Índex per 2023-06-28 a Mercury

THE SOUTH African government has taken another step in the future energy security direction with a commitment to co-operate with Germany on green hydrogen projects. Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, yesterday signed a joint declaration of intent to establish the South African German Hydrogen Task Force. The signing took place virtually during a bi-national commission between South Africa and Germany. Green hydrogen, which is made by splitting water using renewable energy, is one of three ways South Africa is aiming to shift its economy away from a reliance on coal for its electricity generation. The Joint Declaration of Intent is not legally binding nor does it have financial implications for South Africa,…

THE SOUTH African Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) yesterday lifted its forecast for the 2023 harvest to 16 354 million tons – the second largest on record. Improved yield in both yellow and white maize had led to the ongoing upgrade, it said. Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) said yesterday that the CEC’s lifting of the country’s 2022/23 commercial maize production estimate by 1% from last month was not surprising. He said this crop was 6% more than the 2021/22 season and the second-largest harvest on record. “The expected ample harvest is primarily on the back of large yields, as the area planted is slightly down from the 2021/22 season. About 8.64 million tons is white maize, with 7.71 million tons being…

KWAZULU-NATAL ANC regions that were harbouring ambitions of becoming metros and wanted some strategic nodes in eThekwini to strengthen their plans have been told by the provincial structure that no areas in KZN’s economic hub are up for grabs. This was revealed by ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo at a media briefing yesterday that followed after the governing party’s meeting with its alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP. He was commenting on some of the proposals before the Municipal Demarcation Board regarding the changing of municipal boundaries. Among the proposals was a plan for some parts north of the Durban city centre, including King Shaka International Airport and Dube Trade Port, falling to KwaDukuza Municipality which is under the Ilembe District Municipality, while Mkhambathini Municipality wanted parts of Cato Ridge’s…

RECENT media reports have highlighted sewer overflow and related problems in several areas of our city. We, the residents of Bakerville Gardens in Newlands, are no strangers either to this stinky situation. Two community members, namely Nuven Govender and Rahual Bantho, have contacted the relevant eThekwini department, for action, without much success beside having their correspondence acknowledged. In response to Govender’s written complaint and follow-up, a blue truck did turn up once, about two weeks ago, in an apparent attempt to dredge the mess, but left without success. So, as I wrote this on Sunday, June 25, having just driven through the sewage overflow on my way home, the situation remained unchanged. While I understand that ours is just part of a bigger problem, we, as loyal ratepayers, do deserve…

Numerous leaders in powerful positions have warned us about the catastrophe that lies ahead. As a state, we are on the verge of an implosion, as the entire nation falters in every avenue of governance. It is indeed a grim and sad reality that a decline in political trust is gravely undermining our fractured democracy. Scandals and sleaze have taken a massive toll on public confidence in our battered politics and compromised politicians. It is a strange paradox of our diluted democracy that we have the conditions and tools to enable our political system to work better than ever before, yet all that is glaringly evident today is its dysfunction, a prelude to chaos. As our battered economy affects the masses, we hover on the brink of collapse, we have…

THE City of Joburg must pay more than R7.8 million to a then heavily pregnant teenager who fell into an open manhole while walking along a street in Eldorado Park at night. The then 16-year-old, who was in Grade 10, presumably bumped her head against a sharp object inside the manhole, and suffered severe head injuries. She now suffers from bilateral blindness, constant headaches and seizures. She turned to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, where she claimed more than R9m in damages from the Joburg Metro. She blamed it for the incident and it was argued on her behalf that the Metro had a duty to cover the manhole or at least warn the public about the danger. Acting Judge AM van der Merwe agreed and found the Metro to…

Living with the pain of arthritis in the knee joint can rob people of a good quality of life, but with the help of robotic surgery this is becoming a thing of the past. Fortunately, technology used in knee replacement surgery has taken a great leap forward with robotics assisting orthopaedic surgeons to achieve ideal placement for more natural feeling joints. “Wear and tear of our articular cartilage is a natural process, and when this leads to pain and poor quality of life it is called osteoarthritis,” said Dr Graham Bayes, an orthopaedic surgeon practising at Netcare Mulbarton Hospital in Johannesburg. In the general population, the overall lifetime risk of requiring a knee replacement is about 30%, although as average life expectancy improves the percentage becomes higher for an ageing…

