Indice dei contenuti per 2021-10-18 in Cape Times

GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za THE INDUSTRIAL Development Corporation (IDC), a national development finance institution, said at the weekend its IDC’s Post Unrest Business Recovery Funding approvals had surpassed the R1 billion mark, sustaining 22 493 jobs.The businesses, impacted by civil unrest and looting, which hit parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July, were now slowly returning to activity, it said. Following the unrest that disrupted businesses and livelihoods in the two provinces, the IDC established a Post Unrest Business Recovery Fund to help affected businesses recover and rebuild. Supported clients are spread across a variety of sectors, including the retail, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. IDC chief executive TP Nchocho said there was still work to be done to bring many businesses to full operations. According to him, the unrest…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The now-fired ANC member and spokesperson for the disbanded uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association, Carl Niehaus, together with some aggrieved ANC staff members are expected to lodge an official complaint against the party’s national office bearers with the public protector this morning. This is in connection with the recurring non-payment of salaries. Yesterday, Niehaus said aggrieved ANC employees had previously laid criminal charges of theft, fraud, corruption, and various statutory crimes against the national office bearers (NOB’s) of the ANC who were now taking the matter further. “This complaint concerns the failure of the government agencies that are in terms of legislation responsible for regulating the Provident Fund, PAYE etc to act against the ANC. “It is of serious concern that these government agencies have not…

Staff writer “I REALLY wasn’t expecting it, which is why I started crying (when I was crowned). I was so shocked because I was already so fulfilled and blessed to have made the top three. So, for me, taking the title is genuinely just the cherry on top.” So said the newly crowned Miss SA Lalela Mswane, who yesterday woke up to a busy media schedule including a press conference with two of her fellow pageant contestants. The 24 year old – who hails from KwaSokhulu in Richards Bay – graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Pretoria. She is also a model and a dancer. Mswane received R1 million in cash as well as a further R3 million worth of sponsorships and prizes,…

Staff writer SOUTH Africa’s Stephen Mokoka made short work of a stellar international field that had eight sub-2:10 men in the field as he took the men’s title at the 2021 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon yesterday. In the women’s race, marathon debutant Lydia Simiyu stunned a quality field to win in a new course record. With no pacemakers in the field, the men’s race became a tactical affair, with Mokoka making the decisive break just before 40km. In what started out as ideal conditions, the men’s pace early on was driven by Philemon Mathipa and Sbonisi Sikhakhane. A pack of around 20 athletes went through the halfway mark in 65:50, with all the bigger South African names, such Philani Buthelezi, Mathipa, Sibusiso Nzima, David Manja and Melikhaya Frans very prominent…

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za CALLS have again been made for a ban on Guy Fawkes Day celebrations with fireworks. The Grassy Park Community Policing Forum said November 5 has become more violent as mobs roam the streets of townships, assaulting people and smearing them with paint. The CPF said it decided at its executive committee meeting last week to call for a ban, and if not granted, extreme safety measures would be implemented to protect innocent citizens from wanton violence and resultant injury. “Guy Fawkes Day is one of those meaningless celebrations that has nothing to do with South Africa,” it said. “Parents fear for the safety of their children because in the past, children coming from school were accosted and intimidated. Cars are stoned and reckless handling of fireworks cause…

Ingredients 3/5 cup (150 ml) brewed red espresso or strong rooibos tea 2 tbsp (30 ml) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks 1 lemon, peeled into large strips and juiced 2 cups oil, or as needed for frying 6 thick slices peeled fresh ginger 1 tbsp (15 ml) baking powder 3 cups (750 ml) white sugar 2 cups (500 ml) cake flour 1 ½ cup (375 ml) water 1/4 tsp (1.25 ml) salt ¾ cup (180 ml) milk Method Combine sugar, water, red espresso, ginger, lemon peel, and lemon juice together in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool syrup to room temperature and transfer to a container before refrigerating overnight. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Rub…

