Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-12-05 i Mercury

ASPEN Pharmacare Holdings has concluded agreements to acquire Sandoz (China) Pharmaceutical and its portfolio of products for up to €92.6 million (R1.88 billion), and to dispose of four anaesthetic products on sale in Europe. “The acquisition is an attractive opportunity for Aspen to take a major step to increase our presence in China. Sandoz’s portfolio, pipeline, well-established infrastructure, and experienced team, will expand Aspen’s footprint and capabilities in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market, and strengthen our foundation for growth in China,” said Aspen CEO Stephen Saad. Aspen said the payment of €18.5m would be contingent upon the sales performance of the pipeline products to be rolled out at Sandoz (China). Aspen did the transaction through its wholly owned subsidiary Aspen Global Incorporated (AGI), which is incorporated in Mauritius.…

ALEXANDER Forbes Group Holdings (Alexforbes) lifted profit from continuing operations by an extraordinary 66% to R339 million in the six months to September 30, a performance that saw the share price drop 11.83% to close at R5.07on the JSE yesterday. The interim dividend was lifted by 33% to 20 cents. Headline earnings a share from continuing operations was up 68% to 27c. “We continued to implement our strategy and are experiencing the results of disciplined execution as we focus on engaging with our members. Alexforbes is attracting new business alongside high retention rates and competitive investment returns affirming the appeal of our value proposition to the market,” CEO Dawie de Villiers said in a statement yesterday. On the outlook, he said the core business had been reconfigured, was…

A RECENT exposé by a Swedish newspaper has reported that criminal organisations are exploiting fake Spotify streams as a means to launder money. According to the Svenska Dagbladet report, criminal gangs in Sweden are allegedly using the popular music streaming platform to legitimise funds acquired through illegal activities such as drug trafficking and contract killings. The modus operandi outlined in the investigation suggests that criminals convert their ill-gotten gains into Bitcoin before funnelling the funds into purchasing false Spotify streams for songs associated with artists having connections to the criminal networks. By doing so, they reportedly launder their money through the payouts received from the streaming platform. The report asserts that the method has been prevalent in Sweden’s crimi- nal underworld since 2019, with certain gangs implicated in violent incidents,…

THE AFRICAN Development Bank (AfDB) is drawing up plans for $1 billion of upgrades to a dozen hydropower plants in Africa, bank officials said yesterday, boosting capacity that is often unable to meet the continent’s surging power needs. Ranging from Nigeria’s largest 760 megawatt (MW) Kainji plant, to South Africa’s 2.7MW Sol Plaatje, the refurbishments are expected to yield an extra 570MW across the 12 projects. Work on the first plants is expected to start by June next year. Plants in Sudan, Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo will benefit. The upgrades would “accelerate the energy transition” away from fossil fuels, João Cunha, head of the renewable energy division at AfDB, said. Although only a fraction of its potential is harnessed, hydro-power is a cornerstone of renewable…

FORMER eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede has written to the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, asking him to review the step-aside policy which prevents her from chairing party meetings in the eThekwini region. Gumede said her corruption trial has dragged on for four years and the continuous delays have prevented her from speaking publicly or from performing her duties in the ANC’s eThekwini region – one of the party’s biggest regions in the country. The step-aside rule is an internal policy of the party, which requires members charged with corruption or other serious crimes to voluntarily “step aside” from participation in party and government activities, or face suspension. The policy was adopted in 2017 at the party’s 54th national conference. Gumede and 21 others are facing charges which include conspiracy to commit…

When compared with the mainstream media’s obsessively critical focus on Watergate 50 years ago and Trump’s presidency, its coverage of the Biden regime’s determination to transform the US into a police state is curiously muted. If Nixon or Trump had referred to Democrats as “extremists” and “domestic terrorists” who “do not share our beliefs in democracy”, as Biden has twice branded Trump supporters (September 2022 and 2023), the mainstream media would have been apoplectic. Yet Biden’s indictment of half the US population has been accepted by the mainstream media as a legitimate narrative. Under its Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trains citizens to identify “radical” conservatives who might be pro-life, anti-Covid vaccines or deniers of the January 6 “insurrection”. Like the Stasi…

