Table of contents for 2024-01-22 in Mercury

ETHEKWINI Municipality’s Embassy Building offices were broken into, resulting in the alleged theft of sensitive municipal documents. The burglary incident, which took place about three weeks ago, has raised fears that its aim was to undermine a multimillion-rand “fraud investigation” that is currently under way. The Mercury understands that the City’s human settlements offices, located at the Embassy Building in the Durban CBD, were broken into and documents were stolen. The human settlements unit is under intense scrutiny. The City revealed in October that it had suspended several officials in connection with an “irregular transfer” of funds meant for housing projects. The funds were estimated at R17 million. This “irregular transfer” led to a delay in the completion of a housing project as additional funds to complete the work needed…

IN A month when South Africa made global headlines for taking a firm stand against the genocide in Palestine, the City of Durban is quietly finalising a monumental act of justice and restoration that resonates with the spirit of our nation. The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is on the verge of repatriating the mummified body of an Egyptian minor priest which was stolen during the chaos of World War II and brought to South Africa. The mummy and coffin date back to the Late Dynastic or Early Ptolemaic period (about 300 BCE) and contain the remains of an Egyptian minor priest named PetenAmun (Ptn-‘Imn), who came originally from Akhmim (Akhmîm), about 354km from Cairo, Egypt. This is not just the return of a historical artefact; it is a restoration of dignity…

I was away from home for a short while when I received a call from the security company that the alarm on my property had gone off. I told them to do a check as I was not at home. Then they phoned a little while later to tell me that the security guard cannot open the gate. I told them to open the gate manually as load shedding had damaged the motor. A few seconds later I get a call again saying that there was a snake on the gate. I told them to tell the guard to wait for me. When I got home there was a harmless vine snake perfectly camouflaged on the green gate. I went up to it, pushed the gate and the snake slithered…

A Mpumalanga man who shot dead a 2-year-old boy has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Middelburg. Vincent Chunky Phahlane, 44, was convicted of murder, attempted murder, theft of a firearm, possession of an unlicensed firearm with ammunition, and discharging a firearm in a public area. Phahlane fatally shot 2-year-old Akanyang Maite from Vaalbank in 2020. The court heard that on November 30, 2020, Phahlane stole his father’s firearm and initially went looking for his ex-girlfriend at a school where she worked in Vaalbank. After calling her and asking her to come outside – which she refused – he randomly fired shots at the school. He then left for the residence of another ex-girlfriend in Vaalbank. Upon meeting the woman’s aunt, he claimed…

Two police officers accused of stealing property belonging to the state worth almost R1 million have been charged with theft and released on R500 bail each. Warrant Officers Johannes Gerber and Lawrence Plaatjies employed at the SAPS Stock Theft and Endangered Species unit in Graaff-Reinet, were arrested after police obtained a search warrant to search their residential properties. According to Eastern Cape police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli, the arrest of the officers followed a week-long investigation by a team of detectives from the Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit. “On January 18 at around 6am, the team, in possession of search warrants, searched private residences of the two police officials.” Nkoli said police recovered state property estimated to be valued over R1 million. These items include sets of brand new tyres,…

The Office of the Public Protector has confirmed that it will be investigating Police Minister Bheki Cele, who travelled to Paris to attend the Rugby World Cup last year, taking his assistant allegedly at the expense of the state. This comes after the DA lodged a complaint with the public protector, saying that the minister was in breach of his duties and obligations as set out in the Executive Ethics Code. Okkie Terblanche, DA spokesperson on police, said the minister was funded by an as-yet-unidentified “private company”, and his assistant was financed by the South African taxpayer who, despite a police budget already stretched to breaking point, sponsored Cele’s assistant’s trip to the tune of R446 339. “As the DA has said many times before, not only was the trip…

A woman has been arrested after she was allegedly seen setting fire to a Joburg building yesterday morning. The fire resulted in the death of two people. Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Nana Radebe-Kgiba said the fire claimed the lives of two people while four people were hospitalised. “The City of Joburg EMS received a call about a residential building fire at Commissioner and Nugget streets in the CBD,” said Radebe-Kgiba. During the fire, two people jumped from the second floor, and a further three were rescued from the building’s balcony. “The fire spread very quickly, affecting different levels of the building because of the combustible materials used. EMS will conduct preliminary investigations to determine the cause of the fire after firefighting operations are completed,” Radebe-Kgiba said. “One person…

