Mercury的2021-09-07目录

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za THE FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) recovered some lost ground to the third quarter of 2021, data showed yesterday, pointing to a level of resilience among consumers and consumer spending. The index came in at -10 index points, having slipped from -9 to -13 index points during the second quarter of 2021. This was despite violent protests and rampant looting that tore through KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng during July points to a level of resilience among consumers, and by extension consumer spending, during the third quarter of 2021, the report said. “While the latest CCI reading of -10 remains well below the average CCI reading (of +2 since 1994) and, therefore, denotes depressed consumer confidence levels, it is nevertheless quite close to the reading of -9 recorded just…

Marchelle Abrahams marchelle.abrahams@inl.co.za Local rapper Cassper Nyovest has kept his fans on tenterhooks after saying over the weekend that he had a big announcement in store. Hours after keeping them in suspense, he took to his various social media channels to release details of his new alcoholic drink called Billiato, which is set to launch in November. The accompanying teaser video has Grootman spitting bars with the accompanying caption: “November 2021! I would like to introduce to you, Billiato, a taste of wealth. This is for the dreamers! The future billionaires! Here’s a toast to us. This summer is gonna be lit!!! This is all we gonna be drinking!!! Luxury!!!” In his rap verse, he references Keith Bothongo, a South African property entrepreneur and billionaire. Hours after making the announcement,…

Kaley Cuoco had an “ironclad prenup in place” before marrying Karl Cook. The 35-year-old actress recently announced her split from Cook, 30. An insider has confirmed that Cuoco had a prenuptial agreement in place before they tied the knot in 2018. A source told Us Weekly: “Her assets are protected.” The Big Bang Theory star and Cook released a joint statement earlier this month, confirming their split. However, the duo also insisted there was no “anger or animosity” towards each other. Their statement read: “Despite a deep love and respect for one another, we have realised that our current paths have taken us in opposite directions. “We have both shared so much of our journey publicly so while we would prefer to keep this aspect of our personal life private,…

Sibusiso Mboto and Kailene Pillay OPPOSITION parties have vowed to approach the courts following the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC’s) decision to re-open the window for political parties to register their candidates. The DA and IFP have reacted with anger at the IEC’s decision, saying the move was meant to give the ruling party a lifeline to contest the elections. However, the ANC, which stood to lose many municipalities because of its failure to meet the deadline for registering some of its candidates in different municipalities in August, has welcomed the IEC’s decision. IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini yesterday announced that September 18 and 19 would be used for voter registration, and that it was also “reasonably necessary” to amend the timetable and to reopen candidate registrations. The announcements followed…

MARGARET DU PREEZ | Durban IT IS with amazement that I am watching water run down my road for the past eight weeks. Reported repeatedly. I have spoken to a different supervisor twice after holding on for five to 10 minutes for them to speak to me. The ward councillor has tried to expedite the matter to no avail. Other residents have also rung up to query why it is not being repaired. However, I must pay the new water charges while Metro Water lets water run freely down the road. It is going to destroy the curbs which will never be fixed. They fixed another water leak in my road on June 21. The pothole from that repair has never been fixed from well over a year…

GLEN CHRISTIE | Durban North THE sudden parole of former president Jacob Zuma by an allegedly tainted Correctional Services head Arthur Fraser, smells of some underhanded activities taking place similar to that of Schabir Shaik, and this action and chain of events will slowly turn us into a banana republic, that is making a mockery of our judicial system. With Zuma refusing to be examined by a private doctor, brings everything into more dispute. With the amount of current corruption within the ANC, one wonders just how much money was used to get this type of medical parole implemented, coupled with the fact that Fraser’s contract term of office expires shortly. We all know that blood is thicker than water. We all also knew that Zuma would use…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-Leigh.solomons@inl.co.za SMALL Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said her department was processing 21 requests for assistance, valued at R19 million, from businesses affected by the July unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Ndabeni-Abrahams revealed this when responding to parliamentary questions from the EFF’s Suzan Thembekwayo. Thembekwayo had asked about relief packages the department provided to small businesses affected by the recent violence. In her written response, Ndabeni- Abrahams said the department had established a business recovery support programme which focused on uninsured small enterprises affected by the unrest in KZN and Gauteng. The programme, she said, catered for small enterprises that required funding for working capital (including stock), equipment (including delivery vehicles), furniture and fittings. The unrest, which claimed the lives of 360 people, broke out after the arrest…