A DOCUMENT comes this way, setting out in fascinating detail some facets of life in this province many decades ago. Older readers will recall the late-night pie carts at which residents of Durban and Maritzbug would nourish themselves after a night out. Durban’s pie cart was known as “Mick’s” and was set up every evening near the old station. Maritzburg’s was known as “Twiggy’s”, after its Cockney proprietor, John Humphrey “Twiggy” Branch. Really ancient readers might recall the visit in 1947 of King George VI and others of the Royal Family, including Princess Elizabeth, who subsequently became queen. Now according to this account, Twiggy, who ran an upmarket catering business as well as the pie cart, won a contract to put on a lavish banquet in the Maritzburg City Hall…

The Law Society of SA (LSSA) has noted the importance of a short-term intervention to tackle the litany of problems at the beleaguered Master’s Offices throughout the country. “We want South Africa to work. We want to make it work for the vulnerable and the citizens of South Africa,” LSSA’s national chairperson of deceased estates committee Hussan Goga said. “We want to assist not only regarding the administration of estates, but it is our duty as citizens of this country to help. We make a plea that we are prepared to assist.” He made the statement as LSSA presented a 10-point short-term plan to address the challenges that have faced the Master’s Office over the years. “What the department can do is to deliver tangible results by these interventions. At…

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) says hundreds of fraudulent cases have been referred to the SAPS following preliminary investigations. It said 449 cases were referred to the SAPS in 2022/23; 270 cases in 2021/22; and a total of 172 in 2020/21. The RAF said it successfully halted fraudulent claims valued at R2.6 billion from being paid out over the past three financial years. This was as a result of the work done by the RAF’s forensic investigation department, in partnership with law enforcement agencies, it said. It said a total of 713 claims were repudiated in 2022/23; 448 in 2021/22; and 4 172 in 2020/21. In the past three financial years, there had been 32 arrests – 15 in 2022/23; 12 in 2021/22; and five in 2020/21. The highest sentence…

THE leader of a prison gang will have to serve a life sentence for twice raping a fellow inmate after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria turned down his appeal against his conviction and sentence. While the victim gave a detailed account of how he was raped on two occasions, inmate Sipho Mthimunye, 35, simply denied that it ever happened. The victim, who told the court that he was terrified after the first rape, said he was raped yet again the following evening. He was at first too afraid to tell anyone, as Mthimunye and his fellow gang members threatened that they would kill him. Mthimunye was earlier convicted by the Benoni Regional Court and sentenced to life imprisonment on both counts of rape, but turned to the high court on…

The former editor of the Cape Argus, Independent Media executive and media manager for the 2010 World Cup, Jermaine Craig, died suddenly yesterday. In a statement released yesterday, family spokesperson Jovial Rantao said Craig collapsed at the gym before he was rushed to the Mediclinic Sandton, where efforts to revive him failed. “Information regarding the funeral and other arrangements will follow. We ask that you keep Michelle, Matthew, Christian, Jermaine’s mom, and the rest of the family in your prayers. “The family request privacy and deeply appreciate your messages of support during this difficult time,” said Rantao. Craig was a seasoned journalist and media and communications professional, having begun his career as a general news reporter at the Cape Argus in 1995. He would later move to The Star, where…

The eThekwini Municipality says its inner city closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are fully operational. In a statement, the municipality said that as it geared up to welcome thousands of holidaymakers over the festive season, safety measures have been intensified, including ensuring that the City’s CCTV cameras in the inner city were all working. The process of repairing and upgrading the CCTV cameras started in September. EThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said that the City met its target of completing the CCTV camera repairs as promised by November 30. “We are pleased with the work undertaken and have ensured that all CCTV cameras in the city centre are in operation ahead of the festive season,” Kaunda said. The upgrade of technology to the surveillance cameras will also improve traffic flow management, emergency…