Though positive, the current matric pass rate does not accurately reflect the future trajectory of the majority of the class of 2023. This is according to education movement Equal Education (EE) that said the annual matric pass rate was a “misleading barometer” of the true health of the schooling system and had to be interpreted with caution. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Thursday announced the matric results which saw 572 983 candidates pass the 2023 NSC exams, out of 890 000 full-time and part-time candidates. She noted that when the class of 2023 enrolled for Grade 1 in 2012, they were 1.2 million. The education department’s database showed that about 740 566 progressed from Grade 1 in 2012 to Grade 12 in 2023. EE noted that despite the…

THE alarming state of affairs at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) should be enough reason for the entire board, management and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to be replaced by people with enough energy to turn things around. But because the bar is so low, Nzimande et al will find and use each and every trick in the book to avoid scrutiny for the obvious failures hurting not only the functioning of that entity, but the very people they are supposed to service: poor students. That NSFAS failed to meet its self-imposed deadline of January 15 to settle the allowances of about 20 000 students who it failed to pay last year and had to write exams on empty stomachs is a story that many of our readers…

US Vice-President Kamala Harris will start a nationwide tour today in Wisconsin, a swing state, to preserve “reproductive freedoms” threatened by calls of restriction from Republicans. The Biden re-election campaign is putting abortion rights centre stage in a bid to galvanise the party base, and the vice-president, the administration’s most forceful campaigner on this issue, will be in the lead. Harris will be joined by US President Joe Biden tomorrow at a campaign event in Virginia, another swing state where the party won both state legislatures with abortion as a key issue. They will be joined by their spouses making it the first time they will share a stage after Biden announced his re-election bid last April. Harris will carry on her nationwide tour from there. “Extremists across our country…

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his willingness to visit North Korea, an official statement said yesterday. North Korea Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui had paid an official visit to Russia from Monday to Wednesday at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and held strategic talks, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The two countries had reached a consensus on various regional and international issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, North Korea said. | IANS…

Yanshanpu: Authorities in central China’s Henan Province were yesterday looking into the cause of a night-time fire that killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory. The inferno, which took place at the Yingcai School in Yanshanpu village, was reported to the local fire department on Friday and was put out around 40 minutes later. Thirteen pupils died in the accident, while one other person suffered injuries. Several windows on the side of the school were broken. The father of a boy who died in the fire said that blood samples had been taken from parents to compare their DNA with the victims. A teacher said that all the victims were from the same third-grade class. | AFP…

LONDON: The UK was taking threats of foreign interference in its elections expected later this year “very seriously”, defence minister Grant Shapps said yesterday after a warning from a counter-terrorism official. Counter-terrorism bodies and other institutions would “be looking very carefully at that”, he said. UK counter-terrorism chief Matt Jukes said that the espionage threat from foreign states such as China, Russia and Iran was greater now than it has been “since the days of the cold war”. He said police had set up a new unit to counter the threats of interference ahead of the election, which is expected to be called later this year. | AFP…

When it comes to roasting people for their food, one chef instantly comes to mind. No one does it better than Gordon Ramsay. But sometimes, he too gets burnt. This time, it’s the Scots who have been doing the roasting, as they criticised the television chef for the “lack of authentic Scottish fare” in his new burger, being sold at one of his restaurants, Street Burger. When Ramsay shared a clip of it being made to his social media platforms earlier this week, it got bashed. Priced at £18 (R400, including lettuce, tomato and a side of fries), Ramsay captioned it: “Try the full Scottish at Gordon Ramsay Street Burger Edinburgh – with Lorne sausage, a hash brown, and an over-easy egg.” Although comments were praising the creation, other people…