Gary Scallan | Capri WITH so many overpaid and plentiful politicians – South Africa should be working like a dream. As an ex-councillor by choice, I often hear people say that although they dislike all the political parties or candidates on offer, they still want to vote but do not know who to vote for. In the last election of 2019, more than 235 000 South Africans spoiled their vote – making these voters the fifth largest political grouping. The spoiled vote is seen as a protest vote. These voters want change and are tired and gatvol of the current lot of parties on offer. Rather than not voting at all – they are spoiling their vote. The current electoral dispensation is not working for the benefit of…

Election campaigns at home can distract one from what is happening in the rest of the world. “The world is changing too fast,” said my friend recently, when I told her that keeping abreast of international developments has not been easy these days. Yet some important events have been happening internationally. For example, the UN General Assembly recently hosted a high-level meeting on the commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. On December 5, 2013, the General Assembly declared September 26 as International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This year’s commemoration was marked by the enactment of the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons earlier this year, on January 22. Participating in this high-level meeting, International Relations and Co-operation Minister…

The number of people killed in the bombing at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar has risen to 63, a source said at the weekend. The number of injured people stands at 83. Three suicide attackers staged the deadly bombing in Kandahar on Friday; the fourth opened fire at the worshippers. Islamic State-Khorasan, said the Islamist group was behind what it called a double suicide bombing. This was the second deadly attack by an affiliated Islamic State terrorist group on a Shia mosque in more than a week. The group, rivals of fellow Sunni Islamist movement the Taliban, who swept back to power in Afghanistan in August, regards Shia Muslims as heretics. UK-based conflict analysis firm ExTrac said Friday’s assault was the first by IS-K in Kandahar,…

Tokyo: Japan’s new prime minister yesterday sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni shrine that honours the war dead but is seen by neighbouring countries as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism. Fumio Kishida sent the “masakaki” tree offering to celebrate the shrine’s biannual festival, a spokesperson for the shrine said. Yasukuni honours 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, who have perished since the late 19th century. But the central Tokyo shrine also honours senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal.…

MOGADISHU: An Al-Shabaab commander surrendered to the Somali National Army (SNA) yesterday in Wajid town in Bakool region, Southwest Somalia. Mohamed Nur, SNA army officer said Mohamed Kulow Ali who was in charge of the terror group’s operations in the southern region surrendered to the Somali army with an AK47 rifle and ammunition. “We are now displaying an al-Shabaab commander who was popular in southwest State here in Wajid town. He was armed when he made successful contact with the army about his surrender,” Nur said. “The army will welcome any terrorist willing to surrender in line with the government’s amnesty offer.”…

MOSCOW: Senior Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodyn said yesterday that indiscriminate awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize could tarnish its image and suggested a pathway for taking the reward away. “Confidence in it could be restored if there were a way to take the prize away in cases where crimes, abuse of human rights and freedoms were proven,” he said on social media. This year, the prize was awarded to Maria Ressa, co-founder of the Philippine news website Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression”.…