Somewhere in Cape Town there is perhaps someone who has a fondness for art, especially a work named Ophelia that was inspired by Impressionist Claude Monet. That is what artist Willem Pretorius deeply hopes. It is too horrific for him to imagine anything to the contrary – that an artwork worth nearly R100 000 (100cm by 80cm) ended up as nothing more than firewood on a chilly evening in Tamboerskloof in the Cape Town CBD. The painting was stolen out of Pretorius’s vehicle, but other valuables were not taken. Pretorius said he was not normally a portrait painter, preferring landscapes, but it was one of three paintings he had entered in the bi-annual Portrait Awards. The portrait is of a friend swimming in their pool at their Rosendal home in…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za THE CRL Rights Commission will today continue with the second leg of its engagements looking into the recent unrest that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) said that it had been working with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to facilitate interventions in line with their respective mandates. During the first leg of engagements, the commission said racism, unemployment, poverty and the under-performing economy were some of the challenges that led to the violence. CRL Rights Commission spokesperson Mpiyakhe Mkholo said they were largely focused on facilitating the resolution of friction between and within identified communities. Mkholo said that the commission would ultimately bring matters to the attention…

THE Life Esidimeni inquest has heard how relatives of mentally ill patients complained about patients being moved to other facilities. The inquest, which resumed yesterday, is being heard virtually by the High Court in Pretoria. It aims to investigate whether anyone should be held criminally liable for the deaths of 144 mentally ill patients who died after being moved to various Gauteng NGOs from Life Esidimeni facilities. The move was part of the Gauteng Department of Health’s cost-cutting measures. Yesterday, a former nursing manager at Waverley Care Centre, one of several Life Esidimeni facilities housing mentally ill patients, testified. Zanele Buthelezi worked there when the project was undertaken to move thousands of mentally ill patients from Life Esidimeni to NGOs. She faced questions from a legal representative of the former…

Siseko Maposa DISCUSSIONS around energy shortfalls and Eskom’s ineptness have become commonplace in South Africa, so much so that an abundance of short-sighted and limited understandings exist relating to the causes and effects of the country’s energy crisis. The energy crisis has a lot to do with the improper management of the power utility on the one hand and decades of poor government intervention on the other. However, the matter should not be divorced from the historical development of the sector. The years leading up to the democratic transition of 1994 still matter in the discussion of South Africa’s current energy problems. One major consequence of apartheid policies for the energy sector was that in the 1990s South Africa remained fairly closed off from the era of energy sector liberalisation…

Rio de Janeiro: Fighting record low poll numbers, a weakening economy and a judiciary he says is stacked against him, President Jair Bolsonaro has called huge rallies for Brazilian independence day today, seeking to fire up his far-right base. With polls putting Bolsonaro on track to lose badly to leftist ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in next year’s presidential elections, Bolsonaro is hoping to use the rally to energise his supporters. And September 7 is shaping up to be a turbulent day, with pro- and anti- Bolsonaro demonstrations scheduled in some of the country’s biggest cities. “The time has come to declare our independence for good, to say we will not allow some people in Brasilia to impose their will on us,” Bolsonaro told supporters last week in a…

LONDON: Belgium and Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has asserted that comparing him with five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Portuguese maestro Cristiano Ronaldo is “useless” as the 36-year-old is among the greatest players of all time. “Don’t ever compare me to Cristiano Ronaldo, never,” Lukaku said at the weekend. “Cristiano Ronaldo is, for me, in the top three best players in the history of football,” he continued. “What he has achieved in football today for players of my generation is something exceptional.”…

Fourteen members of the Palestinian security forces will face a military trial after being formally accused yesterday over the killing of prominent activist Nizar Banat, whose death sparked protests and global condemnation. Banat – a leading critic of the Palestinian Authority and its 86-year old president Mahmud Abbas – died in June after security forces stormed his home in the flashpoint city of Hebron and dragged him away. A post-mortem found he had been beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, with less than an hour elapsing between his arrest and death. Banat’s family has said it has no confidence in the PA’s capacity to deliver justice, and called for an international probe. Ghasan Khalil Banat said his brother’s “murder” was a “tragedy for our family, but also…