THE CITY of Tshwane has confirmed that cholera cases are on the decline, with no deaths recorded in Hammanskraal since the weekend. Spokesperson Sipho Stuurman said: “We have not recorded any deaths since June 24, and, currently, the number of patients is only 30, which is a decline in what we used to see in the previous weeks.” He said the number of deaths at Jubilee Hospital amounted to 33. Stuurman echoed mayor Cilliers Brink’s assertions during the Supreme Cadets Institute’s Achievers Walk held in honour of the late Tiego Moseneke at the weekend, saying work was continuing behind the scenes to improve the water quality in the area. Hammanskraal was the epicentre of the outbreak, claiming a large number of the deaths. Brink said at the walk: “Every loss…

Generators. Replacement of dolphin stadium screen. Lightning protection. Energy-saving projects. Fireline removal and installation. Replacement of current existing slides that are corroded. In addition, an amount of R18m will be invested to assist with the repairs and maintenance of capital infrastructure used by the park, excluding Sea World infrastructure. Head of economic development Shunnon Tulsiram told Exco members that uShaka had battled during the Covid-19 pandemic, and had presented options to the City to stabilise its operations but the City did not have the budget to fund some of those plans. He said it was important to remember that close to 1 000 workers worked at the entity, that some of its staff members had gone without a salary increase during the Covid-19 period, and that many people depended on…

How SARB can contribute to a more equitable and prosperous South Africa The implications of South African Reserve Bank (SARB) decisions on workers and black South Africans are significant, considering the history of financial exclusion and discrimination that has affected the majority black population in South Africa. The lingering effects of apartheid-era policies continue to impede the economic advancement of black individuals and businesses. Of particular concern is the indifference of the central bank towards the plight of marginalised communities. On May 25, the SARB’s monetary policy committee (MPC) raised the repo rate for the tenth consecutive time, resulting in the repo rate reaching 8.25%, while the prime lending rate stood at 11.75%. This decision not only caused the rand to hit its all-time low of R19.74 to the dollar…

I REFER to Barbie Sandler’s letter on childhood pregnancies in Monday’s paper, and also the editorial column. Barbie, you and I speak with the same voice. The rate of teen-and-younger pregnancies in this country should be of major concern to all of us, not only the government. As if it’s not tragic enough that such immature children are producing babies that they cannot care for, the reverberations of all these extra births will affect almost every sphere of our country, in so many respects. Over-population is one of the greatest tragedies of humankind, bringing children into a world already battling to feed its populations in so many countries, predominantly the poorest of the poor. Out of over-population will come lack of schooling, as no funds are available for education when…

Twenty-six Ugandans yesterday sued French oil giant TotalEnergies in Paris for reparations over alleged human rights violations at its massive mega- projects in the country, as climate protesters targeted its UK headquarters. Joined by five Ugandan and French aid groups, people from the affected communities say the energy company caused “serious harm”, especially to their rights to land and food. “What we’re asking of the tribunal is to recognise Total’s civil responsibility and sentence the company to compensate the people affected by violations,” said Friends of the Earth France spokesperson Juliette Renaud. At the heart of their complaint at the Paris court are two vast TotalEnergies developments: the Tilenga exploration of 419 oil wells, one-third of them in Uganda’s largest national park Murchison Falls, and EACOP, a 1 500km pipeline…

LONDON: Prince Harry should receive a maximum of just £500 in damages for one admitted instance of unlawful information gathering, lawyers representing a British tabloid newspaper group told London’s High Court yesterday. Prince Harry is one of more than 100 people suing Mirror Group Newspapers over phone-hacking and unlawful information gathering between 1991 and 2011. The publisher argued that Harry “has failed to identify any evidence of voicemail interception against him, or any other evidence of unlawful information gathering.” | Reuters…