Zeeshan Maqsood returned bowling figures of 4/20 to set up a 10-wicket win for hosts Oman in the T20 World Cup opener against debutants Papua New Guinea yesterday. Maqsood’s four wickets, including three in one over, kept Papua New Guinea to 129/9 in the first round match at the Al Amerat ground. Openers Aqib Ilyas (50 from 43 balls) and Jatinder Singh (73 from 42) then clattered the PNG bowlers around the ground without being parted to steer Oman home with 6.2 overs to spare, handing Papua New Guinea a tough lesson in their first ever World Cup outing. Singh reached his fifty – the first for an Omani batter in World Cups – with the third of his sixes and brought up victory with the fourth by which stage…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za KAROOOOO, the Nasdaq and JSE-listed group that owns 100 percent of Cartrack Holdings, grew net subscriber additions by 102 609, or 111 percent, in the six months to August 31 due to increased investment in sales and marketing, which takes about six months to translate into new customers. Subscription revenue increased 16 percent to R1.23 billion, and by 20 percent on a constant currency basis. Operating profit fell 6 percent to R346 million, because, while much boosted sales and marketing investment had materialised in part, management expected to see the benefits via customer acquisition only by the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. Founder and chief executive Zak Calisto said in a telephone interview they had increased…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za African haute couture designer Bayanda Khathini is suing Sello Medupe of Scalo Designer for the dress he designed for former Miss South Africa, Tamaryn Green. During her Umembeso ceremony in Cape Town last weekend, Green wore a blue African bride dress with beaded embroidery designed by Medupe. That didn’t sit well with Khathini, who claims that Medupe stole his designs. Khathini’s lawyers then fired off a letter of demand to Medupe. “Our client discovered this design infringement when former Miss SA, Tamaryn Green, appeared on social media for her umembeso ceremony. As the creator of his worker, our client has a right to copyright protection of which he does not need to register. “The protection arises automatically as his work is original and is recorded in a…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za A PROPOSED merger between Mediclinic Southern Africa and Matlosana Medical Health Services (MMHS) in the North West, nearly six years in the making, has once again been blocked, this time by the highest court in the land. The Constitutional Court recently upheld the Competition Commission’s appeal against a decision by the Competition Appeal Court, setting aside the CAC’s decision that would have allowed the merger. The process was initiated in 2015 when the acquisition was proposed and various approvals were sought in order to proceed. The commission and its tribunal had initially concluded that putting together Mediclinic Potchefstroom, Wilmed Park and Sunningdale hospitals would likely lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant market. “The tariffs of the target hospitals would increase significantly as a…

Sithandiwe Velaphi sithandiwe.velaphi@inl.co.za INVESTIGATIONS into allegations of fraud and corruption against Eastern Cape Premier and ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane are being conducted through a “prosecution-guided investigation methodology,” says the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Mabuyane has filed papers in the Bhisho High Court seeking to stop the Hawks from further investigating him, something the head of the Hawks, Godfrey Lebeya, said he had never heard of. “I am not aware of a situation where the investigating unit was given an order by a court to stop (an investigation),” Lebeya told the SABC. Mabuyane wants the Hawks’ investigation to be declared “unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid”. The Hawks have indicated they will oppose Mabuyane’s application. Lebeya said the investigation into Mabuyane’s allegations of fraud and corruption was completed in March. He said…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za SALT River and Woodstock residents’ associations have rejected the sale of alcohol at petrol stations in the area, saying it would exacerbate existing alcohol-related problems. Members of the associations demonstrated at the weekend, following an application for a liquor licence for a Pick n Pay express store at a BP garage in Salt River. Ndoxy Radebe of the Woodstock Residents’ Association said they strongly objected to the liquor licence application, which would allow off-sale consumption. “If they get a liquor licence, how can you have someone driving, and already maybe drunk, come to a filling station and become even more drunk? “There are two schools just behind (the petrol station) where our children go. “How can we allow such things? We object to this application and we…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE Spur Group has been found by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to have made a “deliberate misrepresentation” to the SA Revenue Service (Sars) over a R48 million payment it made into an employee trust and claimed as a tax deduction against its income. The franchise restaurant chain confirmed they could take the matter to the Constitutional Court, after after last week’s SCA judgment. The SCA upheld an appeal by Sars that showed a “sufficiently close causal link that existed between the Spur Group’s expenditure of a contribution of R48m so as to qualify for a deduction” under the Income Tax Act (ITA) in respect of the eatery group’s 2005 to 2012 years of assessment. In November 2019, the Western Cape High Court, hearing…

POLITICS in Cape Town and the Western Cape is maturing. For 15 years, the DA has relied on the narrative that it is preferable to the ANC – a low bar. But in this election, for the first time, it is being held to account for its delivery record. The truth is that Cape Town has been “ahead” of the rest of the country since the birth of democracy. This is not thanks to the ANC or the DA, whatever they may say. It is a fact of history. Cape Town was slightly better off than the rest of the country by crooked apartheid design. Two related factors were at play: First, the size of the population was controlled by prohibiting most Africans from living here. And, second, because the…