Political parties have called for urgent intervention and tough action on municipal water authorities that are not doing regular water testing. This comes after the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) revealed at a press conference on Friday that 14 water authorities in municipalities across South Africa did not provide any data on water testing for the 2021/22 financial year. Leon Basson, DA spokesperson on Water and Sanitation said it was critical that all water authorities adhere to legislation in testing the quality of drinking water. “The government and DWS cannot allow these municipalities to continue to supply untested drinking water to communities.” Basson said the DA will support the change in legislation to allow DWS to withdraw a licence if the water authority does not adhere to legislation.…

ACCORDING to the mainstream media’s coverage of the elites’ junket at Davos, the WEF’s 2024 agenda can be summarised in four words: “same old, same old”. But beyond their hand-wringing about “inequality” and their alarmism about carbon emissions, the media is silent about challenges to the WEF’s narratives. Too close to the WEF’s agenda on depopulation to publicise was the appeal by decarbonise fanatic Jojo Mehta, the CEO of “Stop Ecocide International”. Mehta wants all fishing and farming classified as “ecocide” and the pursuit of those activities criminalised. Also too close to the bone for mass publication was the message from Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. Here’s what he said at Davos: “The Western world is in danger because those who are supposed to defend its values are co-opted by…

IT’S roughly a year since incredibly mobile try-scoring Welsh full-back JPR Williams – tormentor of both the Boks and the All Blacks – died suddenly. But he’s by no means forgotten in his native Wales. An illustration comes this way in which a Welsh granddad is delivering a lecture in verse to his Welsh grandson. When JPR was twenty-seven Welsh rugby was the sport of Heaven. His flowing locks, his rolled-down socks Sent shivers down the backs and locks. Three Grand Slams, six Triple Crowns, The rugby field was his playground. But the grandest stat there is to hand, He never lost to England! That’s right. Cymru am byth! (Wales forever!) Slip-up WHOOPS! Last week we discussed some fascinating documents shared by my mate, Ken Sharpe, on Natal and Zululand…

The case against the student accused of murdering Sandton teacher, Kirsten Kluyts, was on Friday adjourned until May. The 21-year-old student – charged with the murder and rape of the 34-year-old teacher – appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court. In a heated exchange in court, defence attorney Itumeleng Masako questioned the magistrate’s conduct claiming that he was “out of order”. He said he intended to report the magistrate to the Magistrate’s Commission. In a live feed of proceedings, courtesy of eNCA, Masako told magistrate Renier Boshoff : “We cannot go on like this, we must change for the better,” before he requested to meet with his client. It is understood that Masako was upset about not being able to address the court. The matter was adjourned to May 10. The…

A JUDGE frowned upon a divorcing husband’s stance that he does not need to pay his wife interim maintenance pending their divorce, as she is “comfortably” living with her parents with their child. This, while the cheating husband is living in the matrimonial home. The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, said the husband’s submissions that the wife has thus far been living comfortably with her parents and should continue to do so, is unsustainable and opportunistic. “It is his legal duty to accommodate her. It is noteworthy that he continues to live in the matrimonial home while she was forced to leave, because she felt disrespected due to his infidelity. She ‘needed accommodation’ and looked to her parents, who out of their love for her and their grandchild accommodated her,”…

At the weekend, the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral) announced that it has started excavating a portion of the damaged section of the N2 between Izingolweni and Harding in southern KZN to address the drainage issues and prevent further deterioration of the road. Sanral’s project manager responsible for routine road maintenance in the Eastern Region, Samantha Dladla, said: “Following further inspection and consultation with the engineering consultant, it was agreed that the most effective solution is to start with the excavation immediately to allow for drainage from the dam to facilitate the necessary repairs to commence soon.” Dladla said the routine road maintenance (RRM) contractor has been instructed to begin with the work. She said that Sanral, along with the engineering consultant, was currently in the process…

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry yesterday said the death toll in the war-torn Palestinian territory breached 25 000 as Israel pushed its southward offensive and renewed bombardment in the north. Israel is pressing its push against Hamas in southern Gaza as it seeks to destroy the Islamist militant group responsible for the deadliest attack in the country’s history. In early January, Israel’s military said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters. But witnesses said Israeli boats were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early yesterday. Hamas has also reported heavy combat in the north. “Dozens are still under the rubble,” the Hamas government’s media office said, adding that the dead and injured “could not be transferred to hospitals due to the…