HOUSTON: Four people, including two children, were found dead with gunshot wounds in a burning home in Houston, police said, adding that they were investigating the deaths as a possible act of domestic violence. Firefighters who responded to the blaze in south-west Houston found the people after they extinguished the fire, Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department said at a news conference. The adults, a man and a woman, appeared to be in their 50s, and the children, a boy and a girl, appeared to be in their early teens, he said, adding that the people had yet to be identified.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za STEINHOFF International Holdings took a 39 percent nosedive after the Western Cape High Court ruled that the liquidation hearing of the company could be heard. Justice Hayley Slingers dismissed the opinion that the court had no jurisdiction to wind up the respondent. “The point in time that this court does not have jurisdiction to limine (a limine is a motion, discussed outside the presence of the jury, to request that certain testimony be exclude) the respondent, being an external party, is dismissed with costs, which costs shall include the costs of two counsel and which shall be paid jointly and severally by the respondent, the first intervening party and the second intervening parties, the one paying to absolve the other,” said Justice Slingers. The ruling means…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za BIDVEST Group is hoping for another good financial year after it lifted the total dividend for the year to June 30 by 113 percent to 600 cents, chief executive Mpumi Madisa said yesterday. The group’s Services, Automotive, Commercial Products and Branded Products divisions delivered their best-ever performances, and headline earnings a share (Heps) was up 114 percent to 1 183.3c. Trading profit rose 48 percent to R8 billion. Normalised Heps was up 26 percent to 1 292c. Madisa said in a telephone interview that there were some factors which could boost prospects in the new financial year, including benefiting from the first full 12 months of operations of the new LPG (liquid petroleum gas) facility in Richards Bay, and…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-leigh.solomons@iinl.co.za Political parties across the board yesterday paid tribute to Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, the leader of the National Freedom Party (NFP), who died yesterday at an uMhlanga hospital, Durban, after being admitted two weeks ago. She was 59. Magwaza-Msibi cut her political teeth in the IFP and rose through the ranks to become the party’s national chairperson. The former mayor of Zululand District Municipality, founded the NFP as a breakaway from the IFP in 2011. Her move cost her former party when the NFP became kingmaker in hung municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, and later dislodged the IFP as the official opposition in the provincial legislature. She served as deputy minister of science and technology after the 2014 elections. Magwaza-Msibi suffered a stroke later in 2014 and resigned as an MP…

A newly discovered hat with DNA evidence proving it belonged to legendary European statesman and general Napoleon Bonaparte was previewed by auction house Bonhams in Hong Kong yesterday. Described by Bonhams as the “first hat to bear the Emperor’s DNA”, it is on display in Hong Kong before it moves to Paris and then London, where it will be auctioned on October 27. The hat, one of the iconic bicornes often seen in depictions of Napoleon on the battlefield, had been bought by its present owner at a small German auction house that did not know at the time it had belonged to the emperor. “It was purely a chance encounter,” said Simon Cottle, managing director for Bonhams Europe. The buyer realised it had inscriptions and other characteristics suggesting it…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban REGULAR writer Mr Mahomed Saeed’s poignant memoriam for his beloved son, Maseehullah, must have brought tears to so many thousands of helpless people who have lost their loved ones, especially to the Covid-19 scourge. How to handle death is not found in any school syllabus, and when it strikes, we are all left dumbfounded, thunderstruck and frozen. The ever-increasing number of friends, relatives and neighbours succumbing to the virus is gradually desentisising us to the arrival of the angel that removes the soul from the body. The feared Angel of Death, like God Himself, has no religion. That task of demarcation has been left to us, mediocre-minded mortals, to invent. It’s a universal truth that when we are at a funeral, the mesmerising fascination…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff GIVEN the increasing degree to which thought control is being dictated by a narrative determined by globalist oligarchs, the warning by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority against the use of ivermectin in treating Covid-19 (The Mercury, September 6) is not surprising. What needs to be appreciated is that science is not the driver of this narrative. Instead it is an alliance between the super-rich globalist oligarchs whose financial influence on the WHO and the FDA ensures the desired narrative. For example, Dr Scott Gottlieb, former director of the FDA, now sits on the board of Pfizer. Sustaining the narrative of Big Pharma are Big Tech media. Since August, Twitter has been partnered with Associated Press and Reuters to combat “misinformation” which deviates…