Julian Cooke | Kenilworth THE other day I received in the post a few papers from my local DA councillor, Ian Iverson. It included what must be the main pamphlet of the DA’s campaign: “Cape Town works. Let’s do more.” I wondered about how Cape Town works. It still works as it always did under apartheid as a city which is deeply divided racially – and very inequitably. It works as a most unsustainable city that continues to abuse its natural systems, threatens food security by growing roughshod over agricultural land and wastes huge amounts of energy because of its low density. It still works as a massively spread out city, making it very inefficient and very difficult to run a viable public transport system. So thousands of…

THE fast-approaching local government elections again bring into sharp focus the role of councillors. Far too often, councillors are elected and remain aloof to their constituents until another round of elections is necessary. This does not apply to all councillors, but certainly there are many who see their role as a stepping stone into other spheres of leadership. And, sadly, service delivery and the very notion of local government suffer from the perspective of those who need councillors to represent them at a municipal level. Councillors are responsible both to their electorate and also to the municipal council. There are councillors who are responsive to residents in their ward, but do not make good decisions in the council. Some councillors are good leaders at municipal level but are inaccessible to…

Police in Democratic Republic of Congo used tear gas to break up clashes between supporters of the president and an opposition leader on Saturday, as MPs selected a new head of the electoral commission. The National Assembly chose Denis Kadima, an election expert with decades of experience, to lead the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni), criticised for its role in the disputed 2018 vote where Felix Tshisekedi emerged as president. “The fact that Kadima’s candidacy was pushed behind the scenes by people close to President Tshisekedi raised suspicions about his independence,” said Tresor Kibangula, of the Congo Research Group at New York University. In 2018, amid widespread accusations of fraud, the Ceni declared Tshisekedi the winner, while opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who said he had won a landslide victory, came…

Britain’s interior minister says MPs’ security will be beefed up, after an MP was stabbed to death as he held a public meeting with constituents, in the second such attack in five years. Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the town of Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, when he was killed on Friday. The attack has spread fear among MPs, coming just over five years after the similar killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in the run-up to the Brexit referendum. Police are investigating “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”, led by Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command. Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of security measures for MPs. “We need to close any gaps” in security provision for MPs, whose…

PORT-AU-PRINCE: A group of 17 missionaries and family members – primarily Americans – were kidnapped in Haiti at the weekend after returning from a site visit to an orphanage, according to an audio alert from their Christian aid group and a person familiar with the abduction, marking the latest in a wave of kidnappings to grip the spiralling Caribbean nation. An audio recording described as a “prayer alert” from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said “men, women and children” associated with the group were being held by an armed gang. “The mission field director and American embassy are working to see what can be done,” the recording said.…

DAMASCUS: The Syrian government has accused the Israeli military of shooting dead Midhat Saleh al-Saleh, the head of the office of the occupied Syrian Golan affairs at the Syrian cabinet, the state-run Sana news agency reports. “The cabinet offers its deepest and sincerest condolences to the Syrian people and to the family and relatives of the martyr,” Sana quoted the cabinet as saying at the weekend. According to the state-run news agency, Saleh was shot dead on Saturday in Quneitra near the occupied city of Majdal Shams, by an Israeli soldier. Saleh had spent 12 years in jail until his release in 1997.…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has credited attacker Keagan Dolly for the hard yards that he has put in to shed some weight following his outstanding display during their 4-0 win over Chippa United on Saturday. After a frustrating four-year spell in Ligue 1, playing for Montpellier where he was troubled by injuries, Dolly heeded the call to come back to South Africa, joining Amakhosi on a three-year deal. But his weight-gain also attracted attention. Dolly appears to have been busy behind the scenes – and at training – to get back into shape. That hard work has been rewarded, as he has made steady progress since joining Chiefs. But perhaps Dolly's best game for Chiefs came on Saturday against the Chilli Boys. He scored two goals…