THE fact that COP28 will host the first-ever day dedicated to health and the first climate-health ministerial meeting speaks volumes. After all, the Conference of the Parties (popularly known as COP) have been meeting under the aegis of The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change since 1995 when it first convened in Berlin. Talk about leaving the most vulnerable people behind but hats off to UAE’s COP28 Presidency for getting this one right. On Sunday it was the ministerial indaba bringing together ministers of health, environment, climate, finance and other sectors with the mandate of coming up with more ambitious action to address the rapidly growing burden of climate change on health. Dubai hosted the COP28 UN High-Level meeting on building climate-resilient health systems through partnerships like the Alliance…

WITH Bayer facing investor pressure to resolve thousands of lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller after being hit with $2 billion (about R37bn) in verdicts in recent weeks, all eyes are on a trial wrapping up in Philadelphia. Plaintiffs have won the last four trials over their claims that the product causes cancer, each time securing a larger verdict. Those losses ended a nine-trial winning streak for Bayer, shattering investor and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over. In the ongoing case, which kicked off November 6 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania resident Kelly Martel claims she developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma from using Roundup. Her case will help test whether plaintiffs’ recent victories were an aberration, or the payoff from favourable court rulings and a…

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed yesterday, despite the country’s continuing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The trial was suspended two months ago due to the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s bloody October 7 attack on southern Israel in which 1 200 people were killed and 240 more kidnapped, according to Israeli officials. Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s right-wing Likud party, is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his relationship with several wealthy personalities from whom he received gifts. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing, saying gifts were only accepted from friends and without him having asked for them. | AFP…

WASHINGTON: White House budget director Shalanda Young warned in a letter to Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional leaders yesterday that the US was running out of time and money to help Ukraine fight its war with Russia. President Joe Biden’s administration in October asked Congress for nearly $106 billion (about R1.9 trillion) to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security. Republicans control the House of Representatives with a slim majority, and funding for Ukraine has become politically controversial with some right-leaning lawmakers. | Reuters…

Rising from the dead is an art newly perfected by the Blitzboks, who recovered from a tough season in which they won only 12 of 30 matches to nail six out of six in Dubai at the weekend. Their timing couldn’t have been better because the Blitzboks have now gone from pariahs to the hottest ticket in town – just in time for this week’s Cape Town Sevens. A key in turning it around was the decision of head coach Sandile Ngcobo to bring through younger talent. One of them was Masande Mtshali. The 20-year-old scored his first try in a Blitzbok jersey on Saturday night in Dubai. The try was sublime. Trailing New Zealand by five points in their Pool A decider, Selvyn Davids caught the Kiwis napping from…

ADvTECH said yesterday its CEO of 10 years, Roy Douglas, would retire and Geoff Whyte had been appointed as the successor with effect from March 1, 2024. Douglas would retire from his role on the board from February 29, 2024, but would remain with the group for a period after he leaves the board for a seamless handover, a statement said yesterday. Whyte holds a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and has more than 30 years’ experience across various industries. He has executive experience in global organisations including Unilever, PepsiCo, Cadbury-Schweppes, SABMiller and Nando’s, including in South Africa, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, the rest of Africa, the Middle East and sub-continental India. ADvTECH chairperson Chris Boulle said: “We are confident that Geoff’s…

ELLIES Holdings said yesterday it would not require a rights issue and the terms of its acquisition of Bundu Power had been revised. Ellies announced the plan to acquire Bundu on February 1, 2023, for R207.6 million, and it planned a R120m rights issue at the time. The company and sellers of Bundu Power had now entered into an amended and restated share purchase agreement, Ellies said yesterday in a statement. Bundu Power specialises in the distribution and rental of generators as well as solar and ancillary products, providing alternative energy solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, hospitality, agricultural and recreational users. Ellies is repositioning itself as a smart infrastructure business. The acquisition would be funded via five interim R1m payments to be made to the sellers in proportion to…