| African News Agency (ANA) Kenya’s first national wildlife census has revealed the country’s rarest animal, the roan antelope. Kenya, as is the case with the entire East African region, is world-renowned for its rich wildlife from lions to elephants and buffaloes. In order to assist in conservation efforts to protect its wildlife, the Kenyan government launched a two-month exercise to determine the number of land and aquatic wildlife the country possesses, Kenya Wildlife Service said. The census involved methods such as aerial counting – using aircraft and drone technology, indirect dung counting, a ground census, waterhole census, and even camera traps, according to Kenya’s National Wildlife Census2021. The census has revealed that Kenya has the fourth largest population of Savanna elephants in the world, with more than 36…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE decision by the Department of Correctional Services to grant former president Jacob Zuma medical parole looks set to be challenged in court, following growing outrage over his pending release. Civil society organisation AfriForum is considering legal action and is consulting with its lawyers about a possible review application, while the DA is demanding access to medical reports used to grant parole. Yesterday, lawyers for AfriForum were preparing legal papers to be served on Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and Arthur Fraser, the national commissioner of Correctional Services, in their bid to force them to rescind the parole decision. AfriForum head of policy and action Ernst Roets said they are set to serve Correctional Services with a letter of demand, to explain their actions…

Nonhlanhla Nozizwe Hlatshwayo nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za A grieving mother of a 5-year-old girl whose body was found in a daycare centre’s pit latrine is calling on the police to investigate the matter. The Department of Social Development in KwaZulu-Natal reported that the child’s body was recovered in a pit latrine after she went missing at a daycare centre in Thornwood, Ward 15 in the eThekwini Municipality. “It is alleged that last week the child was reported missing after children were taken to an ablution facility during the day. “The teacher did not notice that the child had not returned to the classroom, but only realised during the counting process. After a few minutes, she went out searching for the child, but in vain. “A long search for the child failed and her…

But couldn’t we take in say just 100 Afghans as a token of our humanity? Koert Meyer IT IS so good that our media brings to light the atrocities happening all over the world and in our midst. The dark days of slavery, persecution, Nazism and apartheid, in many cases, became such acceptable scourges that strongmen claimed it was “the law of nature” which permitted “the strong to rule the weak”. Some take this a step further and claim it is also the right of the rich, the clever, the highly placed, the influential, the untouchables, to appropriate to themselves the right to treat the lesser among us in the most despicable manner. The way our Home Affairs Department handled the case of the Ugandan gay couple, Herbert Mafadi…

The restoration of Britain’s iconic “Big Ben” tower at the Houses of Parliament has moved closer to completion, with the return of the hands on its famous clock, now restored to their original Prussian blue colour. The 177-year-old tower has been swathed in scaffolding since 2017 when craftsmen began work to refurbish its stonework, reglaze the four clock dials, and repaint the ironwork. The £80 million (R1.6 billion) restoration project is due to be completed next year, when the famous 13-ton Big Ben bell, which has been largely silenced while the work has been carried out, will chime again. “While we are all longing for the sound of Big Ben marking the time, and for the scaffolding to be removed from the tower, I think we will all agree at…

KIEV: Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass street protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year, was sentenced to 11 years in prison yesterday, the state-run Belta news agency and the Belarusian opposition reported. Kolesnikova, 39, was detained after ripping up her passport to prevent Belarusian security forces from deporting her in a stand-off at the Ukrainian border in September. The musician-turned-politician became one of the faces of the mass opposition movement during the August 2020 presidential election, which the protesters say was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s grip on power. Lukashenko has been in office in the former Soviet republic since 1994 and has faced fresh Western sanctions since launching a violent crackdown on his opponents. Kolesnikova and another senior opposition figure, Maxim Znak, were charged with extremism…

CONAKRY: The rebels in Guinea announced that a government of national unity will be created in the country, Kalenews portal reported yesterday. Coup leader Mamady Doumbouya said the new government will be created following consultations and will lead the transition period, according to Kalenews. The rebels also urged high-ranking officials to hand their vehicles and travel documents over to secretariats of agencies they worked for. Guinean rebels said ministers were not allowed to leave the country, adding that curfew in mining areas was lifted.…