Staff Reporter A brace from Themba Zwane helped Mamelodi Sundowns earn a 2-2 draw with AS Maniema Union in their Caf Champions League second preliminary round first-leg tie at Stade des Martyrs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday. Sundowns would have left the game as the happier team as they scored two away goals and were not beaten. The Brazilians got up and running early on as Zwane gave the South African side the lead. After penetrating the Sundowns goal, the home team found an equaliser just before halftime. The game presented Sundowns with their biggest challenge so far this season as their attacking charges struggled to create many opportunities in the first half. The reigning Premiership champions opted to make a double attacking change in the second…

LOOKING at the recent political events in South Africa, it would seem as if it doesn't take much to expose its economic underbelly, with disastrous long-term social consequences. And considering the tenuous relationship between and among the millions of unemployed people, an administration with a complicated attitude towards economic growth and an extremely wealthy class that lacks empathy, the masses have been viscerally conditioned to react in only one way every time discontent manifests itself. Violence. There is no doubt that a $100 (R1 460) barrel of crude oil will be an uneasy political moment, an unwelcome one at that. A government that is afraid to govern, always finds excuses not to take hard decisions, especially by avoiding those areas which may somewhat perturb the financial interests of…

From page 1 “This kind of incident usually happens in Khayelitsha and other notorious townships. “We never thought that one day our people would be brutally attacked in this manner. The suspects know exactly what they were doing and they will have to account for what they did because this is not a mistake, it was well orchestrated. “The community will now have to find ways to prevent this from happening again and as from now we wish to have a strict police presence,” said Mfecane SACP provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu has called on the police to leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators had been brought to book. “The SACP in the Western Cape condemns in the strongest terms possible the senseless killing of people in Mandalay. The killing…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za ANOTHER Freedom Front Plus candidate has come under fire for statements he allegedly made while opposing a flea market in Sea Point where township vendors were allowed to sell their products. A Facebook post, said to have been uploaded last year, has come back to haunt Gary Trappler, who is now the FF+ candidate for Ward 115. Trappler is quoted as having allegedly said: “Generally speaking, a fruit and veggie flea market is not what residents of the area want to see or experience on the Promenade. This NPO pushes their social agenda on us to provoke and be controversial. “But they care less about what we want and they gloat in their aspirations to change the social character of the Atlantic Seaboard. If we want Gugulethu,…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za “IT WAS like a movie, everything happened so quickly.” This is how a witness described a shooting that led to the killing of a woman and left seven others, including a five year old, wounded at a 21st birthday party in Mandalay on Saturday night. They were attacked by occupants of a green Honda Ballade in what has been described as a well-orchestrated shooting. The 24-year-old woman died in hospital while others were being treated for their gunshot wounds. The five year old was shot in the eye. Speaking to the Cape Times yesterday, the shaken eyewitness who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisals said party goers were having a good time before the attack. “People were just having fun and random guys shot…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE disgruntled family of the late Florence Rafu has rejected a Public Service Commission (PSC) investigation that cleared the Eerste River Hospital on assault accusations. The family is now questioning how the PSC came to the conclusion as investigators allegedly did not speak to anyone from the family, including Rafu. Rafu, 52, was admitted to the hospital in March after not feeling well. Four days later she apparently woke up at Tygerberg Hospital not knowing how she got to a different hospital with bruises on her face, and a broken leg. When the Cape Times visited the mother in May she explained that nurses at Tygerberg Hospital had informed her she had been transferred there with the injuries. Rafu and the family believed she was assaulted because…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE Hoërskool DF Malan in Bellville may soon be renamed DF Akademie, despite some people being against the change. The school governing body (SGB) held an electronic vote on the name change on Friday, in which 72.1% of the school community preferred DF Akademie over Protea Akademie. The motivation for DF Akademie was that “Dr DF Malan and DF Malan High School have two different identities. The process of disconnection between the political figure and what the school has stood for over the years already occurred naturally”. A turnout of 36.5% was recorded, after 3 466 crosses were drawn from a total of 9 496 voters which also included those who enrolled for 2022. SGB chairperson Andre Roux said it was a milestone in the history of…

