Table of contents for 2022-01-11 in Cape Times

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) could be forced to continue hiking interest rates for the second time in a row, as elevated inflation further pushes ongoing monetary policy normalisation in the world’s largest economy, the US. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday warned emerging economies to prepare for US interest rate hikes as the new Omicron variant has raised additional concerns of supply side pressures on inflation. The US inflation rate from December is expected to come in at 7 percent, a four-decade high, and the markets are already betting on the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raising rates earlier on the back of this, strong unemployment data, and a strong economy. In December, the Fed announced it would accelerate the pace of tapering and buy…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za STEINHOFF’S shareholders appear more optimistic about the company’s future as its share price rose up to 8 percent to R5.39 on the JSE yesterday, following its announcement to list its American-based subsidiary Mattress Firm on the New York Stock Exchange. In a statement, the retailer said it had applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering as part of a possible listing on the bourse. Steinhoff successfully listed its European discount retailer Pepco in 2021. "The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. Mattress Firm intends to apply to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, subject to notice of official issuance," it said. Steinhoff bought the 90-year-old…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za AREIT Prop plans to raise about R300 million through a JSE listing of some 30 million shares by way of private placement, the company said yesterday in its prospectus. The proposed listing as a Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) on the main board would be at an indicative price of between R8 to R10 per share. The company said interested investors could contact it or AcaciaCap Advisers if they wished to participate in the private placement. The listing is expected on February 14. aReit Prop holds a portfolio of two hospitality properties (Cresta Grande Hotel and Fountains Hotel) and one medical property (Lady Hamilton). Rental income is also derived from the lease of a billboard on top of the Cresta Grande Hotel. The properties were valued…

The 40-year-old pop icon left little to the imagination as she stripped off for a racy Instagram snap. She captioned the mirror selfie, with a heart emoji strategically placed over her lady parts and a flower covering her nipple: “Free woman energy has never felt better.” The Toxic hitmaker’s bold statement comes after her 13-year conservatorship was terminated in November, meaning her father, Jamie Spears, no longer has financial control over his daughter. Spears also recently took to the app to reveal she enjoyed her first glass of red wine in 13 years and shared how she was having fun dancing to Madonna songs. “I’m sure it looks weird me dancing to @madonna so much I see it … it’s like I’m not trying as much like I’m…

Loyiso Sidimba lloyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za | POLITICAL BUREAU TRADE union federation Cosatu wants Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to allocate adequate resources to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), and the Hawks to tackle all the State Capture Inquiry cases. Commission chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, handed over the first of three reports to President Cyril Ramaphosa last week. Cosatu said it appreciates the initial work that has been done by Ramaphosa’s administration to strengthen the law-enforcement agencies and other judicial institutions. “We call on Godongwana to allocate adequate resources to the NPA, SIU and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) to ensure that they appoint enough investigators and prosecutors to deal with the cases originating from the Zondo Commission and corruption in general,” the…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za A LOCAL Black contractor believes the Stellenbosch Municipality discriminated against his company Beatrice Nina Group (Pty) when he was disqualified from certain services of a panel tender without concrete reasons, while he had provided the relevant proof that he qualified. Stellenbosch resident Willyford Halala is now consulting his lawyers for possible legal action against the municipality. He claimed his appeal was handled by an official who assumed “multiple conflicting roles” as a member of the Bid Specification Committee, Bid Evaluation Committee and Appeal Authority/Committee, “which placed him in a position where the advice/recommendation he gave in the appeal/review committee was tainted by a conflict of interest”. The tender was for pruning, felling and stump-grinding of trees for the period ending June 30, 2024. Along with five other…

Staff writer A 22-YEAR-OLD City of Cape Town law enforcement officer was expected to appear in court today on a charge of murder after a homeless person was shot in the face and killed in Rondebosch. Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said a 38-year-old homeless man was killed on Sunday morning in Chester Road. GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron last night issued a statement saying it was suspected that law enforcement officials had responded to a complaint from a resident about a small cooking fire made by the homeless community in the area, when there was a scuffle over the dousing of the fire. Traut said: “Rondebosch police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a murder, following an incident where a 38-year-old homeless man was shot and killed. The suspect, a 22-year-old…

