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'No Thanks', White South Africans Turn Down Trump's Immigration Offer

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2025 State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2025 State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo
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'No Thanks', White South Africans Turn Down Trump's Immigration Offer

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2025 State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2025 State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo

US President Donald Trump's offer to rehouse white South Africans as refugees fleeing persecution may not spur quite the rush he anticipates, as even right-wing white lobby groups want to "tackle the injustices" of Black majority rule on home soil.

Trump on Friday signed an executive order to cut US aid to South Africa, citing an expropriation act that President Cyril Ramaphosa signed last month aiming to redress land inequalities that stem from South Africa's history of white supremacy.

The order provided for resettlement in the US of "Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination" as refugees.

Afrikaners are mostly white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers, who own most of the country's farmland.

"If you haven't got any problems here, why would you want to go," said Neville van der Merwe, a 78-year-old pensioner in Bothasig near Cape Town, Reuters reported.

"There hasn't been any really bad taking over our land, the people are carrying on like normal and you know, what are you going to do over there?"

The law seeks to address racial land ownership disparities - which has left three-quarters of privately owned land in the hands of the white minority - by making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest.

Ramaphosa has defended the policy.

White people represent 7.2% of South Africa's population of 63 million, statistics agency data shows. The data does not breakdown how many are Afrikaner.

South Africa's British rulers handed most farmland to whites. In 1950, the Apartheid-era National Party seized 85% of the land, forcing 3.5 million Black people from their homes.

Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC), the biggest party in the ruling coalition, says Trump is amplifying misinformation propagated by AfriForum, an Afrikaner-led group.

The group, which lobbied Trump's previous administration on their cause, said it was not taking up the offer.

"Emigration only offers an opportunity for Afrikaners who are willing to risk potentially sacrificing their descendants' cultural identity as Afrikaners. The price for that is simply too high," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said on Saturday.

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World

Venezuela's Maduro Back in US Court after Stunning Capture

(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
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Venezuela's Maduro Back in US Court after Stunning Capture

(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)

Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro will appear Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.

Maduro, 63, and wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months after American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January, said AFP.

The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.

Maduro has declared himself a "prisoner of war" and pleaded not guilty to the four counts of "narco-terrorism" conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Thursday's hearing at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) will likely see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader's legal fees.

Venezuela's government is seeking to cover the costs, but because of Washington's sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US license that has not been issued.

Pollack argued in a court submission that the license requirement violated Maduro's constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.

- Deadly raid -

Detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers.

A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as "president" by some of his fellow detainees.

He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.

"The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad," said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding his father told him: "We are fine, we are fighters."

Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of January 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.

At least 83 people died and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.

- US pressure -

At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself the president of Venezuela despite being captured.

The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro's vice president since 2018.

Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country's vast natural wealth.

This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.

Security is expected to be heightened around the New York courthouse for Thursday's hearing.

Presiding over the case is Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old judge credited with overseeing several high-profile trials during his decades on the bench.

World

Bus Sinks in Bangladesh River, Many Killed

Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
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Bus Sinks in Bangladesh River, Many Killed

Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR

A bus carrying about 50 people plunged into a major river in central Bangladesh as it was driving onto a ferry, leaving at least 18 people dead, authorities said Thursday.

The bus plunged into the Padma River on Wednesday afternoon in Rajbari district, about 84 kilometers (52 miles) from the capital, Dhaka, said fire official Dewan Sohel Rana.

The bus was traveling to the capital from the southwestern district of Kushtia as people return to work after the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, The Associated Press said.

Rana said many of the passengers swam to safety after the accident but others got trapped.

A rescue vessel joined the operation late Wednesday and lifted the bus, he said, and rescuers worked overnight to recover bodies, finding 18 by Thursday morning.

Strong currents and rains disrupted the rescue operations overnight, he said.

It was not clear if there was still anyone missing.

Ten women and two children were among the dead, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defense Department.

World

US Activists Work to Connect Iranians Via Starlink

Iranian women walk at Pardisan Park, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 25, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian women walk at Pardisan Park, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 25, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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US Activists Work to Connect Iranians Via Starlink

Iranian women walk at Pardisan Park, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 25, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian women walk at Pardisan Park, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 25, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

With the war in Iran leading to a near-total internet blackout in the country, activists around the world -- especially in the United States -- are mobilizing to help Iranians stay connected via Starlink.

Despite being banned, billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet system has gained ground in Iran thanks to a network of international activists, multiple people involved in these efforts told AFP.

The digital activists' efforts began in 2022, when mass protests broke out following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was being held by Iran's police for violating the country's strict dress code for women.

- Smuggling networks -

"As of this year, we have more than 300 devices that we have delivered to the country," said Emilia James of the US-based organization NetFreedom Pioneers. She declined to go into further detail to protect the operation and the users, said AFP.

Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director of Holistic Resilience, explained that his organization purchased Starlink devices in European countries or elsewhere, before moving them into Iran via "neighboring countries."

The government cracked down hard on the Starlink terminals in 2025, and those caught using them face imprisonment.

Charges may be enhanced if the device is found to have been sent by a US organization, Ahmadian pointed out.

His group has supplied "up to 200" antennas to individuals in Iran, and has facilitated the sale of "more than 5,000 Starlink devices" by connecting ordinary citizens with underground resellers, he said.

This approach is less risky for both the activists and for the users.

For these reasons, Holistic Resilience taps smuggling networks and provides security tips and usage instructions remotely.

- Astronomical costs -

To get a Starlink antenna on the black market, Iranians previously had to shell out around "$800 or $1,000" at the end of 2025, Ahmadian recalled, a prohibitive amount for many.

Then there's the issue of paying for usage.

The devices can -- theoretically, at least -- provide internet to an entire family or apartment building.

But in practice, usage remains "limited" because "the costs are still prohibitive for most users," according to NetFreedom Pioneers' Emilia James.

For those that can afford the fees, Visa and Mastercard payments do not work in Iran, forcing users to find workarounds.

Since the bloody crackdown on protesters in January, free usage has been granted for new subscribers. However, the cost of terminals has skyrocketed to some $4,000, according to Ahmadian.

Demand is not the only factor driving up costs.

Many of the terminals were brought into Iran through the "southern borders and through the waterways," Ahmadian said.

The closure of the Straight of Hormuz due to the war "suppresses the supply" of the devices.

- 'More than 50,000' -

While the number of terminals within Iran is not publicly known, Ahmadian estimates that "there are more than 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran, for sure."

For her part, James estimates that there are "tens of thousands" of Starlink devices in the country of 92 million.

Starlink did not respond to AFP requests for details.

James said that she has heard reports of Iranian authorities searching rooftops and balconies for the antennas since the start of the war.

And earlier this month, a man described as the head of a network that sold internet access via Starlink was arrested by Iranian authorities.