Niamey: Annual cocaine seizures in the Sahel surged from 13kg in 2020 to 863kg just two years later as armed groups sought to profit from the illicit trade, the UN drug agency said in its 2023 report. The largest seizures of the drug in the region last year were in Burkina Faso (488kg), Niger (213kg) and Mali (160kg), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, among the poorest countries in the world, have been struggling for years to contain armed insurgency groups, including jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. Working alongside trafficking networks, the groups charge “taxes” in exchange for safe passage. | AFP…

ROME: A fresco that depicts what might be an ancestor of the Italian pizza has been found on the wall of a house in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy’s Culture Ministry said yesterday. Archaeologists presume the flat bread depicted may have been eaten with fruits such as pomegranates or dates, or dressed with spices and a type of pesto sauce, the ministry said. While it cannot technically be considered a pizza, since it lacks classic ingredients such as tomato and mozzarella, what was found in Pompeii “may be a distant relative of the modern dish”, a statement said. The fresco was discovered in the hall of a house that had a bakery attached to it. | Reuters…

IGA Swiatek will attempt to add the Wimbledon title to the US and French Open crowns she already possesses when the third major of the season gets under way on Monday. There will also be focus on the continuing bitter fall-out from the decision to allow Russian players to return after a 2022 ban while all women players are at least united on one point - a welcome change to the tournament’s strict all-white playing gear rule. AFP Sport looks at three talking points at Wimbledon 2023. Swiatek desperate to crack code With three French Open titles and a US Open already secured, world No 1 Swiatek now tries to crack the Wimbledon code which has left her baffled in three visits so far. A first round exit in 2019…

TEMBA Bavuma is “humbled” and “excited” by the thought and reality of leading the Proteas to a maiden World Cup trophy. The excitement in the cricket world is at an all-time high as the 13th edition of the one-day international World Cup is right around the corner. The 2023 edition will be hosted in India, a country with the biggest audience of the sport. It certainly promises to be a World Cup like no other; with a bit of added pressure almost guaranteed for all the players and fans around the world who will be glued on their television screens hoping the cricket Gods favour their own country. For South Africa’s captain Bavuma, it will be his first taste of the event. Yes, Bavuma has two T20 World Cups under…

THE USHAKA Marine World theme park is set to receive more than R120 million in funding from the eThekwini Municipality. Executive committee (Exco) members yesterday recommended the approval of the transfer of grant funding of R129.6m that has been provided for in the 2023-2024 operating budget for the entity. The bulk of that money will go towards funding the work of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), a non-profit organisation based at uShaka that manages Sea World. A report on the matter revealed that the latest funding commitment may not be the last time the City has to step in to assist the entity financially. “Noting that the Durban marine theme park operates close to a break-even level, the municipality confirms its commitment to ensuring the future…

The recent motion of no confidence passed by the majority of the members in the troubled DA caucus in eThekwini is a clear indication that there are issues within the party. The current leadership is challenging the process, but it is time for them to accept the fact that the caucus is not happy with their leadership and step down. It is a well-known fact that the DA has become a mickey mouse opposition party in Durban. The party hardly takes up issues exposing weaknesses of the ANC. In fact, it is Visvin Reddy, with just one seat in the council, who has become the most vocal opponent of the ANC. Reddy has written more letters to the newspaper highlighting the failings of the ANC than the entire DA caucus…

A few weeks ago, I told people I was going home. I was referring to South Africa. This evening, I will board a Delta flight and, yes, I’m going home. This time, it’s to a small town in Indiana. Sometimes people ask me about my small town in Indiana, “what’s it like”, and I say it’s like Mooi River in the 1960s but without the mooi and river, and without a mountain or ocean within several hundred miles. This said, it’s home. My one son is there, the dogs will be excited to see me, and the mayor will wave and ask me where I’ve been as he stops at the four-way stop and sees me walking Maggie and Duke. I know that I’ll see Rick from Rick’s Brakes and…

There has been a spate of shootings in Durban since Friday in which at least 10 people have been killed. Yesterday, a woman was shot dead on Edwin Swales Drive in Durban. ALS Paramedics’ Garrith Jamieson said the incident took place at about 6.30am near South Coast Road. ​Jamieson said the woman had been walking when she was shot. “ALS Paramedics Medical Services responded to the shooting incident and when they arrived found the police in attendance,” he said.​ ​“Paramedics quickly assessed the female believed to be in her early thirties who had sustained a gunshot wound to her head.” In another incident, a Wentworth teenager was shot dead while walking to school for holiday classes yesterday. The 17-year-old, a pupil at Wentworth Secondary, was walking along Richard Winn Road…

