Philip Morris International has supported non-smoking programmes around the world ‘to advance its own interests’, say health professionals

The tobacco company Philip Morris has sponsored courses for doctors in multiple countries, in what critics have called a “grotesque” strategy.

Medical education programmes on quitting smoking and harm reduction in South Africa, the Middle East and the US have been supported by Philip Morris International (PMI) or its regional subsidiaries, according to advertising material seen by the Guardian.

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Polls predict ANC likely to lose parliamentary majority, due to high unemployment and wealth inequality

South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the country’s multicoloured flag.

Any sense of celebration on the momentous anniversary was however set against a growing discontent with the current government.

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Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver £250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis

• ‘Why we need a global tax on billionaires ’

The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise £250bn a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.

In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say a 2% tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

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Finance chiefs say higher taxes for the super-rich are key to battling global inequality and climate crisis

• Billionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministers

When the governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund convened for the spring meetings last week, it was all about the really big questions. What can the international community do to accelerate decarbonisation and fight climate change? How can highly indebted countries retain fiscal space to invest in poverty eradication, social services and global public goods? What does the international community need to do to get back on track towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? How can multilateral development banks be strengthened to support these ambitions?

There is one issue that makes addressing these global challenges much harder: inequality. While the disparity between the richest and poorest countries has slightly narrowed, the gap remains alarmingly high. Moreover, in the past two decades, we have witnessed a significant increase in inequalities within most countries, with the income gap between the top 10% and the bottom 50% nearly doubling. Looking ahead, current global economic trends pose serious threats to progress towards higher equality.

Svenja Schulze is Germany’s minister for economic cooperation and development; Fernando Haddad is the minister of finance in Brazil; Enoch Godongwana is the minister of finance in South Africa; Carlos Cuerpo is the minister of economy, trade and business and María Jesús Montero the minister of finance in Spain

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Despite criticism for the use of potentially harmful chemicals, companies are still selling the products around the world

It was just before Christmas, and eight-year-old Gloria Moraa sat holding a mirror as her aunt painted her curls with chemicals that would straighten every strand. “All the young girls would get matching hairstyles for the holidays, and relaxers were fashionable back then,’’ says Moraa, now 28, who lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

She no longer straightens her hair because she thought it was starting to thin. But over the years, Moraa used almost every relaxer on the market , with one goal: making her coily hair silky. The ingredients didn’t matter.

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Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula resigned amid accusations she solicited bribes when she was defence minister

South Africa’s former parliament speaker has been arrested as part of a corruption inquiry, the latest scandal to hit the governing ANC party ahead of elections in May.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who resigned her speaker post on Wednesday, was formally detained after handing herself in to police near Pretoria, prosecutors said.

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Only survivor after vehicle falls and catches fire is eight-year-old taken to hospital with serious injuries

An eight-year old child was the sole survivor after a bus carrying 46 people plunged off a bridge in South Africa , fell into a ravine and caught fire.

The child, who has not been named, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, the transport ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.

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Dublin joins South Africa’s case in the international court of justice that stopping essentials may constitute ‘genocidal intent’

Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel .

The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.

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I expected criticism of my documentary, but the racist trolling and support for an apartheid stronghold was truly awful

The morning after my most recent documentary, Whites Only: Ade’s Extremist Adventure , aired on Channel 4, I got a stream of concerned phone calls and WhatsApp messages from friends, family members and work colleagues, asking if I was OK. At first I was confused. It wasn’t until they started talking about social media that I understood why they were all so worried. I’d pretty much removed myself from X (formerly Twitter) a few months ago: it was just becoming a place of polarised conversations that made the platform toxic and close to unusable.

I knew there would be an extreme reaction to the documentary as sadly, the topic of race, especially in connection with South Africa, will probably always be provocative in our lifetime. In my documentary, I visit an all-white town called Orania in the central Karoo region of South Africa. The film is a pilot for a potential series where I would meet a whole range of extreme groups across the globe, including those attracting Black and Asian people. I wanted to understand why these people held such extreme views, what the consequences were, and what lessons could be learned. I also knew many of our viewers had never heard of Orania, so just seeing the town and its inhabitants for them would be a new experience.

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