Deepavali - A Festival Rooted in Meaning

by Anisha Pemjee

19 December 2025

In Why Bharat Matters, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar frequently draws on the Ramayana to explain how civilisational memory shapes modern statecraft. The epic’s enduring narrative - the ceaseless struggle between good and evil, doubt and duty, exile and return - finds its symbolic culmination in Deepavali, the Festival of Lights. More than a religious observance, Deepavali represents renewal, moral clarity and the reaffirmation of social bonds, values that Jaishankar argues are central to how Bharat understands itself and engages the world.

Commandaria - Cyprus’ Ancient Wine Tradition Recognised by UNESCO

by Antonis Mandritis, High Commissioner of Cyprus to South Africa

19 December 2025

Commandaria wine, deeply rooted in the millennia-old history of Cyprus, is a traditional sweet red wine produced in a cluster of villages on the southern slopes of the Troodos Mountains. Closely intertwined with the island’s natural environment, its production relies on indigenous grape varieties and time-honoured winemaking techniques. These include harvesting grapes late in the season, sun-drying them, and ageing the wine in oak barrels. Families, cooperatives, and wineries of varying scales contribute to its production, with the associated knowledge and skills transmitted informally through daily agricultural practices, family gatherings, festivals, and communal celebrations.

The Mobile Revolution in Modern Journalism

19 December 2025

According to UNESCO (2014), journalism is “the production and distribution of news on events, facts, ideas, and people that are of public interest and adhere to core principles of accuracy, independence, fairness, and accountability.”

Russia–Africa: New Horizons for Old Friends

by Sergey LAVROV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

19 December 2025

Cairo will soon host an important political event: heads and officials of the foreign ministries of Russia and the African countries will gather in the hospitable capital of Egypt to assess the state of Russian–African relations and set out the ways of their development.

Artificial intelligence in BRICS: opportunities or challenges, cooperation or competition?

TV BRICS - 18 December 2025

Let us make artificial intelligence (AI) not a luxury for the few, but a public good – this is what experts who are already working on the development of neural networks in the Global South say. Many of them are convinced that artificial intelligence can help strengthen a multipolar world and reduce inequality.

Sweet Crude or Sour Diesel: Venezuela and the United States

By Kirtan Bhana

18 December 2025

Recent incidents involving U.S. warships firing on unarmed civilian vessels on unverified allegations of illicit drug trafficking, alongside the interception of oil tankers on the high seas, have reignited difficult questions about sovereignty, international law, and the true drivers of power politics. For Venezuela, these events are not isolated acts, but part of a broader pattern, one in which energy resources, particularly crude oil, sit at the heart of escalating tensions with the United States.

'Cuba never took an ounce of gold from Africa’

by Kirtan Bhana - TDS

17 December 2025

On 1 January, Cuba marks its National Day, 67 years since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Few revolutions of the 20th century have so profoundly reshaped a nation’s destiny while simultaneously imprinting themselves on global struggles for justice, sovereignty and human dignity. Sixty-seven years on, Cuba’s story is of defiance, solidarity and an unbroken commitment to principles that continue to resonate deeply with South Africa and much of the Global South.

Island-wide special customs operations of Hainan FTP represents China's stance against protectionism: expert

BEIJING, 17 December 2025 (Xinhua) -- The launch of island-wide special customs operations of Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) represents China's clear-cut stance against protectionism and a major step toward promoting economic globalization, said Huang Hanquan, a Chinese economist.

India takes over BRICS Chairmanship from Brazil

Ceremony for the handover of the symbolic Amazonian wood gavel marked the change of leadership in the group

TV BRICS - 17 December 2025

Brazil officially handed over the BRICS Chairmanship to India during a meeting of the group's Sherpas. The new leadership received the traditional gavel – a symbol of the transfer of political and diplomatic authority. This was reported by Brasil 247, a TV BRICS partner.

Hainan FTP's special customs operations underscore China's firm commitment to high-standard opening up

BEIJING, 17 December 2025 (Xinhua) -- China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) is set to officially launch island-wide special customs operations on Thursday, a landmark step underscoring the country's unwavering commitment to expanding high-standard opening up and advancing an open world economy.

A Climate of Cognitive Dissonance

By Kirtan Bhana

15 December 2025

Hurricane Melissa, the largest and most forceful storm ever recorded, tore through the Caribbean with a violence that defies precedent. Jamaica bore the brunt of its fury, while across Asia, from Thailand to Vietnam and the Philippines, entire regions were submerged under unseasonal, record-breaking rainfall. These are not isolated anomalies; they are symptoms of a planetary system under extreme stress. Yet as communities count the dead and measure the ruins, global leaders gathered in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), engaged once again in climate discussions that feel increasingly ritualistic, detached and futile.