THE YEAR 2023 was the year of artificial intelligence. It began with the ChatGPT noise and it’s ending with red flags from the company, OpenAI, that brought us ChatGPT. As if the world has not heard enough about AI, a company formed by former Apple employees dropped an AI hardware, the Ai Pin. Developments throughout 2023 were just the beginning of the AI revolution. In 2024, we will probably see more AI innovations that will come with amazing hardware. I’m particularly looking forward to the Apple Vision Pro. I’m on record as saying it will be one of the hardware tools that will unleash the metaverse revolution. Apple has promised us the first version of the Apple Vision Pro before the end of 2024. It’s a device that will be…

THE STEEL industry is the backbone of an economy – it forms the foundation of any modern economy and is essential to every sector. Without a healthy and vibrant steel industry, South Africa will not be able to integrate and develop itself or the rest of the continent. The steel sector – and South Africa – urgently needs clarity on policies, consensus on action plans and realised deliverables on the ground in order to instil confidence in the viability of the country to boost competitiveness and attract local and foreign direct investment. The recent announcement by ArcelorMittal South Africa on the potential closure of its operations in New- castle and Vereeniging, as well as ArcelorMittal Rail and Structural, presents a major setback to the base of the industrial sector and…

The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says it has noticed a spike in schemes and scams that leave South Africans out of pocket, including con artists impersonating companies, investment and financial scams and pyramid schemes. The NCC said it had partnered with SA Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) and added the Yima tool to its website to enable consumers to protect themselves before parting with their money. The Yima website allows consumers to check if a website is legitimate, verify the identity of a person they are dealing with, report scams and to find scams that are currently active. Nazia Karrim, head of product development at SAFPS, said Yima online reporting tools showed that advanced-fee and investment scams have been the most prevalent, making up 33% and 24% of incident volumes, respectively.…

The Constitutional Court judgment which yesterday found that the Electoral Amendment Act which allows for independent candidates to contest for seats in Parliament and provincial legislatures, was constitutional and lawful, has provided the necessary certainty for preparations for the 2024 elections. “The Electoral Commission will immediately put in place the regulations necessary to give practical effect to revisions of the electoral system in the light of the judgment handed down by the apex court. “The Electoral Commission has always been of the view that the distribution of seats of the National Assembly between the compensatory tier and the regional tier was rational and satisfied the constitutional requirement for general proportionality. The important confirmation of the Constitutional Court is that the contestants in the regional tier of the elections are subject…

The DA has written to mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to request that he convenes an urgent, mass public meeting, as the water crisis in parts of eThekwini is untenable. The mayor must now personally account to the public. The DA has repeatedly called on the eThekwini Municipality leadership to present and implement a tangible turnaround strategy for its ailing Water and Sanitation (EWS) unit, to no avail. The City is failing in its mandate and is in serious need of rescuing. Thousands of disgruntled residents are affected by this dysfunctional municipality. Dozens of suburbs are experiencing prolonged outages for weeks on end with no firm commitment or clarity from EWS as to the cause and solutions. The communities of Trenance Park, Valleyview-Redcliffe, Parkgate, Ottawa, Riet Rivier, Dawncrest, Tea Estate, Phoenix, uMhlanga,…

It is unacceptable that more than 18 banks manipulated the rand between 2007 and 2013, making more than R1 trillion in profits, and yet faced only minimal fines. This amounts to a slap on the wrist and sends a message that corporate wrongdoing has no real consequences. What is even more surprising is the silence of politicians and commentators who were quick to condemn former president Jacob Zuma for raising the issue of rand manipulation. South Africans paid the price for the malpractice, with higher fuel prices and interest rates affecting everyone, especially the poor. It is frustrating that the ANC, in particular, is not taking swift and decisive action to hold those implicated accountable. It is no secret that the party has close ties to the banking establishment, with…

