Two weeks away from Joburg, I go for a very gentle run and my heart rate immediately spikes above 180. I've also done basically no exercise while away, but altitude is no joke! My sympathies with the England players tonight 😅

No YOU forgot which airline you flew on and spent so long at the wrong carousel that your suitcase was taken off the actual carousel to the baggage enquiries counters

This is a fun story from my colleague Carlos Mureithi - Kenya is going through a darts resurgence

Cabo Verde holding the European and World champions to draws in normal time with a team of journeymen pulled from across the diaspora has to be one of the all time great world cup performances.

"It kind of feels like I’m being bullied by someone who’s supposed to be the protector." One of the views of the US on its 250th birthday - scroll to the bottom for my contribution from South Africa

It is a relief that Tuesday's anti-immigrant marches in South Africa weren't more violent. But there were still plenty of incidents of looting (I've not seen confirmed stats yet) and at least 25,000 people decided to leave the country that had become their home.

Right, I am sad to see the end of Stokes. But this is a mess. Losing the Ashes was one thing, losing a series at home to New Zealand and especially getting decisively beaten in the 3rd Test by a very understrength NZ is quite another. No obvious alternative captain either.

I'm away this week, but thinking of South Africa and everyone who lives there ahead of tomorrow, the deadline given by vigilante groups for "illegal immigrants" to leave.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Nigeria is and has been many things. Socialist is not one of them.

Spectacular goal 🇨🇦 I am also a bit devastated for Bafana Bafana and my South African friends

My Dad is Canadian, I live and work in South Africa. Can't win, can't lose 😅

OOO until Thursday (great colleagues will be covering the June 30 anti-immigrant "deadline"). Managed to give myself a hefty inner thigh rope burn from a fall while lead climbing yesterday, so no swimming until it heals 🫠

Love randomly tapping in and out of the World Cup. Great goal by Ecuador

Zimbabwe is on the brink of amending its constitution to give the president more time in office. The government says it will bring stability, but opponents have labelled it a “constitutional coup”.

The UK has finally published a draft bill to ban conversion therapy, after years of delayed promises to do so. LGBT+ campaigners will want to ensure that it fully protects trans people, given the current government's continuation of the Tories' anti-trans policies (unclear yet what Burnham thinks)

I sound extremely middle-aged reactionary, but I cannot stand how smoking has become "cool" again. I used to enjoy an occasional drunk cigarette as much as anyone, but I thought we had all agreed that it's gross and unhealthy

Waking up to Bafana Bafana getting through to the World Cup knockout stages for the first time ever and all is right with the world 😌

Have a nice story about sand cats thriving in the Libyan desert

Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts

France has confirmed its first case of Ebola, in a doctor who had returned from working in the DRC, where the vast majority of the outbreak is underway

Masterful profile of Andy Burnham by @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social, who has covered him for over a decade

Stark images of a now-dismantled IDP camp in Durban that hosted thousands of Malawians who wanted to return home, due to a spike in xenophobic violence

“This is not just a story. This is someone’s true story. And it’s a story of someone who’s able to get out of it.”

Football in a Roman amphitheatre - it doesn't get any better

It would be nice if we scored a goal.

Edgar Lungu's family will get to decide where he gets buried, a South African appeal court has ruled. The family of the late Zambian president had been locked in a legal battle with the government for a year, as they didn't want current president Hakainde Hichilema presiding over the funeral.

Kenya's health minister told a court that construction had been halted on a US Ebola quarantine facility in the country, after he was held in contempt for ignoring a stop-work order

Nigel Farage, asked about the £5mn gift from Christopher Harborne by LBC: "It's an unconditional gift. I can spend it on Ferraris if I want. That'd be entirely up to me."

the most stable figure in british politics in the last decade is the man who sets up the lectern the PMs resign from

Well well well. Britain is going to have its seventh Prime Minister in 10 years.

/ @rachelmsavage.bsky.social this is an amazing piece www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Running the 55-mile Comrades ultramarathon is so normal in South Africa that it's hard to find someone who doesn't know a finisher. Covering the 12-hour race was one of the most life-affirming experiences of my career. Read my story here, with beautiful photos by James Oatway.

Reform won their sixth highest share of the vote in Makerfield in the 2024 general election. If Nigel Farage really were heading for Downing Street then his party would be winning a seat like this with ease. Instead he loses his third winnable by-election in a row

Close shave for Bafana Bafana! The celebrations where I was when they scored, you'd have thought they won 😅

Les Congolais!!! Also I live for Ronaldo's disappointed face.

Today's Wordiply 😅

The day of 16 June 1976 began peacefully in Soweto, as students streamed out of their schools to peacefully protest the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. By the end of the day, dozens would be dead.

Abdullah Ibrahim has died at the age of 91. A giant of South African jazz. Swedish journalist Erik Esbjörnsson interviewed and photographed him at his last concert at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in March, wrote this beautiful tribute to him. www.instagram.com/p/DZnYyI5DQ-...

Finally tapped into the World Cup after an intense reporting trip and Cape Verde held Spain to a goalless draw! My island kings 👑

I am still exhausted after a 16.5 hour day covering the Comrades marathon yesterday. I was so tired that I left my laptop in an airport lounge after falling asleep there (luckily my colleague is on a later flight and picking it up for me). I can't imagine how the runners feel after 85.78km!

Watching the full spectrum of human emotion at the Comrades finish line was indescribably moving. A real faith in humanity moment.

Really important win for journalism but it’s the last paragraph that really struck me Palantir has to pay 95% of the Swiss magazine’s costs - which are $11,000 A case like this in the U.K. would cost *millions* in legal fees. Why it’s so easy for rich to suppress criticism

I'm in Durban to cover the Comrades ultramarathon (54miles/87km!). It starts at 5am tomorrow. Me, worried about food logistics: What time does breakfast start tomorrow? Hotel receptionist: 2am

I've been a bit out of the loop on a reporting trip, but the flack South Africa is getting at the World Cup from everywhere else in Africa is next level 😅 Other countries are not playing about xenophobia this time!

I got to spend a couple of hours this morning with six cheetahs - two mums and their four children. Apparently it's quite common for male cheetahs to form "coalitions", but rare for females to do so. Mind-blowing.

The family of the Belfast stabbing victim have released a statement saying - like the family of Henry Nowak last week - that the attack should not be used to "divide people or fuel hostility" They condemned disorder and praised the "valuable contribution" by migrants inews.co.uk/news/politic...

South Africa’s electricity generation mix in the first quarter of 2026: Coal 74.1% (down from 79% a year before) Solar 10.7% (up from 8.4%) Nuclear 7.7% (up from 4.7%) Wind 5.3% (up from 4.5%) Hydro 1.6% (up from 0.4%) Diesel 0.5% (down from 3%) CSP 0.2% (up from 0.1%) - Ember

Somali referee Omar Artan has been denied entry to the US and will miss officiating the World Cup. FIFA is abdicating responsibility. It's also unclear why he can't be shifted to refereeing matches in Canada or Mexico (I assume the officials are all locked in, but still).

Half of the white South African 'refugees' who ended up in Ohio have left because they can't immediately get driving licenses. Many are also finding that the financial support from the US government is not what they'd hoped for.