Staff writer THE damage caused by torrential rains in the Buffalo City metro in the Eastern Cape was still being assessed, as residents and officials yesterday banded together to start mop-up operations. Heavy rains at the weekend caused flooding to many homes in informal settlements and in the rural areas. At least seven people were reported to have died, including SAPS driver Captain Pierre Marx, 53, who went missing on Saturday during a rescue operation. His body was recovered the next day. Eastern Cape Premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane and Buffalo City Executive Mayor Xola Pakati, along with municipal officials, the Disaster Management Unit and ward councillors were out yesterday assessing the damage. “It has been devastating to many households in our metro, more particularly those residing in low-lying areas and…

Chevon Booysen Chevon.booysen@inl.co.za CLOETESVILLE residents in Stellenbosch will have to wait a while longer until they're able to make use of their local swimming pool, as a snag list and lifeguard appointment process, overseen by the municipality, drags on. Following the weekend’s scorching temperatures, residents renewed their calls for the municipality to complete its work. Renovations at the facility have been five years in the making, with upgrades finally commencing in May last year. But another festive season has come and gone, and residents said they are frustrated by apparent delays in the pool’s completion. Resident Lamees de Klerk said children suffered the most during heatwaves as there were limited recreational spots where they could go to find relief from sweltering temperatures. “We must stop allowing the lack of service…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za MORE than two decades of Dr Guy Lamb’s work into violence prevention, community safety and policing has received high recognition from the presidency. A prominent Stellenbosch University (SU) criminologist in the Department of Political Science, Lamb was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa as one of the 28 new National Planning Commission (NPC) members. The appointment is effective for five years from December last year. Lamb will be tasked with being an adviser to the government and providing recommendations in the interest of the long-term development of the country. “When the call came through to my phone I was hesitant to pick it up at first. “The first thought was that it might be from those people who want to sell you something. “To my surprise the person…

AS millions of pupils around the country return to school this week and next week, the Department of Basic Education needs to do away with the rotational system of attendance that has been the order of the day in many poor schools due to Covid-19. It can be said without any shadow of doubt that the biggest losers as a result of the many lockdowns imposed by the state have been learners from ill-equipped township and rural schools. While their counterparts from former model C and private schools have continued with their schooling uninterrupted, learners from poor township and rural schools lost out on hours of learning due to rotational attendance. Attending school two or three times a week has had a profoundly negative impact on millions of poor learners.…

MADRID/LONDON: Europe’s healthcare systems are being strained once again by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus over the holiday period, with large numbers of key staff ill or self-isolating and experts predicting the peak of infections is yet to come. Despite early studies showing a lower risk of severe disease or hospitalisation from Omicron compared to the previously-dominant Delta, health-care networks in Spain, Britain, Italy and beyond have found themselves in increasingly desperate circumstances. Britain put its biggest private health companies on high alert yesterday to deliver key treatments including cancer surgery should unsustainable levels of hospitalisations or staff absences overwhelm NHS hospitals in England. The country also began deploying military personnel to support hospitals on Friday due to record Covid-19 cases. “Omicron means more…

Oslo: The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, denounced three new convictions handed down yesterday against ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “The Nobel Committee is deeply concerned about her situation,” the chairperson of the Nobel committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said. “The latest ruling against Aung San Suu Kyi is a politically motivated ruling,” she added. Under house arrest since a February 1 military coup, the former leader, 76, was sentenced to four years in prison.…

THE UN has welcomed a consensus reached on Sunday by the country’s political leaders to expedite the electoral process after many months of delay. Yesterday, the UN told the political leaders that the priority was to implement the 18-point decisions, which were reached on Sunday following six days of national consultative talks to achieve a credible and widely accepted result by the new deadline of February 25. “The UN encourages Somalia’s political leaders to continue in a spirit of co-operation, avoid provocations that risk new tensions or conflict, and stay focused on delivering a credible electoral process quickly for the benefit of all Somalis,” the world body said in a statement issued in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The statement comes after Prime Minister Mohamed Roble and six regional leaders agreed…