The eThekwini Municipality announced yesterday that the Main and Bronze beaches in uMhlanga are reopened due to the improvement of water quality. The City said the decision to reopen the beaches was taken following recent tests conducted by experts, which confirmed improved water quality. “This means that beach water at these two beaches is at an acceptable level for public use and is safe for recreational activities,” said the municipality. This comes after The Mercury reported last week that tourism bodies were frustrated over the latest closure of the beaches in uMhlanga on the eve of the winter school holiday season. In a statement yesterday, the City said the two northern beaches were closed last week following pump failure at the Portland Drive pump station. “The pump has since been…

IT IS still Youth Month in South Africa, a time when we commemorate the youth of 1976 for their boldness and active confrontation of the Apartheid regime. Though there has been significant progress in a post-apartheid South Africa, there is still an insufficient amount of representation of young people in the structural governance of South Africa. This makes one ponder on the role of the youth in shaping and influencing the future of the country. For this critical piece, I apply the theory of the production of space by French philosopher Henri Lefebvre to gauge the positionality of young people, particularly in the political sphere presently. We define the production of space as a social product (based on societal meaning and values) which influences social practices and perceptions. This means…

As Russian President Vladimir Putin extolled the nation’s “unity and patriotism” and attempted to project a military consolidated behind him after a failed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries, Russians yesterday continued to confront jarring questions about divisions in the security forces and how the president allowed the country to reach a risk of civil war. The Kremlin yesterday went into overdrive to try to project unity and reassert Putin’s strength while moving to diminish Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the former Putin ally who led the rebellion. But the official explanations for why Prigozhin was allowed to escape without punishment looked unusually thin, highlighting new doubts about Putin’s strength and competence in a crisis. Putin yesterday met with a group of military and security officers, whom he praised for preventing a civil war, following…

Former US president Donald Trump can be heard discussing secret documents he had apparently held on to and acknowledging he had not declassified them in an audio recording aired by CNN. The two-minute recording comes from an interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in July 2021 for people working on a memoir by his former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Parts of a transcript of the recording were cited as evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s 49-page indictment of Trump on charges he had mishandled classified documents after leaving office. The audio file includes a moment when Trump seems to indicate he is holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran. “These are the papers,” Trump says, a quote that was not included in…

Marseille: French President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of minimising the problems of unemployment yesterday after he told the mother of a jobseeker that her son could easily find work. During a visit to the southern city of Marseille, Macron told the woman her son could pick up to “10 offers” if he walked around the city’s historic Vieux Port area, which is home to dozens of cafes and eateries. What does your son want to work in?” he asked the woman after she said her son, 33, could not find work and was in arrears with his rent. “Anything!” she replied. Macron told her: “You are not going to persuade me that, if he is really looking for a job in Marseille… that there is no job as a…

LONDON: Britain’s leading nursing union yesterday said it had failed to secure a new mandate for strike action in England after a ballot of members fell short of the legal minimum turnout threshold. The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) said more than 100 000 – about 85% – of its members voted in favour of strike action, but the turnout was only 43%, below the 50% required for a strike. The RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said she was meeting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to discuss a plan for the National Health Service workforce. Tens of thousands of nurses have taken part in several waves of strikes action since December. | Reuters…

THE clock is slowly ticking down as the Netball World Cup grows closer with just one month to go until the tournament begins. It’s been a busy year for the Spar Proteas, who were involved in the Quad Series and a few camps as they prepare for the showpiece that starts on July 28. The locally-based players are also getting some much-needed game-time in the Telkom Netball League in a bid to be at their best to impress the home crowd in Cape Town. Their past World Cup results don’t make for happy reading, since 1995 they only managed one medal. They also picked up a bronze in Perth, but that was in 1967 during the height of apartheid. For this tournament the Proteas will be relying on the experience…

