes on 21 state entities and Iranian officials — expected to include the country’s interior minister — over the brutal repression. Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of over 3,000 people, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”. Rights groups dispute this, saying the toll is far higher and potentially in the tens of thousands, and noting that protesters were killed by security forces including the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) directly firing on them.- France, Italy shift -The IRGC is the ideological arm of Tehran’s military and was created after the 1979 revolution to protect the clerical leadership. The Guards control or own companies across the Iranian economy, including major strategic sectors.”The estimate is that still the diplomatic channels will remain open even after the listing of the Revolutionary Guards,” Kallas said.  The expected greenlight for blacklisting the IRGC came after France announced Wednesday it was backing the move, following a similar shift from Italy. Paris had widely been seen as reluctant to brand the IRGC as a terror group due to fears over the impact on Europeans detained in the country and a wish to keep diplomatic ties open. “There can be no impunity for the crimes committed,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters on arrival in Brussels.”This decision is also an appeal by France to the Iranian authorities to release the prisoners thrown by thousands into the regime’s prisons, to end the executions that are perpetuating the most violent repression in Iran’s modern history,” he said.Barrot urged Tehran to end an internet blackout and “give back to the Iranian people the capacity to choose their own future.”The EU has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials and entities over crackdowns on previous protest movements and over Tehran’s support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.The IRGC as a whole and senior commanders are already under EU sanctions, meaning that a move to add them to the terror blacklist is expected to have little practical impact on the organisation. 

Au Mali, un secteur touristique plombé qui tente de renaître

“Sous mes ongles, ce n’est plus de la terre sacrée de Djenné, mais de la graisse de moteur”, soupire Oumar Cissé, nostalgique de sa vie d’avant.Pendant une dizaine d’années, il a été guide touristique à Djenné, ville du centre du Mali inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco et célèbre mondialement pour sa majestueuse mosquée en banco, la plus grande construction en terre crue au monde.A cause de la dégradation de la situation sécuritaire dans la région, M. Cissé, 47 ans, s’est résolu à abandonnerle tourisme pour gagner sa vie en conduisant une vieille moto-taxi dans les rues de Bamako, loin de l’argile de Djenné.Un métier qu’il dit exercer pour “nourrir” ses enfants, tout en souhaitant “qu’ils se souviennent que leur père était un guide, un homme de culture.””Comme guide, je pouvais te parler pendant trois heures de la lignée des familles, des minarets des mosquées, de pourquoi le banco ne tombe jamais malgré la pluie…”, se souvient-il.”Les touristes m’écoutaient avec des yeux ronds, ils notaient tout dans leurs petits carnets. J’avais l’impression d’être quelqu’un d’important”.- “Plus rien” -Depuis 2012, le Mali est plongé dans une profonde crise sécuritaire, alimentée par les attaques de groupes jihadistes affiliés à Al-Qaïda ou à l’Etat islamique, mais aussi par des groupes rebelles et des réseaux criminels.Le pays, qui compte quatre sites classés au patrimoine mondial et neuf éléments sur la liste du patrimoine culturel immatériel de l’Unesco, a longtemps été une destination majeure du tourisme culturel et patrimonial en Afrique de l’Ouest, avant quela situation sécuritaire n’en éloigne progressivement les visiteurs étrangers.Deux coups d’Etat en 2020 et 2021 menés par des militaires souverainistes, accusés de réduire l’espace civique et de réprimer les voix critiques et la récente dégradation encore des conditions sécuritaires, n’ont rien arrangé.La ville historique de Tombouctou, le tombeau des Askia à Gao, “vestige le plus important et le mieux conservé du puissant et riche empire Songhoy” selon l’Unesco, les remarquables habitats troglodytes des falaises du pays dogon, célèbre pour ses masques, ainsi que la spectaculaire traversée des boeufs à Diafarabé et Dialoubé, au coeur du delta du Niger, sont privés de touristes depuis près de 15 ans.”Les Occidentaux visitaient Tombouctou et les dunes de sables. Les princes arabes venaient chasser l’outarde, prenaient des permis et des guides. Plus rien”, regrette Sidy Kéita, directeur de Mali Tourisme, l’agence nationale de promotion touristique.La crise sécuritaire a entraîné “l’abandon de la destination, la fermeture de certains établissements de tourisme, la destruction d’autres, le licenciement ou la mise en chômage technique des agents”, explique sur son site Mali Tourisme.”De Ségou, au centre du Mali, à Tombouctou ou Gao au nord, beaucoup d’hôtels ont fermé, faute de clients. Pire, les promoteurs sont endettés”, dit à l’AFP un membre de l’Association malienne des hôteliers.”Depuis 2019, les recettes touristiques ont disparu de notre tableau des opérations”, confie un agent de la direction nationale du Tourisme et de l’Hôtellerie.Selon Mali Tourisme, “entre 200 et 300.000” touristes visitaient le Mali les meilleures années, générant de l’ordre de 183 millions d’euros par an.La contribution du secteur au PIB est passée de “près de 3%” à “seulement 1%”, déplorait en juillet le ministre malien du Tourisme, Mamou Daffé.- “L’espoir renaît” -Ces dernières années, le pays tente de relancer le secteur en mettant l’accent notamment sur le tourisme domestique comme alternative aux visiteurs étrangers.Des programmes incitant les fonctionnaires et le public à explorer leur pays, avec des circuits subventionnés à Bamako et dans les régions, ont par exemple été lancés.En décembre 2025, pour la première fois depuis plus d’une décennie, des touristes étrangers ont pu visiter Tombouctou, à l’occasion de la biennale artistique et culturelle organisée pour clôturer 2025, “année de la culture.””Des protocoles de sécurité stricts étaient en place, tous les étrangers devant être escortés par la police. Cela a permis aux agences de voyages locales d’attirer des voyageurs d’aussi loin que la Californie ou l’Allemagne pendant la biennale”, témoigne Ulf Laessing, directeur du programme Sahel de la Fondation Konrad Adenauer, qui était présent à la biennale. La compagnie privée Sky Mali a annoncé avoir transporté à Tombouctou “près de 1.000 passagers” pour la biennalealors que les chancelleries occidentales recommendent à leurs ressortissants de quitter le Mali et classent l’ensemble du pays en zone rouge. “L’espoir renaît… Nous avons reçu une centaine de touristes russes. C’est une clientèle nouvelle. Nous espérons qu’il y en aura d’autres, et que ce sera la relance de l’industrie du tourisme”, se réjouit Sidy Kéïta.Le régime militaire malien a tourné le dos à la France, l’ex-puissance coloniale, pour se rapprocher de la Russie, désormais son principal allié.