Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-08-06 i Mercury

In late April, an advertising billboard went up in San Francisco featuring an inconspicuous phone number and an ominous question: “Still hiring humans?” The billboard quickly went viral on social media when a man recorded a video of himself calling the number, billboard in the background. The call was answered by a surprisingly human-like greeting: “Hey, um this is Bland AI, I’m an AI agent that makes millions of phone calls for businesses and in any voice.” The man in the video went on to have an interactive conversation with the voicebot, which had the uncanny intonations and other speech dynamics of an ordinary human being. This latest trend in artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated the break-neck speed at which this technology is developing. While the human-like agent from the…

This was decidedly a match of two halves. The Sharks down 17-3 at half-time against the Pumas last Saturday. The Sharks up 44-41 in the closing seconds. A scrum, Sharks’ put-in. The scrum collapses, the Sharks are penalised. The Pumas put over the kick – 44 each, full-time! What an extraordinary yet entertaining game! Stardom for “ugly” Peggy, a 5-year-old “pugese”– a cross between a pug and a Chinese crested dog – won the title just over a year ago of “Britain’s Ugliest Dog”. That’s not surprising. Her tufty features surround a long red tongue that hangs out the whole time. Now, according to the BBC, she’s a Hollywood star. Peggy appears alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the latest Marvel superhero film, Deadpool & Wolverine. She was…

Besides the various reasons for opposing the policy of National Health Insurance (NHI), one that appears to have slipped under the radar arises from the significance of the Health Patient Registration System, as reported in The Mercury of August 5. Nicholas Crisp, acting director-general for the NHI, states that the contracting units for primary health care will require private health providers to log their patients’ details onto the national digital health system. This, Crisp boasts, will enable medical history and treatment to be captured wherever they (the patients) are in the country by any treating physician. That means the privacy of one’s medical health record can be accessed by a bureaucrat. It means the private relationship of a patient with his or her doctor is violated. It also facilitates the…

THE targeted killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the failure of global leaders to rein in apartheid Israel’s murderous rampage in Gaza raises serious questions about the international legal system. Lawless events across the globe expose the shortcomings in the implementation of international law. The killing of Haniyeh is shocking but was expected as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed that the Israeli regime would continue its devastating campaign in Gaza until Hamas was eliminated. Global leaders have been relatively silent about condemning Haniyeh’s murder. The silence on such acts of lawlessness from the world leaders is extremely worrying. Until the unruliness, extra-judicial killings, and forced and illegal disappearances of human beings are effectively, independently and evidently investigated and perpetrators are held fully accountable, the law will…

The eThekwini Municipality is embroiled in a legal battle over who should manage the Papwa Sewgolum golf course in Clare Estate, Durban. DGC Golf Development, which has been managing the golf course since 2022, when their contract with the municipality ended, have approached the Durban High court for relief and to prevent the City from appointing a new contractor. The company yesterday told Durban High court Acting Judge Jabu Thobela-Mkhulisi that they had been making monthly payments to the City despite the municipality having started an eviction process. The municipality said that it had signed over the running of the golf course to a new contractor. However, DGC maintains that since the contract with the City ended in 2022, it has remained on the property, handling daily business operations while…

Aimeè Stollie from Môrester Akademie has been selected as the top student of SEAmester 2024 after returning from a 10-day voyage aboard the SA Agulhas II as part of SEAmester VII – South Africa’s Class Afloat programme. Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier said he recently met two Western Cape Grade 12 learners, Aimeè and Akhona Zondo, on board the SA Agulhas II. They were joined on the trip by Dr Mariëtte Wheeler, a National Teaching Award winner in 2021, finalist for the Varkey Foundation’s 2023 Global Teacher Prize, and now curriculum planner for marine sciences and the Agricultural subjects in the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). “I am thrilled to share that on the final evening of the voyage, Aimeè was selected as the top student of SEAmester 2024.…

A report by the eThekwini Municipality’s finance committee has outlined the extent of the consumer debt faced by the metro, with just R17billion of the R31.9bn owed is considered collectable. The report details the increase in debt between April and June this year. For the month of June, the debt stood at R31.9bn and about R13.9bn is classified as “representing difficulties in collections”. Opposition parties have criticised the rising debt, saying the City was failing to tackle minor issues like the reading of meters and is exacerbating the problems on non-payment. “The total debt of R31.9bn includes about R13.9bn which represents difficulties in collections. There are numerous challenges (which) include slow, non payment legal disputes and customer financial affordability,” reads the report. Of the total debt, only R17bn is still…