CO-HOSTS Australia will play their opening game of next month’s Women’s World Cup in front of a full house, a senior Fifa official told AFP yesterday Dave Beeche, chief executive of the Women’s World Cup, said the Matildas’ opener against Ireland on July 20 has sold out at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, which can hold around 80 000 fans. “There is currently nothing available,” he said. Beeche also expects a capacity crowd the same day in Auckland where tournament co-hosts New Zealand - the “Football Ferns” - open their campaign against Norway. “It’s going to be a massive day for women's football,” he said of the double-header either side of the Tasman Sea. With less than 25 days until kick off, the tournament boss says only a “few thousand” tickets…

THE PRUDENTIAL Authority (PA) has been monitoring the levels of exposures by the banks to South Africa’s sovereign debt, following a notable increase in the banking industry’s overall exposure and concentration to government securities in the period since 2020. CEO of the Prudential Authority Nomfundo Tshazibana said in the PA’s latest annual report that: “The PA continues to encourage banks to actively manage, monitor and report such exposures to their appropriate internal governance structures to ensure that exposures remain within approved internal risk appetite metrices.” She said that while government securities were frequently utilised in banks’ risk mitigation strategies, exposures to these securities also needed to be appropriately balanced against credit extension to the real economy. Meanwhile PA chairperson Lesetja Kganyago said two non-systemic banks were placed under curatorship…

The IFP in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, as the official opposition in the province, calls for urgent action against heartless paramedics who allegedly left a sick patient to fend for herself in uMlazi. According to the information gathered from family members of Ms Thembeka Qwabe, 38, it is alleged that she was in excruciating pain and in a critical condition due to heart complications. However, when the paramedics arrived, they refused to carry her up a flight of steps to the ambulance. The paramedics claimed this was not their responsibility, and that the family should carry her. While the family tried to get assistance to carry their sick family member up the steps, the paramedics left – without offering any help – citing safety concerns, saying paramedics were being robbed and…

Given his status as a functionary of the Gates-funded World Health Organization (WHO), the title of Professor Salim Abdool Karim’s book Standing up for Science: A voice of Reason, is not surprising (The Mercury, June 27). But in terms of his claims about the Covid-19 pandemic, it is the celebration of a lie. There was no pandemic because of the recovery of 99% of those infected. A pandemic is when at least 30% of the population is wiped out. The claims about death rates were falsely inflated by including deaths from flu, pneumonia, co-morbidities and those with compromised immune systems. Attempts at establishing whether deaths were of Covid or with Covid were quashed. Science was ignored by the WHO, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease…

Pack up all my cares and woe, Singing low, here I go Bye bye blackbird … BRITAIN’S National Trust had planned a “pick your own cherries” festival at Cotehele, a medieval house and property in south-west England managed by the trust, according to the BBC. But just days before it was scheduled, a single cherry appeared on the Trust’s Facebook page, along with the sad news that the festival had to be called off because blackbirds stripped the orchard’s 80 trees, leaving just the single cherry on one tree. “Unfortunately the cheeky blackbirds have jumped the queue,” said Laura Jarman of the National Trust. “We (not the blackbirds) are sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment caused.” Fox terriers There were rats, rats, The size of bloomin’ cats In the…

The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2023 World Winter Symphony Season wraps up tomorrow with a special finale concert. The orchestra’s resident conductor, Lykele Temmingh, brings the curtain down on the season with a programme bookended by two concert favourites, with Beethoven’s rugged Egmont Overture as the evening’s curtain raiser. The programme closes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 1, Winter Dreams, as a touching and appropriate final salute to the winter season audience. The centrepiece of the evening is Roelof Temmingh’s exquisitely scored Clarinet Concerto which has been expressly written for Maria du Toit, South Africa’s foremost clarinettist of her generation, who will perform the piece tomorrow night. Du Toit is widely regarded as one of her home country’s finest instrumentalists. Having been the solo principal clarinettist of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (South…