HONG KONG: A growing potato shortage that has forced McDonald’s in Japan and Taiwan to remove French fries and hash browns from their menus could soon hit the African market. South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported yesterday that Japan was only allowing its customers to buy small-sized portions. The limit on fries was caused by a delay in potato imports from Canada. McDonald’s Japan CEO Tamotsu Hiiro admitted the delays occurred due to the “impact of the corona disaster” on the global distribution network as well as to flood damage and heavy snowfalls.…

COPENHAGEN: The head of Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit, Lars Findsen, has been remanded in custody over his involvement in a case involving a leak of “highly classified” information. Four current and former employees of Denmark’s two intelligence services were detained in December for leaking highly classified information. Findsen is the only one who remains in custody. The news emerged at a court hearing yesterday when a publication ban was lifted. The case is being conducted behind closed doors. Sources said the case involves leaks of classified information to Danish media outlets.…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE new vehicle market is expected to continue its gradual recovery during 2022, albeit at a slower pace than in 2021 and a year-on-year improvement of around 8 percent in aggregate new vehicle sales volumes is projected, Naamsa, the Automotive Business Council said yesterday. Factoring an anticipated 15 percent improvement in vehicle exports, industry vehicle production of about 17 percent was projected for 2022 – the automotive industry is South Africa’s largest manufacturing sector. Vehicle sales rebounded strongly year-on-year by 22.1 percent to 464 122 units in 2021. This followed the massive 29.2 percent slide in vehicle sales to 380 206 units during 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “It was a very satisfying performance by an industry that has had to deal with…

Albert Einstein was absolutely right when he said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. Whereas the context is right: in an era of multiple-stakeholder capitalism where every stakeholder’s contribution is being taken into consideration including inert land and the environment, South Africa still needs to embrace the evolving concept of new corporations and economic institutions. As a relatively new democracy we seem to have moved from total exclusion to unintentional controlled inclusion for purposes that are inimical to the emancipation of marginalised and disadvantaged communities. The concept of “shared value” defines a new way of achieving and measuring economic success, it is the bedrock of what companies and economic institutions do – not elementary social investment or sustainability. Thus, the boldest…

African News Agency A growing global potato shortage that has forced McDonald’s in Japan and Taiwan to remove French fries and hash browns from their menus could soon hit the African market. The South China Morning Post reported yesterday that Japan had suspended sales for its medium and large fries, and was only allowing its customers to buy small-sized portions. The limit on fries was caused by a delay in potato imports from Canada, with the fast-food chain stating the restriction was expected to last for a month. Japan faced the same obstacle last month when they temporarily limited the sale of fries. In a statement by McDonald’s Japan, chief executive Tamotsu Hiiro apologised for the restrictions and admitted the delays occurred due to the “impact of the corona disaster”…

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE alleged conduct of a Home Affairs official believed to have changed the details of a Nigerian citizen in his application for refugee status has been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for investigation and possible prosecution. The Johannesburg High Court last month ordered that the NPA must establish whether the official lied about the facts given to him by the Nigerian citizen, only identified as EL to safeguard him from possible persecution. EL told the court through his lawyers, and maintained throughout, that he had fled Nigeria and come to South Africa as he feared political persecution in his country. This version was allegedly changed by an officer at the refugee centre, who is said to have written on the application form that EL said…

Chevon Booysen, Sibusiso Mboto, Mashudu Sadike and Tarryn-Leigh Solomons WHILE the ANC in the Eastern Cape has become the latest to join their Limpopo and Northern Cape counterparts in backing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second-term ambitions, some ANC senior members have described the use of the party’s January 8 birthday celebrations to lobby for Ramaphosa, as a travesty that must be condemned. The ANC heads into its 55th elective conference in December with widening factions, and for the first time in its history, without a secretary-general following the suspension of Ace Magashule last year. Magashule, who is seen as Ramaphosa’s foe, did not attend the birthday celebrations and was seen along with NEC members Lindiwe Sisulu and Bathabile Dlamini at the funeral service of the late eMalahleni mayor Linah Malatjie, on…