From 15 days to just 23 hours – that’s the median turnaround time for full TB diagnosis that includes resistance testing to the most important TB drugs, according to a new groundbreaking study. Published in the Open Forum Infectious Diseases journal last week, the findings represent a significant leap forward in the fight against TB. The study was co-led by Helen Cox, a professor in the Division of Medical Microbiology at UCT, and is part of the TB-CAPT Consortium, funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. Globally, the largest barrier to providing effective treatment for the 410 000 individuals estimated to develop multidrug or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB) annually is rapid and effective diagnosis; only two in five are diagnosed with rifampicin resistance and receive any second-line TB…

ALLEGATIONS of racism have surfaced in various schools, highlighting the urgent need for parents to play a proactive role in preventing such behaviour among their children. The belief that behaviour is learnt is at the core of this issue. If parents focus not only on raising respectful, hardworking children but also on nurturing learners not to harbour racial prejudice, we can cultivate a more inclusive, harmonious school environment. One stark example was at Table View High in Cape Town, where a substitute teacher allegedly used the k-word during a matric history lesson on Black Consciousness. Such incidents underscore the importance of addressing racism head-on. Similarly, the Department of Basic Education in Gauteng suspended the headmaster of Pretoria High School for Girls following a racism-related incident. These events reveal systemic issues…

The Algerian and Taiwanese boxers embroiled in a dispute over gender in sport at the Paris Games were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after a sex chromosome test ruled both of them ineligible, the International Boxing Association (IBA) said yesterday. A storm erupted over the participation of Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting at the Olympics after Khelif’s Italian opponent pulled out of their bout less than a minute into the fight after taking a barrage of punches. The boxing competition at Paris 2024 is taking place under International Olympic Committee rules after the IOC stripped the IBA of its status as the sport’s global governing body over governance and finance concerns. In a shambolic press conference, IBA chief executive Chris Roberts said he could not disclose the…

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the delivery of 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to front-line troops, state media said yesterday, which Seoul said could be used to threaten South Korea. The launchers have been described as a modern tactical attack weapon personally designed by Kim and ready to be transferred to Korean People’s Army units on the border with the South. North Korea said it test-fired a new tactical ballistic missile last month. Kim blamed the US for creating a “nuclear-based military block” that forced him to strengthen military capabilities. North Korea has condemned joint drills between the US and South Korea. | Reuters…

LAGOS: Protests in Nigeria over the soaring cost of living ebbed yesterday, with only a few hundred people turning out following a deadly crackdown by security forces. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the capital Abuja, Lagos and other big cities during the protests against economic hardship and crime, which started last week. Amnesty International said at least 13 people have been killed in clashes with police. A tough police response and a call for a protest pause by President Bola Tinubu appeared to have dampened the demonstrations, which came after data showed inflation hit a 28-year high of 34.19% in June. | Reuters…

Paris Saint-Germain have signed highly rated 19-year-old Portuguese defensive midfielder Joao Neves from Primeira Liga side Benfica on a contract until 2029, the Ligue 1 champions said yesterday. Neither PSG nor Benfica disclosed the financial details, but The Athletic reported that the deal was worth around €60 million, plus €10m in potential add-ons. A product of the Benfica academy, Neves has made 75 appearances for the club across all competitions and has been capped nine times for Portugal. He won the Primeira Liga in the 2022/23 season and Supertaca Candido de Oliveira last year with Benfica. “Joao is one of most talented players in Portugal and internationally,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said in a statement. “He was so passionate to join PSG and determined to fight for the jersey,…

Some people are so angry and have been angry for so long that they do not want to be without it. It is the only way they know how to relate to the world. Life does not have to be this way for the angry person. There is always the grace to forgive and the choice to live in peace with all people everywhere. Obvious manifestations of anger are outbursts of temper, resentment and the failure to forgive. These are the easy clues to detect an angry person. More subtle expressions of anger are deep cynicism, estrangement from family and friends, the desire to self-isolate and the loss of faith in loved ones. These are as much signs of anger as is cursing at traffic. Anger begins as scaffolding surrounding…

How many more Hamas commanders need to be eliminated before Iran learns its lesson? Like flies these tyrants are dropping, and every time it happens, Islamic communities call it an escalation. Let me inform the readers what a real escalation is: what happened on October 7, was a serious escalation. The missile and drone attacks on Israel from Iran earlier this year was an escalation. Killing kids playing soccer in northern Israel – that, my friends, deserves more attention and condemnation. But you see, folks, the media loves to lie. Like a cancer flowing through its veins, it is infected with arrogance and obsessed with death of the Jews. It is hell-bent on wiping out an entire nation without any real justification for the barbaric actions. Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi…

