SOUTH AFRICA
ANC loses majority
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party yesterday lost its its three-decade-old absolute majority and would have to find allies if it is to remain in power. With more than 98 percent of the votes from Wednesday’s election counted, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC had just more than 40 percent support, a catastrophic slump from the 57.5 it won in 2019. That marks a historic turning point as the party has enjoyed an absolute majority since 1994. Data released earlier in the day from the Independent Electoral Commission showed that the center-right Democratic Alliance held second place with 21.71 percent, while former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe had 12.6 percent, a surprise score for a party founded just months ago as a vehicle for the former ANC chief.
AFGHANISTAN
Twenty die in boat sinking
At least 20 people were yesterday killed when a boat sank while crossing a river, a Taliban official said. Quraishi Badlon, Nangarhar provincial director of the information and culture department, said the boat sank while crossing a river in the province’s Mohmand Dara district, killing 20 people including women and children. The boat was carrying 25 people, according to village residents, of whom five survived. So far five bodies have been retrieved including a man, a woman, two boys and a girl, the Nangarhar Department of Health said in a statement.
GERMANY
Six injured in stabbing
Six people were on Friday wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally, including a prominent critic of Islam, drawing immediate condemnation from the nation’s leaders. The attack, just days before EU-wide elections, comes amid a spike of politically motivated violence in the country. Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser raised the possibility that the assault could have been Islamist motivated. A man with a knife attacked and wounded several people on the market square in the city of Mannheim in the southwest at about 11:35am, police said in a statement. Five of the wounded were participating in a rally organized by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, police said. A police officer who intervened was also stabbed several times in the back of the head, it said. Another officer fired at the attacker and wounded him. “The extent and severity of the injuries are not yet known,” the police said, adding that the identity of the attacker had not yet been determined.
JAPAN
US$300m lost in ‘leak’
Crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin said it had lost about US$300 million in bitcoin in what it described as “an unauthorized leak” from its digital wallet. “We are still investigating details of the damages,” it said in a statement after detecting the “unauthorized leak” at about 1:26pm on Friday. “We have already taken measures to prevent the unauthorized leak, but we have also implemented restrictions on the use of some services to ensure additional safety,” the exchange said. DMM Bitcoin did not give details on the “leak,” but global cryptocurrency analysis firm Chainalysis said it was one of the biggest crypto hacks. “Today’s hack of Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin for $305M worth of bitcoin is the biggest hack since Dec 2022 and the 7th largest crypto hack ever,” Chainalysis wrote on X, adding that it had labeled the funds as “stolen.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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