Parliament has ordered Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to reopen the nominations for the panel of experts that will review and make recommendations on the electoral system to be used by the country in the 2029 elections. This comes after MPs were not happy with the list of candidates that included only two women. Motsoaledi also came in for a tongue-lashing for missing the deadline by six weeks to request Parliament to approve the electoral review consultation panel and for not furnishing the home affairs portfolio committee with a report prior to their meeting. He came to the committee with 12 names from a list of 20 shortlisted candidates. The amended Electoral Act empowers the minister to establish a panel within four months after the commencement of the act after…

A one-year-old boy sustained moderate injuries and was taken to hospital after he was bitten by his family’s pet pitbull. The incident took place at a private residence in the Hillary area yesterday at around 8am. According to Cait Hageman, spokesperson for DRK Tactical, they received reports of a child that had been bitten. “On arrival paramedics found that a one-year-old baby boy had been bitten by the family’s pet pitbull,” Hageman said. “It is alleged that the pitbull had been kept separate from the family as it was known to bite, however, it got out of its closure when a household member opened the door by mistake.” Hageman said the baby was assessed and found to have sustained a significant bite and was stabilised on scene by paramedics…

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Immigration Act was inconsistent with the Constitution in that it infringed on a foreign national’s right to human dignity. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed down the unanimous judgment yesterday. According to the act, foreign parents or caregivers, even if they work in South Africa, had to stop working and leave the country if they ended their relationship with their spouse, which resulted in them leaving their South African-born children, sometimes without care or financial support. The matter was brought to the apex court by parents Tereza Rayment and Richard Anderson, who were both foreigners, split from their South African partners. They were both granted a spousal visa in terms of Section 11(6) of the act and had been residing and working in South…

EFF leader Julius Malema appeared to largely single out the IFP for criticism when addressing his supporters, labelling it as a “tribal party” whose leaders are “obsessed” with bodyguards rather than service delivery. Malema was speaking at the red berets’ party forum in Pietermaritzburg at the weekend. The IFP’s national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa yesterday issued a statement saying they had been inundated with media enquiries to react to Malema’s “utterances at a rent-a-crowd event held in Pietermaritzburg this past weekend”. Hlengwa said as a general rule “they do not respond to madness”. The animosity between the two parties started in January when the EFF cut ties with IFP coalitions in the province, plunging eight municipalities into disarray and affecting another six where the two parties had voted together. However, MP…

“I CAN imagine the deep sense of shock that they experienced when cliques of students began abusing me with their swearing … Our youths, our sons and daughters (are) of a warrior nation and they had gone to the university to commemorate one of their greatest warriors in Zulu history, and the simple fact of the matter is that this violence so carefully plotted, so carefully orchestrated and so cunningly executed produced the inevitable counter-violence (Tom Lodge and Bill Nasson, 1991:162–163).” These were the words of the 55-year-old IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi after the slaughtering of youth by other youth, his supporters. The statement he made was enough to distinguish between fact and fiction, between propaganda and reality. He said his supporters were shocked that he was abused. He did…

Israel ordered people out of swathes of the main southern city in the Gaza Strip yesterday as it pressed its ground campaign deep into the south, sending desperate residents fleeing even as it dropped bombs on areas where it told them to go. Israel’s military posted a map on X with around a quarter of the city of Khan Younis marked off in yellow as territory that must be evacuated at once. Three arrows pointed south and west, telling people to head towards the Mediterranean coast and towards Rafah, near the Egyptian border. The Israeli military’s chief Arabic- language spokesperson later said in a post on X that the central road out of Khan Younis to the north “constitutes a battlefield” and was now shut. Access would be permitted on…

At least two people died and the runway of one of India’s busiest airports lay submerged due to torrential rain, as two southern states braced yesterday for a severe cyclone likely to hit in the next 24 hours. Cyclone Michaung was expected to make landfall on the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh today, the country’s weather office said, with sustained winds of 90-100km/h gusting to 110km/h. Two people were killed when a wall collapsed because of heavy rain in the Chengalpattu district of neighbouring Tamil Nadu state, joint director of the state disaster management department, C Muthukumaran said. In Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, the state’s largest city and a major electronics and manufacturing hub, cars were swept away as floodwater flowed through the streets, while its…