Dozens of Russian communists gathered in Red Square yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s death, in one of the few official events commemorating the Soviet founder. The centenary of the Bolshevik revolutionary’s passing has largely been ignored by ordinary Russians, but Lenin continues to be venerated by those nostalgic for the USSR. “I came here to honour the memory of Vladimir Lenin, our leader, the founder of the Soviet state,” said 47-year-old Yulia, one of many admirers who gathered outside Lenin’s mausoleum in freezing temperatures. “His ideas lit the way for many revolutionaries,” she said. Attendees could be seen carrying portraits of the late leader and waving flags of the Russian Communist Party, one of the few political parties allowed to take part in elections. “Our country…

Vatican City: Pope Francis called yesterday for the release of a group of people – including six nuns –kidnapped in Haiti, the Caribbean nation plagued by gang violence. The pontiff was speaking at the end of his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican. “In earnestly asking for their release, I pray for social harmony in the country.” According to the Haitian Religious Conference, the country’s association of religious orders, eight people including six nuns were kidnapped on Friday while travelling on a bus in Port-au-Prince. The incident comes amid an increase in kidnappings in Haiti, the poorest state in the Americas. Pope Francis, 87, also made reference to the situation in Ecuador, another country battling gang violence. Once considered a bastion of peace in Latin America, it has been plunged…

KYIV: A strike on a crowded market in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine left at least 25 people dead and 20 wounded yesterday, Moscow-backed officials said. Shattered storefronts and broken glass could be seen in videos shared by Russian state media, along with what appeared to be bodies lying on the ground nearby. Denis Pushilin, the head of the region’s Russian-controlled administration, blamed Ukraine for the strike, calling it a “horrific” artillery attack on a civilian area. Officials said the strike hit a south-western suburb of the city, less than 15km from Ukraine’s eastern front. | AFP…

Born in the Netherlands and educated in England, Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong has not looked back at international level since opting to represent Nigeria. Part of the team that lost to Lionel Messi and Argentina at the 2018 World Cup, Troost-Ekong is taking part in his third Africa Cup of Nations and he kept a remarkably cool head to score the decisive penalty in the 1-0 win over hosts Ivory Coast on Thursday. That result left the three-time continental champions primed to clinch a spot in the last 16 when they play Guinea-Bissau in their last group game in Abidjan today. “It is so early still, but my belief in the team has stayed the same,” the 30-year-old centre back, who won his first cap in 2015, said. “If…

Lions (18) 28 Tries: Louw (2), Pretorius, Van den Berg; Conversion: Nohamba; Penalties: Nohamba (3) Ospreys (14) 38 Tries: Watkin, North, Giles, Jones, Morse; Conversions: Edwards (2), Walsh (3); Penalties: Edwards.Leighton Koopman Three tries in the last eight minutes secured a comeback bonus-point win for the Ospreys over the Lions in Johannesburg yesterday afternoon in their final pool game of the European Challenge Cup. It looked like the Lions had done enough to secure the victory after going ahead 28-17 with about 20 minutes left, and they just had to stay in the game to seal it, but the trio of five-pointers from the fighting Welshmen secured the 38-28 victory. This is the Ospreys’ first win in all competitions over the Johannesburg…

ALBERT Einstein is famously remembered for saying: “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” South Afri- cans continue to experience the an- noyance and frustration of prolonged power outages. However, during this electricity crisis, it may be worth re- membering Einstein’s wise words and reviewing how they can be applied in navigating our businesses through these troubling times. Six opportunities for businesses in a crisis In short, crisis means change. And those resilient and adaptable to change can turn a crisis into an opportunity. Furthermore, businesses that can not only survive but also flourish during a crisis will have a higher embedded value and will be more appealing to investors when the business owners consider selling. Navigating a crisis success- fully, therefore, has numerous benefits. Crises are…

EQUITY markets on the JSE continued their sharp contraction last week. The current more bearish movement is mostly due to global market sentiment that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is unlikely to lower its bank rate during its first two meetings ending on January 30 and March 20. The stickiness of US core inflation, as well as strong employment and US retail sales, which rose more than expected in November, indicate the US economy is still on solid ground and the risk for even higher inflation has increased. These sentiments boosted the US dollar against most emerging market currencies and put the rand under renewed pressure. The currency depreciated last week by 41 cents, from R18.64 to R19.05 against the dollar. This not only put pressure on domestic petrol…