Ashfak Mohamed ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za THE last time the Blue Bulls faced the Sharks, they lost 35-28 at Kings Park on 6 August. On that Friday night, the Pretoria side surged into a 20-10 lead after 30 minutes, courtesy of a Johan Goosen goal-kicking show and tries by Elrigh Louw and Lizo Gqoboka. But they lost their way in the second half, with Stedman Gans’ yellow card followed by three tries in seven minutes from Kerron van Vuuren, Grant Williams and Murray Koster as the Sharks claimed a well-deserved victory. And while the Bulls were full value for their 48-31 semi-final win over Western Province last Friday, there are still a few issues that they need to address ahead of Saturday’s Currie Cup final against the Durbanites at Loftus ... While…

The number of people with dementia worldwide is estimated to rise to 78 million by 2030 and to 139 million by 2050, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, more than 55 million people (8.1% of women and 5.4% of men over 65 years) are living with dementia. It is caused by diseases and injuries that affect the brain, such as Alzheimer’s or a stroke. The condition affects memory and other cognitive functions, as well as the ability to perform tasks. The report said the world was failing to curb the condition because only a quarter of countries had a national policy for supporting people with dementia and their families. Further, the global cost of dementia was projected to increase to $1.7 trillion (about R24 trillion)…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za A FUGITIVE sought by the UK for retrial over a raft of sexual offences, involving young boys, has received a reprieve at the Constitutional Court in his legal battle to stave off extradition. Lee Nigel Tucker enjoyed victory against the Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the apex court yesterday. The two parties had squared off over whether a magistrate that presided in his pre-extradition hearing committed a grave irregularity against Tucker. This irregularity, Tucker argued, was the magistrate’s refusal to hear expert evidence on his claim that he would not get a fair trial in the UK. The former helicopter pilot and IT consultant alleged that the country’s laws discriminated against gay men. The ruling by the magistrate resulted in Tucker being detained…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West When I last drove along the highway from the airport in Cape Town, I couldn’t help notice this massive signboard “If you drink and drive, you are a killer”. I agree. Unfortunately, alcohol consumption and driving motor vehicles don’t, pardon the expression, “mix well”, and this has led to a great deal of human tragedy, or carnage, on our roads. Fact number one is that, apart from the human cost, there’s an enormous burden placed on our already fragile economy. In 2016, the economic loss ascribed to motor vehicle crashes amounted to R306 billion per annum. Fact number two is that about 14 000 people die annually (as at 2016), which translates to 25.1 deaths per 100 000 of the population. Fact number 3,…

A CURIOUS feature of the anti-vax campaigns in the US is the suggestion that vaccination against the Covid-19 virus induces magnetism in the human body, allowing the individual to stick knives, forks and spoons to the face. Yet, so far, it seems there’s no conclusive proof. Not that long ago, it was tested before a committee of the Assembly of the state of Georgia – and the spoons and things failed to stick. Recently, according to The Huffington Post, Dan Ball, a host for the conservative One America News – one of the anti-vax outlets – interviewed Amelia Miller, a woman who claims she became a human magnet after getting the Pfizer vaccine. Miller, who Ball introduced as a law and political science graduate in northern California, said she…

HARD-EARNED lessons I have had to try and teach my sons and which I am still trying to learn include: When push comes to shove all you have is your word and your integrity. Treasure both. Sadly, you will discover that some people are not as committed to honesty and integrity as they may declare and you may think. Everything has a price and for some even their integrity has a price tag. Try to be crystal clear and forthright about expectations in all areas of your life. The more you leave to trust and to chance the more potential you will face in having to clear things up later. We all teach others how to treat us. Don’t begin or test out behaviours and potential habits others are trying…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za The pupils who attacked a fellow pupil outside a school in KwaDabeka have apologised to her. This was confirmed by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education yesterday. Last week education authorities and the wider community were alerted to an incident where a female pupil was physically assaulted by a group of pupils outside the school premises. The incident was captured on video. The video went viral prompting Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu to issue a statement condemning the incident. The department noted that while the incident involved pupils from Ilanga Secondary School, the attack did not happen within the school premises. “The parents of the victim and the perpetrators came to the school. The chairperson of the SGB (school governing body) also came. The police who had seen the…