New minister exudes a freshness but also a naivety, probably due to inexperience IT’S always a hard act to follow in the footsteps of a respected foreign policy icon whose stance in bringing balance, equity and a sense of moral relevance to a range of issues endeared her to millions at home and abroad. When President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Ronald Lamola as the new minister of international relations and co-operation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in July to replace the enigmatic Dr Naledi Pandor, did he envisage policy continuity to stem an inevitable cajoling from his main GNU partner, the DA, rightly or wrongly perceived as pushing the foreign policy interests of the West, judging by its stance on the vexed issues of Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza…

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended yesterday as she fled more than a month of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government. Hasina had sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed. “We want a corruption-free Bangladesh, where everyone would have the right to express their opinion,” said Monirul Islam, a 27-year-old man among thousands in the streets near the prime minister’s palace. Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government. “The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many…

Hurricane Debby made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast early yesterday, knocking power out for hundreds of thousands of people as the US southeast braced for potentially historic levels of rain and major flooding. Debby barrelled ashore in the state’s Big Bend region as a Category One hurricane, the lowest on a five-stage scale, fuelled by an unusually warm Gulf of Mexico. Governor Ron DeSantis warned yesterday that there was a threat of “significant flooding events” in the coming days. More than 300 000 customers have lost electricity so far, according to tracker poweroutage.us. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of life-threatening storm surges along the Gulf coast, with 1.8m to 3m of inundation above ground level in some areas. The storm will probably cause catastrophic flooding with “potentially historic heavy…

WASHINGTON: Secretaries of state from five US states urged billionaire Elon Musk yesterday to fix social media platform X’s AI chatbot, saying it had spread misinformation related to the November 5 election. After Democratic US President Joe Biden stepped aside as presidential candidate on July 21 and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris, the chatbot, Grok, falsely told social media users that Harris had missed the ballot deadline in nine states. “This is false. In all nine states the opposite is true,” an open letter from the officials from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and New Mexico said. The officials said X should direct Grok users to CanIVote.org, a non-partisan website on US voting information. | Reuters…

BRASILIA: Armed men backed by farmers in trucks and tractors attacked indigenous people reclaiming land in Brazil’s farming state of Mato Grosso do Sul at the weekend, injuring 11 of them. Officials said yesterday that five of the 10 people injured on Saturday were taken to hospital after the first attack in the Douradina district. As Brazil’s farm frontier has advanced towards the Amazon, disputes over land claimed by indigenous people have multiplied. Violent land disputes have increased with a debate over the movement to limit indigenous claims to ancestral lands in a Conservative Congress backed by Brazil’s powerful farm lobby. | Reuters…

In a televised statement last week, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari solemnly held up a fragment of the rocket that was allegedly fired by Hezbollah in Madjal Shams, northern Israel. I use the word “allegedly” with the scepticism it deserves because the statements from any army that bombs hospitals, schools and tents sheltering displaced civilians cannot be trusted. With a straight face and total lack of expression or emotion, Hagari claimed that Hezbollah purposely targeted the soccer field that killed several young people, including children. Holding up a piece of charred metal like an absurd prop to underline his point, he also expressed his condolences and well wishes to those injured and vowed that retribution would be paid. The IDF, true to its word, carried out retaliatory attacks on…

THE NATIONAL roll-out of a three-tiered response plan to prevent the spread of the mpox virus in South Africa will remain a critical undertaking in our health-care sector this year. This follows the AU’s recent approval of $10.4 million (R192.2m) to support the Africa CDC’s (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) intensified efforts against the outbreak. A response plan that emphasises the urgent need for collaboration between health-care leaders, private sector stakeholders, and public entities will be required to address this public health crisis effectively. If we can focus on diagnostics (detection), therapeutics (treatment), and vaccines (prevention) we can prevent the needless loss of life as a result of the mpox outbreak across different regions in Africa. Monitoring and tracking how many people have tested positive will equip us with…

KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has said that the eThekwini Municipality is the biggest contributor to crime statistics in the province and is closely followed by the uMgungundlovu District Municipality. Mkhwanazi, speaking at an anti-crime summit, said 40% of the crime in the province takes place in eThekwini. “There are lot of activities happening in and around this district. “In this past financial year, 40% of our cases came from here, so if we can deal with the eThekwini problem, followed by uMgungundlovu, we would have won the war. “It is more peaceful to live in uMzinyathi, Harry Gwala or uMkhanyakude districts than to live in eThekwini. “eThekwini and uMgungundlovu account for the biggest numbers of illegal settlements, biggest number of liquor stores, biggest number of all the wrong things,…