Theirs was a love story made in reality TV heaven. But for Qiniso Van Damme and Gareth “Gaz” Ehret, the shine has worn off their much-publicised relationship. The couple met on dating show ‘The Bachelorette SA’ in 2021 when Ehret was the last man standing in the season finale, and Van Damme gifted him the final rose. Now, after three years together, Van Damme released a statement via her X account to confirm that she and Ehret are no longer together. The model and TV personality wrote: “I am so thankful for the years Gareth and I have shared together, for having loved and been loved so beautifully, and so fully.” Although she didn’t go into detail, Van Damme made it clear that neither of them were to blame. “There…

ANC heavyweights from KwaZulu-Natal, including Sbu Ndebele and Sihle Zikalala who once worked closely with former president Jacob Zuma, are now taking him on as he campaigns vigorously for the newly-formed MK party. Ndebele, the ambassador to India, and Zikalala, a current ANC national executive committee (NEC) member, was speaking at a wreath-laying ceremony for Struggle veterans in Ndwedwe, north of Durban, yesterday just days after NEC members Bheki Cele and Senzo Mchunu addressed Zuma’s support for a rival party. ANC insiders in the province said it was the “automatic duty” of these NEC members to defend the party and to take on Zuma. The former president has criticised ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and said he would campaign and vote for the MK Party in the upcoming elections. Ndebele, the…

The DA in eThekwini has received multiple reports of flood damage after storms devastated certain areas in the north. Houses collapsed, infrastructure laid bare, widespread flooding, with no water and no electricity, that has been the nightmare of thousands of residents. Disaster management was slow to activate or even respond as stranded, terrified residents turned yet again to community emergency rescue organisations as the City failed at some point to even answer calls. The City administration made no effort to put in place any measures to mitigate losses after the April 2022 floods. Despite calls from the DA, eThekwini Municipality sinks deeper into its self-made woes. Oversight visits by the DA caucus leader and chief whip in eThekwini, revealed a city coming apart at the seams. With dozens of homes…

NO matter how good or qualified your therapist, therapy will be of no help: If you’re seeking help with your intimate relationship but you’re living with your mind made up, bags packed, and a heart full of blame and complaints. It’s therapy, not arm-wrestling. If you’re having an extramarital affair and you want to improve your relationship with your spouse so your divorce can be cordial. It’s therapy, not help with deception and manipulation. If you’re coming to change or influence a relationship you’re not directly a part of, for instance, you want to fix your son’s marriage or you want you husband to call his mom more often. It’s therapy, not human chess. If you’re committed to treating your adult children as if they’re children and wonder why they…

The ANC has urged South Africans to call out the “unconstitutional” actions of the Western Cape government. “We urge the people of the Western Cape to rise and reject the Western Cape Powers Bill and align itself with the principles of our Constitution, for the betterment of all its citizens,” said the ANC. The DA-led government in the province wants to introduce the Provincial Powers Bill, the country’s system of governance. The Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill, a breeding ground for debate, fully backed by Premier Alan Winde and the DA, seeks to introduce federalism across the province. The bill proposes to devolve specific national governmental powers to provincial and local authorities considered adequate to manage them. This includes public transport, policing, trade (including international trade and harbours), electricity generation…

A routine police patrol in Sydenham, Durban, has led to the unexpected arrest of four men, including two off-duty police officers. The four were allegedly transporting heroin on Thursday last week. Police swooped on the men along Locksley Drive after officers from the Sydenham Trio Crimes Task Team and the Durban K9 Unit identified a white Volkswagen Polo as suspicious. The vehicle had emerged from Sydenham Heights’ A Block – notorious for its drug-related activities – and drew the attention of the patrolling officers. A police source said that upon conducting a stop-and-search operation, the officers discovered a significant quantity of illegal substances. Hidden under the driver’s seat, a black plastic bag contained 400 red and white capsules, believed to be heroin. Additionally, a transparent plastic bag with 50…

Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Thembi Nkadimeng, has announced that the National Disaster Management Centre has declared municipalities affected by floods in KwaZulu-Natal as disaster areas. The department explained that this classification of several municipalities including uThukela, Ilembe, Ugu, Umzinyathi, and eThekwini Metro was the first step in the process. If the municipalities are then declared disaster areas, repair work on damaged infrastructure would be fast tracked, by re-prioritising municipal budgets to focus on repair projects and accessing additional funding from provincial and national departments. “This decision (to declare disaster areas) rests with the president, who will make a determination once the province has completed its assessment and followed all due processes.” Cogta said preliminary reports indicated that the province had suffered billions of rand in damage…

Police Minister Bheki Cele says the economic infrastructure task teams set up to crack down on the construction mafia, corruption and sabotage at Eskom and other related crimes will be converted into fully operational units this year. The government set up 20 economic infrastructure task teams in 2022 to fight these crimes. President Cyril Ramaphosa had made the announcement during the State of the Nation Address in 2021 that specialised units will be established to deal with the criminal elements in various sectors of the economy. Cele said: “Within the visible policing capability, specialised intervention units provide the SAPS with unique crime combating capabilities, that have proven to be indispensable, including the Public Order Policing, Tactical Response Teams, National Intervention Units and Special Task Force units “In addition, 20 economic…

THOSE who have watched the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly surely are shocked about this rearrangement of the title. Relax, it is tailored to suit the character in this one. Normally a person who is growing under an evil environment is likely to start by becoming bad because of the environment itself. They become worse as they grow up because of the influence and indoctrination with rhetoric and propaganda being soul partners. As a result you graduate from bad to ugly because you want to become like them. Depending on the change of times and you as a person you change to good. Is Adriaan Vlok a good ex-sample or a good example? Vlok did not just do a lot of bad things but evil things…

TENS of thousands gathered across Germany again yesterday to protest against the far-right AfD, after it emerged that party members discussed mass deportation plans at a meeting of extremists. The influx of demonstrators was so large in Munich that organisers were forced to cancel a planned march and ask people to disperse for safety reasons. Organisers said about 50 000 people had turned up to the demonstration, twice as many as were registered for the event. An earlier estimate announced to the crowd had put the figure at 200 000, according to an AFP journalist. Police estimated a figure somewhere in the middle, around 100 000, according to the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Those who made it to the site of the planned protest carried signs saying “Nazis out” and…

Five kidnapped Nigerian sisters have been rescued after their abduction and the death of another sister triggered a public outcry, police said yesterday. The sisters were seized at the start of the year by armed men who burst into their home just 25km from Abuja city centre, according to the family. Attackers killed one sister, 21-year-old Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, when a ransom deadline passed. Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police and the army rescued the girls on Saturday night in the Kajuru forest in neighbouring Kaduna State. “The FCT Police has rescued the victims and reunited them with their families,” a police statement said. A cousin of the girls confirmed that they were back with the family. Kidnapping for ransom is a major problem in Nigeria with criminal gangs targeting highways, apartments…

Moscow: Four people survived and two are unaccounted for after a Russian plane crashed in mountainous northeastern Afghanistan, the air transport agency Rosaviatsia said yesterday. The Falcon 10 business jet was believed to be carrying six people on a hospital flight from India to Uzbekistan and Russia before communication was lost on Saturday evening. The RIA Novosti news agency said two passengers were Russians, one who was seriously ill, and the other her husband who had paid for the flight. An official in Afghanistan said the aircraft came down in Badakhshan province, which borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan. | AFP…

Lima: A protester violently grabbed Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Saturday during an event in the southern Ayacucho region, where 10 people were killed in mass anti-government demonstrations more than a year ago. TV footage of the assa ult showed Boluarte, 61, in traditional clothing surrounded by a crowd of people as she throws out candy, when a shouting woman approaches and grabs the president. A chaotic scene ensues as police intervene to separate the woman, with Boluarte uninjured. The woman said she held Boluarte responsible for the death of her husband during the December 2022 protests in Ayacucho during a crackdown. | AFP…