- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Biden commutes almost all federal death sentences
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- France's new government to be announced Monday evening: Elysee
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
UK crowning fuels calls to return royal gems to S.Africa
The coronation of King Charles III has rekindled calls for Britain to return to South Africa the world's largest diamond -- the centrepiece of the sceptre he will hold at Saturday's ceremony.
The 530-carat First Star of Africa was unearthed in 1905, when South Africa was under British rule, and donated two years later by the colonial government to King Edward VII for his 66th birthday.
"All the mineral wealth in South Africa belongs to the people of South Africa, not the British palace," lawmaker Vuyolwethu Zungula, who heads the African Transformation Movement (ATM), a small opposition party, told AFP on Thursday.
"People had to die, blood had to be spilt for those diamonds to find their way to Britain."
The First Star of Africa was cut from the 3,126-carat Cullinan Diamond, the biggest diamond ever mined, weighing 621 grammes in its raw state.
It was sent to Amsterdam where it was cut into two major stones, seven gems and 96 brilliants.
Many were set in the crown jewels -- the second-largest stone adorns the front of the Imperial State Crown -- and the rest were given to other members of the Royal family.
Since the end of apartheid there have been repeated calls for the gems to be returned, which have grown louder around flashpoint events such as Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to the country in 48 years in 1995.
Meanwhile international momentum has grown for the restoration of African artefacts from former colonial powers such as Britain, France, Germany and Belgium.
"We want #StarOfAfrica...together with ALL the rest of the diamonds, gold & other minerals, that the #BritishEmpire stole from SA back, WITHOUT COMPENSATION," firebrand politician Carl Niehaus tweeted after Elizabeth's death in September.
"One does not pay for stolen goods!"
An online petition urging King Charles to return the Cullinan diamonds has been signed by more than 8,000 people.
"As South Africans, we would like our diamonds returned and displayed in a South African museum," the petition reads.
P.Costa--AMWN