Calls for new convicted offender bill to be signed Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za CIVIL rights organisation Action Society has demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa urgently implement the Convicted Offender Amendment Bill. In a letter, sent by the organisation’s attorneys to The Presidency, the commissioner of police, minister of police, and the commissioner of correctional services, it said the implementation of the act would ensure the continuation and maintenance of a convicted offender index in the National Forensic DNA Database of South Africa (NFDD). It gave the department until September 20 to respond, failing which it said it would proceed with legal action against the government, including a declaration of rights in terms of Section 38 of the Constitution. Action Society spokesperson Elanie van der Walt said the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures)…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE Road Accident Fund (RAF) must pay up, even though it is appealing a judgment that ordered it to pay outstanding money into the trust account of a Centurion law firm that attached its assets. Earlier, Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Peter Mabuse had strong words for the RAF chief executive, Collins Letsoalo, who said Ehlers Attorneys was suspected of “impropriety”. This was in an application launched by the RAF to suspend all writs issued against it by the firm in the bid to retrieve its money, pending the outcome of an SAPS investigation into the firm’s trust account. Letsoalo had claimed there was impropriety regarding the firm’s trust account, which the company denied. The firm said it had no idea it was being investigated until it…

THE decision of the Gauteng High Court to give foreign-trained doctors the green light to write the theoretical and practical board exams will go a long way to dealing with the shortage of doctors in the public health system. The ruling will also be welcomed by overworked health-care workers who are currently battling the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Independent Media reported yesterday that about 109 foreign-trained doctors can now write the theoretical or practical components of their board exams in order to work in the country of their birth. These doctors have been unable to work following red tape by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA), which prevented them from practising in the country because of certain policy guidelines. Some doctors have been languishing at home since 2019, after returning…

The death toll at a construction site where a building collapsed in Uganda’s capital yesterday has increased to six and seven people have been rescued, a police spokesperson said yesterday. Luke Owoyesigyire, deputy police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan Police, said in a statement that three more bodies were retrieved from the rubble after the collapse of a four-storey building in Kisenyi, in the downtown Kampala area. “Six people have been confirmed dead after the collapse of the four-storey building. Among those confirmed dead are five males and one female,” said Owoyesigyire. Irene Nakasiita, spokesperson for the Uganda Red Cross Society, said that seven people, including two girls aged nine and five, have so far been rescued. The Ugandan police, fire brigade and Uganda Red Cross response teams yesterday continued with…

History teacher Christophe Naudin’s life was shattered six years ago when what should have been a pleasant evening out at a concert became the target of jihadists in the most deadly attack in peacetime France. Some 130 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the multi-pronged gun-and-bomb assault in Paris on November 13, 2015, on the Bataclan concert hall, six bars and restaurants and the perimeter of a sports stadium. Naudin hopes that the trial of suspects that begins tomorrow in Paris will help people better understand what happened that night. “What matters to me is what the victims, their parents and loved ones will say, so that people truly understand,” he said. “And I’d like this to be instructive: who were the terrorists, why did they do that, how…

LONDON: Leading shipping associations have proposed creating a global levy on carbon emissions from ships to help speed up the industry’s efforts to go greener. With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and the sector is under growing pressure to get cleaner. For the first time, the International Chamber of Shipping and Intercargo jointly proposed a levy based on mandatory contributions by ships trading globally, exceeding 5 000 gross tonnage, for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.…

THE Springboks have been heavily criticised for swimming against the stream, but their Rugby Championship Tests in Australia will present the perfect opportunity to show why they should keep heading in their own direction. There has been a lot said about the Boks’ style of play. Building up to and during the three-Test Series against the British & Irish Lions, they were labelled “one-trick ponies”, while their style of play was tagged “simple”, “negative” and “boring”. New Zealand coach Ian Foster even said that South Africa’s second match against the Lions – which they won 27-9 to take the series to a decider – “put him to sleep” and that their rivals are “almost afraid to play”. All that talk, talk that continues to do the rounds despite the Springboks’…