Oluthando Keteyi As more people embrace flexible work environments due to remote working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, a travel search site has revealed the best countries to work remotely from, with Portugal topping the list. Cheapflights has released its first “Work from Wherever Index”. To develop the index, Cheapflights, which is managed by Kayak, analysed 111 countries and ranked each against 22 factors across six categories – travel costs and accessibility, local prices, health and safety, remote working capabilities, social life and the weather – to reveal the countries that are easiest to work from while enjoying a new country. South Africa ranked 61st in the global index and takes fifth place among countries in the Middle East and African regions. The country ranked highly in the…

Staff writer THE Competition Commission says it will continue to monitor the pricing of school uniforms and urged schools to keep uniforms as generic as possible. After investigations into anti- competitive behaviour in the school uniform supply chain, the commission and the Department of Basic Education last year jointly released a circular guiding schools and stakeholders about best practice for procurement. The commission says a survey will be rolled out over the next few weeks to assess the level of compliance. It says the principles governing these guidelines include: • A school uniform should be as generic as possible such that it is obtainable from as many suppliers possible. • Where deemed necessary, exclusivity should only be limited to a few “must” items that the school regards as necessary to…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing scheduled for this week into the conduct of Gauteng High Court judge Nana Makhubele has been postponed. This is according to the judicial watchdog group Judges Matter, which said the date of the hearing was yet to be confirmed. Judge Makhubele, a former board chairperson of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), is facing a misconduct investigation by the tribunal, which could lead to her impeachment. The investigation arises from a complaint filed by civil society organisation #UniteBehind. It is claimed that the judge violated the separation of powers principle by being both a judge and chair of a state-owned company. Judge Makhubele has denied wrongdoing and said she had already resigned as Prasa chairperson when she was sworn in as…

We want to equip our children with skills to be critical thinkers Anelle Burger IN OCTOBER 2012, in answer to question 2521 by Ms Cheryllyn Dudley (ACDP), Minister Angie Motshekga said that the purpose of the revision of the law and policy is to provide for home education as part of the formal schooling system. This comment was made 16 years after home education became legal and it has the potential to effectively outlaw home education in its current form. Home education became legal in 1996 (after the apartheid government prohibited it) and it is estimated that at that time 50 families followed this alternative approach to education. The national census of 2011 indicated that approximately 57 000 learners were home educated. The current number of home educated learners is…

Friends and families are mourning the deaths of 10 people who died when a cliff rock fell on to tourist boats on a lake in Brazil. On Saturday, a large rock fragment broke free from a ravine and plunged on to four boats in Furnas Lake in Brazil’s eastern Minas Gerais state, as panicked tourists watched helplessly from other vessels. The bodies of the two remaining missing individuals were found on Sunday by rescuers, civil police commissioner Marcos de Souza Pimenta told reporters. More than 30 people were injured, including nine who had to be hospitalised, authorities said. The 10 who died were part of a group of family and friends on the boat that suffered the biggest impact from the rockfall, rescuers said. The victims were all Brazilian…

NEW YORK: Former first lady Michelle Obama has urged the Americans to “vote like the future of our democracy depends on it” ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. In a letter titled “Fight For Our Vote”, published as an ad in the New York Times, Obama and her voting rights organisation When We All Vote warned that a historic attack on voting rights needed to be stopped. ”We stand united in our conviction to organise and turn out voters in the 2022 midterm elections, and make our democracy work for all of us,” Obama wrote in the letter, signed by 30 other civic engagement, voting rights and voter mobilisation organisations such as the NAACP, Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action, Voto Latino Foundation, NextGen America, LeBron James’ More Than A Vote…