MANILA: A manhunt was underway for the attackers who bombed a Catholic Mass that killed four people in the southern Philippines, a senior military officer said yesterday. The bomb went off on Sunday during a service in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the bombing, shortly after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said “foreign terrorists” were responsible. Marawi is in an area known as Bangsamoro, an underdeveloped Muslim region in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, that has for decades battled with lawlessness, separatist violence and clan conflicts, prompting concern that it could become fertile ground for extremism. | Reuters…

Tokyo: US and Japanese rescuers found five bodies yesterday following the crash of an Osprey military aircraft last week off Japan with eight crew on board, the US military said. Hours after the aircraft disappeared on November 29 near the island of Yakushima, Japanese first responders had located and recovered the first known casualty. The latest discovery, which follows a large-scale joint search operation that has lasted since the incident, meant that two crew members remained unaccounted for. Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, citing unidentified sources, said what appeared to be the front part of the aircraft, possibly including the cockpit, had been found. | AFP…

The Proteas have selected a trio of exciting, fresh talents in Tristan Stubbs, Nandre Burger and David Bedingham in the Test squad to face India later this month, while Temba Bavuma and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will play no part in both white-ball series. Stubbs, Burger and Bedingham are all uncapped at Test level. Western Province captain and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne’s brilliant domestic form has also earned him a recall to the Test squad at Heinrich Klaasen’s expense. “It is the start of a new ICC World Test Championship cycle and that itself is a huge incentive for everyone,” said Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad. “The playing field is level and we want to try and ensure we make a strong start to this sequence here at home against one…

NAMPAK has become the latest South African company to be afflicted by a currency crisis in the lucrative but volatile West African market of Nigeria, after it reported R1 billion in foreign exchange losses from the populous country. MultiChoice and MTN are among the other South African companies to suffer exchange rate headwinds in Nigeria. The exchange rate losses for Nampak amounted to R1bn in the year to end September, it reported yesterday. The bigger Nigerian foreign exchange rate losses brought Nampak’s total forex losses for the period to R1.2bn. At the centre of the Nigerian exchange rate losses has been a persistently weaker naira currency and a dollar shortage that has impacted a wide variety of companies. “The Nigerian losses were caused by a consistently weakening Naira in…

The lack of a binding legal definition for greenwashing presents a hurdle to regulators tackling investment funds that exaggerate their sustainability credentials, a global securities watchdog said in a report yesterday. Trillions of dollars have flowed into funds that tout their environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, but IOSCO, which groups securities regulators from across the world, said greenwashing was already being compounded by related “malpractices”. The report based on a survey of IOSCO members to coincide with the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai, said most jurisdictions do not specifically define greenwashing in legally binding provisions. Some regulators are already fining firms for greenwashing. Regulators face data gaps, concerns over the quality of benchmarks used to rate the ESG aspects of companies, IOSCO said. It said that planned…

CAPITAL Appreciation is bucking the economic slowdown after it lifted revenues for its software and payments businesses and lifted headline earnings a share by 105%, with R535 million available for reinvestment as at September 2023. Revenues for the year to September 30 quickened 3% to R554.2m, although earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) declined 8% to R126.9m. Headline earnings firmed by as much as 108% to R80.6m, partly a consequence of a three-month contribution from recently acquired Dariel Solutions. There was also the impact of higher finance income and a reduced expected credit loss raised after tax for GovChat, amounting to R9.4m. With the stronger headline earning per share, Capital Appreciation closed 9.09% higher on the JSE at 1.20 yesterday, but is nearly 20% softer in the…

