Tabla de contenidos para 2022-12-23 en Cape Times

THE safety of thousands of beachgoers expected to flock to Cape Town shores over the festive season has come under the spotlight after a third beach was closed in the space of two weeks due to sewage. The City has been taking water samples on daily for water quality testing, and announced the closure to the public of Bakoven beach yesterday. An electrical failure at the Beta sewer pump station has been blamed as a result of continuous load-shedding, leading to the temporary closure of the beach. This was the same reason that resulted in the section between Muizenberg Pavilion and Sunrise Beach being closed as a precautionary measure on Monday. An electrical failure at a nearby sewer pump station impacted on the mouth of the Zandvlei. Fish Hoek beach…

SOME parents, particularly from low-and middle-income countries, may be less accepting of childhood vaccination owing to their experiences of social exclusion. This is according to a Cochrane review of qualitative evidence that explored parents’ views and practices around routine childhood vaccination, entitled “Factors that influence parental and caregiver acceptance of routine childhood vaccination: Summary of a qualitative evidence synthesis”. It was recently published in the South African Medical Journal. Researchers from the South African Medical Research Council, UCT, Stellenbosch University, UWC, University of Essex, University of Virginia, Brown University, among others, sought to synthesise qualitative studies exploring parents’ views and practices around routine childhood vaccination, and to develop an understanding of the factors that reduce parental acceptance. While immunisation is one of the most effective healthcare interventions to prevent serious…

MAYA Wegerif, known in music circles as Sho Madjozi, has launched a children’s book titled Shoma and the Stars. The book is a celebration of people’s uniqueness and courage, and was written as a tribute to her younger sister, Makhanani Nyeleti Maganye, who died in a car accident in 2019. The book tells the tale of little Shoma learning to accept loss, navigating life as an outsider, and eventually learning that her uniqueness is her power. By being herself, Shoma finds a new group of sisters. The multiple award-winning singer, songwriter and performing artist said her fans were her greatest inspiration and gave her a lot of hope and light. “I am passionate about giving young kids the high-quality local entertainment they love. “I try to look for positivity in…

OUR POISONED LAND Jacques Pauw Loot.co.za (R245) Tafelberg WHEN Jacques Pauw’s book, The President’s Keepers, was published in 2017, its contents unleashed a tsunami of shock and surprise at the level of the corruption flourishing in the ANC government. In some circles, the reaction was passionate umbrage and denial… The book came out before the Zondo Commission had got going and it gave many readers their first insight into some of the inner workings of State Capture in the government. I remember reading it and it caused my blood-pressure to go ballistic and had me gasping for breath at times. Pauw’s new book, Our Poisoned Land, continues the corruption exposé and widens the range of “protagonists”. Having the hindsight of the Zondo Commission’s reports, those who have read The President’s…

Labour unrest in Iran this month – including a three-day nationwide strike, among the largest the country has seen in decades – has hinted at the potential role labour could come to play in the uprising that has swept the country since September. Recently, small groups of oil workers in Iran’s energy-rich south went on strike to demand better pay and working conditions, following similar, limited actions that have punctuated the protests. The ongoing movement, sparked by the alleged police killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, has been fuelled in part by poverty and despair at economic deterioration under years of Western sanctions and state mismanagement. Many demonstrators have embraced broad demands to oust Iran’s clerical leaders and dismantle their tools of repression. But massive labour disruptions on…

MOSCOW: Russia said yesterday that US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington this week, would not contribute to settling the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskiy’s visit, proving that the US was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”. The Patriot (Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target), is a US air defence systems, capable of intercepting aircraft and ballistic missile threats. | Reuters…

KATHMANDU: Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police suspect was responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, will be freed from a prison in Nepal today after nearly 20 years. Sobhraj, 78, a French national, is suspected of killing more than 20 Western backpackers through Asia, usually by drugging their food or drink. Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered his release from prison, where he has served 19 of his 20-year sentence, citing his age. Sobhraj escaped from India’s Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards. Police caught him in Goa. He was jailed in India until 1997 and returned to France. In 2003, he was arrested in Kathmandu. | Reuters…

France’s privacy watchdog said yesterday it had fined US tech giant Microsoft €60 million(R1 billion) for foisting advertising cookies on users. In the largest fine imposed this year, the National Commission for Technology and Freedoms (CNIL) said Microsoft’s search engine Bing had not set up a system allowing users to refuse cookies as simply as accepting them. The French regulator said that it found that “when users visited this site, cookies were deposited on their terminal without their consent, while these cookies were used for advertising purposes”. It also “observed that there was no button allowing to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as accepting it”. The CNIL said the fine was justified in part because of the profits the company made from advertising indirectly generated from…