BABY Grace, found abandoned among rubble on a building site last year, has laughed for the first time and is starting to crawl, after having grommets to help resolve her hearing difficulties. “Grace was named by the Netcare Pretoria East Hospital team who treated her when she was found on a cold and rainy day by a construction worker, crying from under a pile of rubble,” said Elmari Murphy, who takes care of Grace at the House of Kindness, a temporary safe house. Dr Heinrich du Toit, a paediatrician practising at the hospital, recalled Grace was “a tiny little baby”, when she was found and brought to the hospital. Estimating her age was not straightforward, as it appeared Grace may have been born prematurely at around 36 weeks or perhaps…

The exEcutor of a deceased estate has failed in her attempt to get a pension fund to pay a death benefit into a third-party bank account. Deputy Pension Funds Adjudicator, Naheem Essop, ordered the Old Mutual Superfund Pension Fund to pay the deceased’s death benefit into the estate bank account. Following the member’s death on September 24, 2000, the death benefit was transferred to the fund, the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (OPFA) said. The fund resolved to pay the benefit to his surviving children in equal shares. The complainant, who is the executrix of the deceased’s estate and represents his beneficiaries, claimed the Old Mutual Superfund Unclaimed Benefits Preservation Pension Fund had failed to pay the death benefit of R599 440 to a third party as nominated by…

CHINA’S cashless society has set its sight on becoming the world’s biggest economy through a drastic acceleration of the latest set of reforms and modernisation of the world’s second-largest economy. The third plenum of the 20th central committee of the communist party of China (CPC), from July 15 to 18 – resolved to deepen reforms comprehensively. This is in order to advance Chinese modernisation, according to a communique from the third plenary session of the CPC’s central committee chaired by the secretary-general, Xi Jinping, who is also the country’s president. The important address that revealed plans to put China on a new economically upward trajectory was delivered by the CPC’s Central Committee head, President Xi, in person. The revelation of the plans has set tongues wagging globally. It shows that…

Lebanon yesterday received emergency medical supplies to equip its hospitals for possible war injuries and Beirut airport was teeming with people trying to leave the country amid fears a full-scale conflict was on the horizon. Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week following the killing in Tehran of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ head, and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs that killed a top commander in Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah. Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to retaliate against Israel for the killings, prompting concerns that the multiple fronts being fought in parallel to the Gaza War could escalate into a full-blown regional war. Hospitals in southern Lebanon, where most of the tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli military have taken place, are worn down by a…

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday vowed “swift criminal sanctions” following an emergency meeting on the far-right riots that broke out across England last week over the murder of three children. The prime minister met ministers and police chiefs to discuss how to quell the violence that first broke out in Southport, northwest England, last week. At the weekend, several police officers were injured and scores of people were arrested as mobs throwing bricks and flares clashed with officers, burnt and looted shops, and smashed the windows of cars and homes. Starmer said that specially trained police officers were ready to be deployed. Clashes erupted in Southport after three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.…

Istanbul: Türkiye’s government yesterday called officials from Instagram to a meeting, four days after blocking the social media platform for unspecified reasons. Instagram, suspended in Türkiye since Friday, has been accused by the authorities of censorship and of failing to remove posts the authorities deemed offensive. An estimated 50-60 million of Türkiye’s 85 million inhabitants subscribe to Instagram. This is not the first time that Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to social media sites, including Facebook, X and Wikipedia. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is regularly accused of muzzling freedom of expression. | AFP…

KYIV: Ukraine yesterday denied any involvement in northern Mali fighting that led to the death of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters last month, describing Mali’s decision to cut diplomatic ties over the incident as “short-sighted and hasty”. Mali has announced it is ending diplomatic ties with Ukraine, reacting to comments by Ukraine’s military intelligence that Malian rebels had received the “necessary” information to conduct the attack. Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels said they killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over days of fierce fighting in the north of the country | Reuters…

The SA20 will enter its third season from January 9 next year, having injected a heavy dose of excitement into South African cricket over the last two years, with the third edition promises nothing less. The Sunrisers Eastern Cape backed up their inaugural win of the tournament with yet another impressive showing in the second edition. They walked all over the Durban Super Giants to clinch their second title by a massive 89 runs. Under the leadership of Aiden Markram, they have set the bar very high, and for the past two seasons many have tried to dethrone them but without any success. The Eastern Cape side have laid down their marker as the undisputed heavyweight champions of SA’s premier T20 competition. It will come as no surprise that heading…