ON NOVEMBER 30, 2022, the tech world witnessed the birth of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that has, in a span of a year, revo- lutionised our interaction with technology. Initially launched as a research preview, ChatGPT distinguished itself by engaging in conversational dialogue with context awareness, a step beyond the directive responses of its predecessors​​. Up until then, this sort of tech- nology was not available to the public at large. Within just two months of its release, ChatGPT saw more than 100 million monthly users signing up for the service, outpacing even social media giants like Facebook and Instagram. Its appeal lay in its user-friendly interface and its ability to conduct convincingly real conversations, a leap forward in human-AI interaction​​​​. This marked a shift in generative…

THERE’S an unforgettable scene in the original Ghostbusters, where this guy is chased by a devilish animal and screams in full view of elite New York patrons eating at a lavish restaurant. Alarmed, the customers at the tables look up and give their full attention for five seconds, and then resume enjoying their meals. And that just about sums up how negatively resilient the human mind is. It wants to forget the bad and the ugly as quickly as possible. During the first two weeks after Hamas “attacked” Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flattened just about half the buildings and humans in Gaza, the world watched, wide-eyed, tearful, anguished, disgusted and furious, convinced they won’t get away with this. For sure, the world will not remain silent. The Arabs…

How to know your broken heart (wounded spirit, troubled soul, inner-person) is healing after trauma: You have grown in gentleness towards yourself and others. Your level of reactivity has lessened. It has not disappeared, but lessened. Your ability for objectivity, seeing yourself within a greater context, has increased. You find yourself shedding unnecessary weight that is upon your shoulders. You are unburdening yourself of loads that were never legitimately yours. You are slowly becoming an expert in your own behaviour. You are focussing less and less on what other adults do or don’t do and more on your own motivations and behaviour. You are making yourself get out more, even when you’d prefer not to be out and about. You are urging yourself to engage, especially with family members and…

Russia’s BRICS Sous-Sherpa Pavel Knyazev said his country will continue to build on the gains made by South Africa as Russia takes over the chairship of the bloc that is aimed at fostering the ambitions of the Global South. He was addressing a gathering of BRICS ambassadors in Durban as South Africa closed out its term as chair, which included successfully hosting the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg with the Johannesburg II Declaration that came out of the summit highlighting the progressive thinking of the bloc. Knyazev said Russia was grateful for the personal contact and ingenuity shown by South Africa in chairing the BRICS grouping in 2023. “We will not produce any surprises for anyone, we will move on into our chairship with an open heart and an open…

South Africans can look forward to cheaper fuel prices in the next few months but are warned this trend will not last. The December fuel prices announced yesterday showed petrol (93 and 95 ULP & LRP) will decrease by 65 cents a litre, diesel (0.05% sulphur) will go down by R2.35 a litre, and diesel (0.005% sulphur) by R2.41 a litre. This is in line with PwC’s latest Economic Outlook which focuses on the fuel price forecast and states that fuel should, on average, cost less in Q1 2024 (January to March) than it currently does. Based on current assumptions, fuel prices are then expected to slowly start climbing again. “Our forecasts suggest petrol could cost 0.6% more next year at an average of R23.24/litre while diesel could be 0.6%…

Two women, who allegedly discharged their firearms to celebrate the life of a suspected criminal at his funeral, have been arrested. The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (the Hawks) confirmed the court appearance of Bongo Yonela Dipa, 24, and Chumisa Phunguzwa, 35. The duo appeared in the Tsolo Magistrate’s Court charged with the unlawful discharge of a firearm, possession of unlicensed firearm and attempted murder. “The two women were arrested by the Provincial Cash-In-Transit (CIT) Task Team of the Serious Organised Crime Investigation of the Hawks in the early hours of November 30,” said spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana. It is alleged on October 15, Dipa and Phunguzwa attended the funeral of an alleged cash-in-transit robbery suspect that occurred at N2 Tsolo junction. “The pair were reportedly among the…