Over 2 000 grocery hampers destined for underprivileged people were allegedly stolen while being transported. Prem Balram, director of private security company Reaction Unit SA, based in KwaZulu-Natal, said 2 200 grocery hampers were allegedly stolen between Pretoria and Cape Town. The hampers were destined for Cape Town to assist communities affected by recent floods. Balram said a case of theft had been opened at Hercules SAPS in Pretoria. The SAPS did not comment by deadline. | Jolene Marriah-Maharaj…

Leaders of Cosatu and the SACP have slammed the slow spending of relief funds earmarked to deal with infrastructure damage and to provide aid to communities after last year’s floods in KwaZulu-Natal. In a media briefing at the ANC’s provincial headquarters in Durban yesterday, provincial secretaries of the organisations said the slow spending should not be happening when there is an urgent need to deal with issues that arose as a result of the April and May 2022 storms. The condemnation comes as members of Parliament’s ad-hoc joint committee on flood disaster relief and recovery are in KZN on a fact-finding mission following a damning report by Auditor-General (AG) Tskakani Maluleke two weeks ago. According to the AG, out of the R5.8 billion that had been committed, the KZN government…

FROM sexual harassment, questions over the quality of qualifications to maladministration, Unisa has had all sorts of scandals in recent years. Amid these controversies, the university put its best foot forward on Monday to pull off a celebration fit for a 150-year-old institution. But when an entity finds itself in the news for all the wrong reasons, fingers will always point to the person at the helm. Therefore, it is not surprising that vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, has been under fire for the situation Unisa finds itself in. Last month, a report by Professor Themba Mosia, commissioned by Minister Dr Blade Nzimande, found the university was collapsing under LenkaBula. It also blasted the university’s council for failing to fulfil its fiduciary responsibilities. The council was found to have…

The UK’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost £169 000 (roughly R4m) per person, according to an impact assessment published yesterday, although the government insisted it would recoup most of the costs. The UK’s Conservative government has made tackling immigration a priority, and it was a key promise as the country left the EU. It wants to outlaw asylum claims by all irregular arrivals and transfer them to “safe” third countries, such as Rwanda, to stop thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel on small boats. The government said up to £165 000 could be recouped due to saved costs from reduced asylum support. London also hopes the programme will act as a deterrent. The government has highlighted the cost of housing asylum seekers while…

Israel has approved plans to construct more than 5 600 homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. In Eli, where two Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis last week, 1 057 homes were approved. The plan was announced last week by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who described it as “a response” to the attack. The other units are planned for various settlements in the West Bank. Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, said this year was the highest year on record in terms of approval of construction. It said that since January, more than 13 000 housing units were advanced in the settlements. Last year, 4 427 housing units were advanced. The move is expected to further escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. A US national security spokesperson…

Copenhagen: The World Health Organization’s European office warned that the risk of Covid-19 had not gone away. It was still responsible for nearly 1 000 deaths a week in the region. On May 5, the global health body announced that the pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency”. WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said: “However, Covid-19 has not gone away.” The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries. Kluge urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70% for vulnerable groups. He said estimates showed that one in 30 people in the region had experienced “long Covid” in the past three years. | AFP…

DARFUR: The Sudan conflict is worsening to “alarming levels” in Darfur and taking on a worrying ethnic dimension, the UN said yesterday. Darfur, a vast western region bordering Chad, has witnessed the deadliest violence since the conflict between rival armed forces broke out on April 15. Darfur was scarred by civil war in the 2000s. That conflict pitted ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government. The UNHCR said the number of refugees fleeing the fighting in Sudan had now topped 560 000. Egypt has received the most, followed by Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic. | AFP…

A strong field of women contenders will line-up at the start of the Absa Run Your City Durban 10km race on Sunday, July 9. Alongside the thrilling prospect of Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the current women’s World Record holder in the 10km mixed race with an impressive time of 29:14, the race will boast an exceptionally strong elite women’s field with the inclusion of South Africa’s Glenrose Xaba - the third fastest South African over 10km, Kenya’s Edith Jepchumba as well as Uganda’s Stella Chesang and Lesotho’s Neheng Khatala. Xaba, who has already shattered her 10km personal best three times this year, earned her place among the illustrious sub-32-minute club with a remarkable time of 31:55 this past weekend. Xaba ran 32:25 at the inaugural Absa Run Your City Gqeberha 10km…