A Lotus River father who is also believed to be a leader of the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) G-Force will ring in the new year behind bars, as will his two sons after he was accused of plotting to commit murder. Moegsien Barendse, 62, was arrested on Wednesday by the Hawks for allegedly conspiring to kill the investigating officer and the magistrate who is presiding over his sons, Ebrahim and Yusuf’s, bail applications. According to Western Cape Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani, Barendse made a brief appearance in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on the same day of his arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. While this was the first time Barendse was arrested, he has been previously apprehended by police for alleged intimidation of witnesses in…

A World of Curiosities Louise Penny Loot.co.za (R605) Minotau MYSTERIES, as their very name indicates, are stories about things beyond ordinary human ken. This is a genre, after all, invented by Edgar Allan Poe, for whom the boundaries between his Tales of Terror and his Tales of Ratiocination were porous. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the character at the centre of Louise Penny’s beloved and successful series, is an avowed believer in the power of things seen and unseen. Alert to the atmosphere of place and the saving grace of poetry, Gamache also trusts his gut when it comes to the presence of more malevolent forces. A World of Curiosities, the 18th Gamache novel, begins with our detective conversing with the dead and ends with a bonfire and talk of witches.…

Will a president tainted by diminished moral authority take the vital difficult decisions? THE Comrades have spoken; long live the president, long live the ANC! Despite the various scenarios of imminent defeat pedalled by some of the doom and gloom merchants of political punditry, 70-year-old Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa decisively won re-election as president of the governing ANC at its elective 55th National Conference on Monday in Nasrec in Johannesburg, perhaps more to the relief of his international supporters and financial markets than his bitterly divided party, let alone the country at large. Ramaphosa romped home with 2 476 votes against the 1 897 votes of his only rival, his former health minister Zweli Mkhize. Pro-Ramaphosa supporters on the NEC also won many of the key positions, including transport minister Fikile…

The insecticides that target disease- spreading mosquitoes are running into nature’s ultimate defence mechanism – evolution. Scientists reported this week that mosquitoes in Cambodia and Vietnam increasingly carry a mutation that makes them resistant to a commonly used insecticide. The report, in the journal Science Advances, focuses on Aedes aegypti, a vector for dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, Zika and other diseases. In Cambodia and Vietnam, 78% of sampled mosquitoes had a mutation that shows resistance to permethrin, which is part of a class of insecticides known as pyrethroids. The new study found extreme resistance to two different insecticides sprayed in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, where mosquitoes had more than one mutation conferring resistance. One insecticide sprayed there killed only 10% of mosquitoes, while the other did not kill any.…

New Delhi: Although China had not released any detailed numbers of the Covid-19 infections, the infection rate could be over 50% in the greater Beijing area, even more than 70% in the worst-hit areas, reports said yesterday. According to an analysis in Nikkei Asia, crematories in Greater Beijing are operating at full capacity, “but some bodies are having to wait to be burned”. While the omicron variant kills relatively few of the people it infects, the variant will deal a heavier blow to China due to the country’s large elderly population, the report says. China ceased its zero-Covid policy in November and has seen a spike in infections. | IANS…

Tokyo: Japan has approved a blood test kit to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, its manufacturer said yesterday, a rare advance in tackling a condition that affects tens of millions worldwide. Sysmex Corporation said it was working to get the kit, which measures the accumulation of a protein that is a marker for the disease, to market soon. Existing methods of diagnosing Alzheimer’s are expensive, such as a brain scan or spinal tap. Data has also showed a new drug called lecanemab slowed cognitive decline in patients by 27% across 18 months. The data revealed adverse effects but the drug was hailed as a “real treatment option”. | AFP…

SOMETIMES all it takes to spread Christmas cheer is an act of kindness, as ordinary people across the city have shown. From lunches that saw various people chipping in to feed those in need, to gift, hamper and baby shoe distributions, these are some of the acts bringing the festive spirit to communities. In Wellington, locals from all walks of life worked together to create a 10m tall, four-panelled, colourful hand-crocheted tree from 7 000 blocks. In the spirit of the greater good, the tree is situated near a shelter and some homeless people have come to sleep under it, describing it as “their tree and a beacon of hope”. Serial do-gooder Keith Blake, from Ottery, arranged for 500 families from Ottery Informal settlements, Parkwood, Hanover Park and Lotus River…