J Colin Jooste | Observatory TWENTY-seven years after our first democratically elected local government, election manifestos are launched in every corner of South Africa’s nine provinces and candidate lists are being scrutinised with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that wannabe Members of Parliament feature as promised. This is arguably the only time when these fat cats move among the people and even crawl into squatter camps, emerging with little babies in their arms with scant regard for their designer clothes just to be seen that they care. Lamp posts along all our main roads are overly decorated with posters of faces that we have never seen before; purportedly those who have the electorate’s well-being at heart or is this just seen as an opportunity to get on…

Country lacks capacity, expertise and structures to contain, if not eradicate phenomenon ON OCTOBER 7, NatWest Bank, which is 55% owned by the taxpayer, pleaded guilty at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London to money laundering. The charges were brought by the Financial Conduct Authority under new anti-money laundering (AML) measures in the UK. NatWest failed to monitor and report suspicious activity by a client, who deposited £264 million (R5.26 billion) in cash over a three-year period. On the same day, Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the independent inter-governmental gatekeeper that “protects” the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, issued a damning evaluation of South Africa’s current anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies. FATF recommendations are…

Paphos, Cyprus: The climate crisis threatens a double blow for the Middle East, experts say, by destroying its oil income as the world shifts to renewables and by raising temperatures to unliveable extremes. Little has been done to address the challenge in a region long plagued by civil strife, war and refugee flows, even as global warming looks likely to accelerate these trends, a conference heard last week. “Our region is classified as a global climate change hot spot,” Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades told the International Conference on Climate Change in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Home to half a billion people, the already sun-baked region has been designated as especially vulnerable by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation. Yet it is also…

New York: Mega-billionaire Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates walked their oldest daughter Jennifer Gates down the aisle ahead of her nuptials with fellow equestrian Nayel Nassar. According to Fox Business, Jennifer, 25, was also photographed posing with bridesmaids in her wedding gown on Saturday at her sprawling 50 hectares horse farm in upstate New York. The Microsoft co-founder is said to have purchased the $15.82 million (about R230m) estate for Jennifer in 2018 shortly after she graduated from Stanford University. The luxurious, star-studded event took weeks of planning. Photos showed the expansive property being transformed into an opulent wedding venue. Also in attendance was Bill Gates’s stepmother, Mimi Gardner Gates, a 79-year-old respected art historian. The nuptials came just months after Bill and Melinda announced they were splitting…

The Denver Art Museum is preparing to return four antiquities to Cambodia following a news media collaboration that reported the pieces are linked to a man charged with trafficking looted artefacts. The four antiquities to be returned came to the museum through Douglas Latchford, who in 2019 was indicted by US prosecutors after decades of alleged trafficking in looted artefacts from the Khmer Empire, which flourished in Southeast Asia a thousand years ago. The Washington Post, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organisations in the Pandora Papers collaboration began contacting museum officials about pieces in their collection linked to Latchford in June and followed up with a letter in September. The museum removed the four artefacts from its collection after receiving the letter from the news organisations…

LA PALMA: There’s no immediate end in sight to the volcanic eruption that had caused chaos on the Spanish isle of La Palma since it began a month ago, the President of the Canary Islands Angel Víctor Torres said yesterday, citing scientists. There were 42 seismic movements on the island yesterday, the largest of which measured 4.3, according to the Spanish National Geographical Institute. Streams of lava have laid waste to more than 742 hectares of land and destroyed almost 2 000 buildings on La Palma since the volcano started erupting on September 19. About 7 000 people have been evacuated from their homes on the island with 83 000 inhabitants.…