NUR-SULTAN: Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said yesterday that his country had weathered an attempted coup d’etat co-ordinated by what he called “a single centre” after the most violent unrest since the Soviet collapse. In a speech to an online meeting of the Russian-led CSTO military alliance by video link, Tokayev said order had now been restored in Kazakhstan, but that the hunt for “terrorists” was ongoing. “Under the guise of spontaneous protests, a wave of unrest broke out … the main goal was to seize power.” Demonstrations against a fuel price rise began a week ago before erupting into a wider protest against the government.…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za WHILE Eskom seems to have put its house in order over the past month with no load shedding, there is uncertainty about its staying power over the next year. Eskom over the festive season brought on stream unit 4 of the Kusile power plant, which at full operational capacity is expected to add 800 megawatts (MW), but which is not expected at least for the next six months as the unit is commissioned gradually. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the scheduled maintenance of the Koeberg nuclear plant’s generators which will have to be shut down over the 10-months maintenance period, taking about 900MW off the grid with each generator shutdown. “We can be more positive about 2023. The current year is different… There is too much…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za REBOSIS Property Fund’s board has opted not to pay a dividend for the year to August 31, 2021 to continue reducing a heavy debt load. The fund did not pass the liquidity test to pay dividends for the year. It was in a net-operating loss position and also in breach of its bank debt covenants. It announced in October that it had entered into a R6.3 billion sales agreement with Ulricraft, a special-purpose vehicle owned by Vunani Capital Partners. Proceeds from the proposed deal, which involves the sale of 32 of Rebosis’s commercial buildings, including the “diamond building” on 11 Diagonal Street, Johannesburg – and which is still subject to several conditions – is aimed at reducing Rebosis’s debt. Rebosis’s share price increased 7.3 percent to 30…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-Leigh.Solomons@iinl.co.za Police Minister Bheki Cele says the SA Police Service and Department of Basic Education are working together to combat violence in schools and the kidnapping of pupils. In a written parliamentary reply to DA MP Ntombi Khumalo, Cele said Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and the Western Cape have been identified as hotspot provinces where pupils get kidnapped from school. Cele said the SAPS and DBE have completed the process of reviewing the School Safety Protocol, which guides the implementation of School Safety Programmes. “There are various crime awareness campaigns, which are implemented and conducted by the SAPS at schools to address, among others, incidences of bullying and gangsterism among learners in and around school premises. “Currently, there is a National School Safety Violence and Bullying Prevention…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za Farmers across large parts of KwaZulu- Natal, the Free State and North West say there has been widespread damage to agriculture infrastructure and crops due to recent heavy rains. Dr Siyabonga Madlala, executive chairperson of the South African Farmers Development Association (Safda), said that while the damage was still being assessed it was expected to run into millions of rand. Safda, agriculture organisation TLU SA, and civil society organisation the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group, said they expected an increase in food prices as a result of the crop damage. Madlala said that he had been directly affected by the rain damage. “We are still assessing the impact due to the rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal, but with the damage caused to avocados, cabbage and sugar cane, we…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za STUDENTS who have not applied for the 2022 academic year or applied late might have to further their studies in other tertiary institutions as most Western Cape universities have reached their intake capacity. Stellenbosch University (SU) has projected 30 470 student enrolments for this academic year, and has received about 55 000 first-year applications. Marick Hornsveld, the university’s digital communication deputy-director, said the institution has made about 12 000 conditional offers. “SU has reached its full capacity in terms of offers made to qualifying applicants for the 2022 intake. Applications closed in 2021, and SU can unfortunately not consider walk-in applications.” Hornsveld said the university’s residence placements have also reached full capacity for this year’s intake, but the process of accrediting private accommodation was ongoing. UWC has…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE PLAN TO build the tallest building in the southern hemisphere in Durban has stalled, as negotiations continue between eThekwini Municipality and the Durban Country Club (DCC) over the earmarked site. Details of the plan first came to light in 2016 when it was presented at a municipal economic development and planning committee meeting. At the time, The Mercury reported that the proposed location for the tower was the DCC site and the premises of the Natal Mounted Rifles. The city said at the time that it had received a proposal from the Durban Tower Development Company to build a R6 billion, 88-storey skyscraper near the Moses Mabhida Stadium, which would become the highest building in the southern hemisphere. At a council meeting last month, city…

Staff writer IN AID of the rescue work by the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob), Peter Chong has completed 12 runs, and has nearly reached his target of raising R12 000. Chong set out to run 12km a day every day from December 25 until January 5. By yesterday his initiative had raised nearly R11 000. Sanccob thanked Chong for his initiative. “What a wonderful way to kick start the year. Thank you, Peter, for your wonderful initiative in running 12km for 12 days over the holiday period and raising funds for us. “To all our followers, you are still able to support this awesome cause by donating via the link. “If you’re wondering how you can help Sanccob and raise funds, a campaign like…