A judge was outraged by the conduct of the director-general of Home Affairs, who for years simply turned a blind eye towards an elderly German couple’s desperate plight to retire in South Africa. The couple fully qualify in terms of the law to obtain permanent residency here, yet their application was turned down by the department. Western Cape High Court Judge Vincent Saldanha said he considered holding the official personally liable for the legal costs. He commented that the court noted the egregious conduct of the official for the manner in which he had conducted this litigation and in handling the couple’s application. Jakob Maier, 80 and his wife Maria, 78, dearly want to retire in Cape Town, where they bought a house about 11 years ago. They applied for…

ONE person was killed and a number of others sustained serious to minor injuries in an accident involving three vehicles on the N1, between Touws River and De Doorns. The incident happened at about 4.40am yesterday when a Silver Toyota Corolla Quest allegedly overtook another vehicle and collided with a White Iveco minibus with a trailer, and a Toyota Hilux bakkie. According to transport and public works spokesperson, Jandré Bakker, a man died in the crash and the injured received medical attention. “Provincial traffic officers, police and EMS were all at the scene. A stop-and-go was implemented which caused delays, while the scene was being cleared. We urged motorists to be patient on the roads and only overtake when it’s lawful and absolutely safe to do so,” he said. The…

I AM used to adversity. In 2007 I had a stroke that left me half paralysed and unable to work. The doctors said I would never work again, but I was determined to prove them wrong. A few years later, in 2014, I set up my own business working in civil construction. At its height I had almost 50 employees, with multiple projects going on simultaneously across South Africa. I was optimistic for the future. Working as a female CEO in a male-dominated industry has never been easy, but despite my resilience, nothing could have prepared me for the reality of load shedding. I was wrong to be optimistic. My company, Hensu Projects, now has 20 employees and we can no longer take on multiple jobs as load shedding makes…

Dozens of women gathered outside Kabul University yesterday to protest in the first big public demonstration in the capital since the Taliban’s decision to close universities to female students. According to witnesses, about 50 mainly women protesters assembled while holding banners and chanted: “Education is our right, universities should be opened.” The backlash towards curbs on female education is complicating the Taliban-led administration’s efforts to gain formal recognition and the lifting of sanctions that are hampering the economy, diplomats say. A heavy security presence was present in the Afghan capital, including at gatherings at universities, in recent days. A spokesperson for Afghanistan’s higher education ministry said its minister would hold a press conference to “to elaborate more on the closure of universities for women”. | Reuters…

Washington: A powerful “once-in-a-generation” winter storm in the US that has brought crippling snow and freezing temperatures, may disrupt travel during the holiday season. The Arctic winter storm began in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, and made its way east through the Rockies. It is expected to become a “bomb cyclone” and hit the Great Lakes by today. More than 70 million people from Washington state to Maryland in the US and parts of Canada are under a winter weather alert. The National Weather Service said wind speed was expected to be greater than 88.5km/h. The US states could see the mercury dip below -6°C. | IANS…

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian militant during an incursion into the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, Palestinian sources said. The exchange of fire came just hours after veteran Israeli hawk Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had formed a new government, returning to power as the head of the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history. The Palestinian health ministry said Ahmed Atef Daraghmeh, 23, a footballer from the nearby town of Tulkarem, sustained bullet wounds to the back and foot. Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said Daraghmeh was a member of its military wing who “was killed by occupation bullets during clashes at dawn on Thursday”. The Israeli army said its troops had entered Nablus to “secure the co-ordinated entrance of Israeli civilians to Joseph’s Tomb”, a…

The Lions will have looked at the Sharks match-23 announced yesterday and thought to themselves, with perhaps a slight bit of over-confidence, that they can travel to Durban and possibly return with a result today if they fire on all cylinders from the onset. The Durban-based team revealed a much-changed side to the one that secured two victories in the Champions Cup in as many weeks, with director of rugby Neil Powell opting to prioritise player welfare over picking his strongest team. The Lions, meanwhile, have also applied their rotational policy, but to a lesser degree, and will fancy their chances in the United Rugby Championship clash at Kings Park. They have the more settled combinations, whereas Powell has picked a handful of pairings that are untested or still finding…