Several road accident fatalities and multiple injuries have been reported by emergency services in KwaZulu-Natal since December 1. IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Dylan Meyrick said IPSS responded to multiple vehicle accidents along the KZN North Coast over the weekend. “Sadly, many of these accidents resulted in fatalities,” he said. Two people died in two separate accidents on Friday while another person died in an accident on Sunday night, he said. Meyrick urged all road users to be vigilant on the roads during the festive season and drive safely. Mi7 National group managing director Colin David said Mi7 also responded to multiple car crashes in and around Pietermaritzburg on Saturday. David said this comes at the start of the festive season when emergency services see an increase in road incidents every…

SOUTH Africa finds itself grappling with a sinister force that threatens the very fabric of its society – human trafficking. The recent interception of 443 children who were being brought into the country from Zimbabwe is a stark reminder that South Africa has become a hot spot for this heinous crime. The incident underscores the urgent need to fortify border patrol mechanisms to prevent the infiltration of illegal foreigners, particularly those engaged in human trafficking. The Border Management Authority must be equipped with the necessary resources, training and manpower to effectively monitor and secure the nation’s borders. Human trafficking, a global epidemic, takes a devastating toll on its victims, with women and children disproportionately affected. In South Africa, the problem is exacerbated by socio-economic challenges, making vulnerable populations easy prey.…

Eleven hikers were found dead yesterday and another 12 were missing after a volcano erupted in Indonesia, with rescuers racing to carry injured and burnt survivors down the mountain on foot. Rescuers worked through the night to find dozens of hikers stranded on Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra after it spewed an ash tower 3 000m – taller than the volcano itself – into the sky on Sunday. The dead hikers were found near Marapi’s crater after the 2 891m volcano rained ash on nearby villages, according to a local rescue official. Twelve were missing, three more were found alive and 49 had safely descended from the crater, some with burns and fractures, the official said. “Until now I have not received any information,” said Dasman, father of…

The Emirati president of the UN’s COP28 talks says he respects climate science, after a leaked video showed him declaring no science says phasing out fossil fuel will achieve climate goals. Sultan Al Jaber also repeated his past statements that a phase out of fossil fuels was “inevitable” as he hit out at “repeated attempts to undermine” the work of the COP28 presidency. Jaber, who is also the head of UAE national oil company Adnoc, acknowledged that global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 43% by 2030 to achieve the goal of limiting warming to 1.5ºC from pre-industrial levels. The Guardian newspaper published a video on Sunday showing Jaber in a testy exchange with former Irish president Mary Robinson with him saying, “there is no science … that…

Bissau: The president of Guinea-Bissau issued a decree yesterday dissolving the parliament after an attempted coup. Violence had erupted between members of the national guard and special forces of the presidential guard on Thursday night in the capital Bissau, leaving two dead before the army ordered its forces back to barracks. President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was in Dubai at the COP28 climate conference, arrived back on Saturday and announced an “attempted coup” had prevented him from returning earlier. Yesterday he said there had been “complicity” between the national guard and certain “political interests”. | AFP…

Châteauvilain: A teenager suspected of killing his parents and setting their home on fire was arrested at the weekend, plunging a village in south-eastern France into a state of shock. A 15-year-old, named only as Valentin, was arrested on Saturday after two bodies were discovered in the family’s burnt-out house in Chateauvilain, a village of nearly 800 people between Lyon and Grenoble. The teenager has admitted to killing his parents, according to the public prosecutor’s office. The corpses bore “gunshot wounds to the skull” and one also had chest wounds. | AFP…

Swiss-based Sauber could surprise with their new Formula One name for next season after the departure of Alfa Romeo as title sponsor, according to team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. The team’s deal to race as Stellantis-brand Alfa Romeo, after previously competing as Sauber, ended this year and they will become the Audi factory outfit from 2026. “In Formula One the team name is also depending from commercial partnership,” Alunni Bravi said at the Autosport Awards event on Sunday night. “On the December 10, as soon as the FIA will publish the entry list we will of course announce a new team name. I think it will be a surprise. “We cannot wait to start the partnership with our new partners. We will have, I think, a really fresh approach in…