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Faisal Islam: What it was like inside the room with Donald Trump at Davos
Faisal Islam said there was mixed reaction in the room during Trump’s Davos speech.

Fact-checking Trump’s Davos speech
The US president made a series of contested claims, ranging from the status of Greenland to Nato spending.

Watch: Record snowfall leaves cars stuck and people stranded in Russia’s Far East
Parts of Kamchatka Peninsula have been buried under its heaviest snowfall in 60 years, as scientists say the winter blast could be due to climate change.

Trump’s jibes are wearing thin for many of Europe’s leaders
The ball is in the court of European leaders ahead of Thursday’s emergency EU meeting in Brussels, writes Nick Beake.
News24 | High inflation in Nigeria weighs heavily on everyday life
Nigerians are grappling with rising inflation, particularly in food prices, driven by subsidy cuts. President Bola Tinubu’s government hopes that such measures will improve the situation in the long term.
FINANCE: Prime interest rate may soon be phased out, says SA Reserve Bank governor
The 350 basis point gap between the repo or monetary policy rate and the prime rate has been fixed since 2001. Lenders use it as a baseline depending on the risks and the credit record of borrowers.
COUNTERING EXTREMISM OP-ED: Why Africa’s terrorism crisis is a governance crisis first
Countering violent extremism must be reframed as a governance renewal project — investing in accountable institutions, empowering civil society as an early warning system, institutionalising interfaith and intercultural dialogue, protecting media freedom and addressing structural exclusion.
TROUBLED WATERS: Inside SA’s fishing industry: Travis Daniels — at one with the sea
A conversation with a man proud to be a fisherman, but who is watching the profession slip away from his community, posing problems of survival.
News24 | Qatar, Saudi Arabia among eight countries joining Trump’s ‘board of peace’ for Gaza
Eight countries across the Middle East and Asia have announced plans to join United States President Donald Trump’s so-called “board of peace” in the Gaza Strip, stressing the need to secure a “permanent ceasefire” in the bombarded Palestinian enclave.
BOOK REVIEW: Adolescence, rebellion and moral complexity in forgotten SA classic The House on R Street
Sheila Kohler’s novel The House on R Street (first published in 1994, and republished in 2025 by Open Road, New York) tells a terrifying coming-of-age tale in 1920s Johannesburg. A New York publishing house is republishing it as part of a mission to bring ‘great literary works back to life’.
VIDEO STING INVESTIGATION: ‘Dior bag bribe’ scandal: Police probe into ex-IDT boss Malaka nears completion
About a week ago, Independent Development Trust head Tebogo Malaka resigned before a disciplinary hearing linked to a Daily Maverick video showing her and a spokesperson allegedly offering a cash bribe to a journalist. Now, a police investigation into this scandal is being finalised.
LEARNING CURVE: Compulsory Grade R — all you need to know about the first year of formal schooling
It’s been over a year since the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act was signed into law, making Grade R compulsory for five-year-olds in SA from 2025. However, as a new school year gets under way, questions about the implementation of the legislation remain, from how it’s being funded to who it affects.
GROUNDUP: Forensic report urges National Lotteries Commission to claw back funds paid to ethics adviser
A forensic investigation has found that the National Lotteries Commission should recover hundreds of thousands of rand from ProEthics, a company it paid to advise on ethics, after uncovering irregular fees, over-invoicing and missing receipts. ProEthics and its director Dr Janette Minnaar tried to stop GroundUp publishing this article.
ANALYSIS: If the All Blacks send Tony Brown an SOS he should go with our thanks
Springbok assistant coach Tony Brown has distanced himself from speculation that he will join the All Blacks’ staff, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
ECONOMY OF DEATH OP-ED: Conservation by the bullet: SA’s hunting statistics and the industrial slaughter of wildlife
What these numbers document is not conservation under pressure, but extraction at scale. They expose trophy hunting not as a people-centred conservation model, but as a market-driven industry serving a narrow, global elite.
News24 | Kruger Park operator mulls changing structure to tap markets
The board of South African National Parks, which oversees some of the world’s premier nature reserves, will consider whether to change its corporate structure to allow it to borrow directly from capital markets and retain more of its earnings.
BLUSTER AT WEF: Trump goes full Don Quixote at Davos with Greenland dreams and windmill nightmares
In a rambling address at the World Economic Forum, US President Donald Trump doubled down on acquiring Greenland, threatened political rivals and donned the mantle of a misguided energy expert to attack the ‘green new scam’.

Orlando Pirates send two players out on loan to Magesi FC
Orlando Pirates are sweeping their house clean by loaning out fringe players for the second round of the season.