Marsha Dean Marsha.Dean@inl.co.za THE school stationery scramble is in full swing as parents shop around to find the best deals amid unprecedented economic hardship. Schools in coastal provinces will reopen next week, while inland schools are expected to open tomorrow. On a visit to major retailers yesterday, the Cape Times witnessed the stationery aisle packed with parents stacking their baskets with school supplies. Claud Plaatjies, a single parent of two girls in Grades R and Grade 5, said he was using his January salary to buy their stationery at Shoprite. “For stationery alone, it will work out to just over R2 000, but I still need to get more things that are not stationery items such as wool, puzzles and wet wipes,” he said. Plaatjies added that his daughter starting…

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za WITH the country’s junior doctors having finally been placed for their internship training, calls have been made for the national Health Department to address the “chronic problem” of placements. Despite meetings all year with assurance that junior doctors would get placement for their internship training, in early December about 2 300 students were still unsure of their immediate future in the medical field, said Dr Akhtar Hussain, the South African Medical Association (Sama) Employed Doctor’s Forum national chairperson. According to Hussain this has been an issue for the department for about 10 years, leaving many students feeling anxious. “Most of the interns who qualified in December 2021 from South African Medical institutions have been placed but those who are repeating one or two modules are not…

Koert Meyer THE 220km stretch of the N1 between the two Karoo towns Laingsburg and Beaufort West claims so many lives each year, especially over the Christmas and Easter holiday periods, that it has become known as the road of death. There are two little villages in-between, Prince Albert, 95km from Laingsburg, and Leeu-Gamka, 75km from Beaufort West. They only offer motorists petrol and shops for eatables and other small items. All our roads claim lives right through the year mainly because of human behaviour and human error. Some say to themselves the only way to travel from point A to point B is to speed, even at speeds much higher than the legal 120km/h. Therefore, traffic authorities police this road to catch culprits – and many hell drivers are…

Pudding competitions, street parties, parades and live concerts are part of the events to be celebrated in the UK this year to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday. “There will be year-long Platinum Jubilee celebrations throughout the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world as communities come together to celebrate the queen’s historic reign,” the royal family said in a statement. In the UK, events will culminate in a four-day holiday weekend from June 2-5 that will begin with the Queen’s birthday parade and end with the Big Jubilee Lunch. The 95-year-old monarch, the first British monarch to reign for seven decades, will also be opening up her private estates to the public, and some of the “world’s biggest entertainment stars” will be…

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg yesterday warned Russia of “severe costs” if it launches a further attack on Ukraine, saying he hoped crunch talks could chart a way towards a diplomatic solution. “We are working hard for a peaceful political path and we are ready to continue to work with Russia to try to find that path towards a peaceful solution,” Stoltenberg said before meeting Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. “At the same time, we need to be prepared that Russia once again chooses to use armed force, chooses confrontation instead of co-operation.” Stoltenberg was speaking as high-ranking US and Russian officials held a high-stakes meeting in Geneva over the crisis. That will be followed tomorrow by talks in Brussels between Russia and all 30 Nato allies. “We also need to send…

STOCKHOLM: Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has landed in hot water as an illegal immigrant has been hired to clean her villa. This raised questions about the protection level of top-ranking officials in the Nordic country. Days before Christmas, police were alerted to the prime minister’s home in Nacka, where a burglar alarm had been triggered by mistake by a cleaning woman. Police arrested the wanted woman – an illegal immigrant without a residence permit. The twenty-something woman is from Nicaragua. She had been earmarked for deportation in 2020, but has remained in the country illegally. She was convicted of theft in 2020. .…

MANILA: The Philippine Department of Energy yesterday asked Indonesia to lift its ban on coal export, saying the move is “detrimental” to coal-dependent countries like the Philippines. Indonesia announced the ban for the month of January to avert a looming power crisis in the country. In a statement, Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi stressed the “healthy economic co-operation between the Philippines and Indonesia,” saying that Indonesia’s “recent policy will be detrimental to economies that rely on coal-fired power generation systems like the Philippines.” He said the Philippines sourced 2.3 million metric tons monthly from Indonesia.…