Friday, July 27 2018

Cape Town’s dams‚ which have levelled off at about 56% after rising sharply in June‚ are expected to get a last-gasp July boost from Friday when heavy downpours and thunder are expected between 4am and 11am. Next Tuesday is expected to bring up to 30mm of rain. Rainfall for July has been well below normal‚ with only 93mm so far in Newlands compared with a long-term average of 270mm. August is set to start with a splash‚ though. More than 40mm is expected in the first nine days‚ according to one online forecast‚ while another predicts 28mm on Wednesday August 1 alone. Dam levels are almost back to the 59% at this time in 2015‚ when the first of three unnaturally dry winters began the decline that almost took Cape Town to Day Zero.

Councillor flees as protesters torch her home

An ANC councillor had to flee in her nightgown as after angry protesters torched her Mdantsane home on Thursday. Buffalo City ward 24 councillor Zameka Kodwa-Gajula was awoken by the sound of breaking glass‚ and saw the lower section of her bed was on fire. She was with two family members‚ including her 20-year-old daughter‚ when the incident occurred after 3am on Thursday. This follows several violent service protests in the area. Furious residents are demanding electricity and houses. Kodwa-Gajula is not the first Buffalo City councillor to fall victim to angry protesters in the metro. Last August a disabled child was trapped and killed when angry Dice residents near East London set fire to the home of ward 13 councillor Nokulunga Matiwane.

IFP says by-election win a sign of reclaiming KZN

The IFP is celebrating another victory in a by-election in KwaZulu-Natal and the party believes this is confirmation that it is ready to reclaim the province in next year’s elections. The IFP trounced the ANC‚ winning 52% of the vote in ward 7 in Mthonjaneni, in the King Cetshwayo District in northern KZN, on Wednesday‚ pushing it's support from 47% it gained in the 2016 local government elections. This is the third ward the party has taken directly from the ANC in KZN this year, following victories in Nkandla and Mtubatuba. IFP MP and national spokesman Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the victory was confirmation of the people’s trust in the party. In 2016 the IFP made a stunning comeback‚ winning back outright majorities in several KZN municipalities.

More than 600 rescued from underground blaze

More than 600 mineworkers were rescued from an underground fire at the Gold One Mine in Springs on Thursday‚ the Department of Mineral Resources said. Minister Gwede Mantashe said the blaze occurred in the early hours - 644 workers were underground at the time. They were all evacuated to the mine's refuge bays‚ from where they were brought to surface. Mantashe commended the rescue teams for a speedy operation. This incident comes just days after six mineworkers were killed in an underground fire at the Phalaborwa Copper Mine in Limpopo. Only one worker was rescued.

Drug lab in sheep's clothing found in KZN

A drug lab in the rural hinterland of Harding, southern KwaZulu-Natal, had been disguised as a sheep farm‚ with not a single woolly animal on the entire 10ha plot. Mandrax and lab equipment valued at nearly R250-million were seized there this week. On Wednesday the Hawks and Crime Intelligence Unit officers raided the farm and arrested two men who had been working on the property. Police Minister Bheki Cele said police now had their sights on the owner of the property‚ who had cultivated a “booming business”. “We did not find a single sheep there‚” Cele joked‚ saying the farm had been retrofitted to manufacture drugs. “It was a serious factory which was established on this farm.”

27 pregnant pupils at a single school

Limpopo’s education department says it is concerned that 27 pupils have been confirmed to be pregnant at one secondary school near Polokwane. Fourteen of these girls at Molautsi Secondary School in Blood River are in Grade 12. Department spokesman Sam Makondo said the high pregnancy rate was worrying. In an interview with the SABC one of the pregnant pupils‚ who spoke on a condition of anonymity‚ said she was aware of the consequences of unprotected sex. She asserted that falling pregnant had not affected her studies. The school’s deputy principal‚ Joseph Phaleng‚ said a lack of parental guidance and substance abuse contributed to the rate of teen pregnancy.

World

Normal rules do not apply to the foul fiends of Islamic State

'So repugnant were their deeds that we should be grateful there's a chance the Americans will brutally punish them'

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It's a whole different ball game now for Imran Khan

His challenges as a legendary cricketer are nothing to compared to those he now faces as Pakistan's prime minister

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World

And the award for dumbest athlete goes to ... Ryan Lochte. Jeah!

After his mindblowingly stupid Instagram post got him banned, we look back on the swimmer's long career of gaffes

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Plane crazy: Tom Cruise's aerial obsession explained

The answers might lay in Freud, antidepressants, Scientology, and that couch spectacle on Oprah

By Robbie Collin

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UK takes high ground on weed

British doctors will legally be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis, the government announced on Thursday following a review - but insisted it was not a first step towards legalising recreational use. Home Secretary Sajid Javid decided to relax the rules about the circumstances in which medicinal cannabis can be given to patients. It follows several high-profile cases, including those of young epilepsy sufferers whose conditions appeared to be helped by cannabis oil. “Making medicinal cannabis available on prescription will benefit the lives of ill patients currently suffering in silence,” Javid wrote on Twitter. Javid commissioned a review on June 19. An initial review by Sally Davies, the government’s chief medical adviser, concluded there was evidence that medicinal cannabis had therapeutic benefits. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which conducted the second part of the review, said doctors should be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis provided products meet safety standards. - AFP

Lifeguard in sack worms into record book

Swimming instructor, lifeguard and adventurer Yane Petkov, Bulgaria’s answer to Houdini and Michael Phelps combined, has reclaimed the Guinness World Record for swimming along with his hands and feet tied while fully wrapped inside a sack. Petkov, 64, swam 3,380m in Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid, beating the record of Indian fisherman Gopal Kharvi, who in 2013 swam 3,071m in the Indian Ocean - though not in a sack. The Bulgarian already had one entry in the Guinness Book of Records in 2013 with 2,030 metres, but he only held it for three months until he was overtaken by Kharvi. Before his latest attempt, Petkov said he had planned to swim 3.5km, and Guinness observers were present for his swim. He took about three hours to worm his way along through the water, face up and feet first, before emerging on the shore in the ancient town of Ohrid. - Reuters

‘I’m in love with the shape of mew’

Pop star Ed Sheeran has an answer for the dog days of summer gripping the northern hemisphere: an Instagram account for his cats. Unveiling the @thewibbles handle for Dorito and Calippo, the English singer promised his 24 million followers he would chronicle “their daily routine”. Within 24 hours three photos of the pair in different poses had already attracted more than 110,000 followers, and plenty of adoring comments. Sheeran, 27, has been honoured for his attachment to cats, with a figure of the folk-pop phenomenon unveiled in June by Madame Tussauds at London’s first cat cafe. He is also not the only celebrity fan of felines. Fellow pop star Taylor Swift has two, named Olivia Benson and Dr Meredith Grey. Swift, 28, reportedly applied on Wednesday to trademark the name “Meredith & Olivia Swift”, and her website has merchandise for sale featuring the cats’ likeness on them. - AFP

Booze heiress added to ‘sex cult’ cocktail

A multimillionaire heiress to the Seagram liquor empire has been arrested and charged with running a criminal enterprise, as part of proceedings against members of the Nxivm “sex cult”. The group made headlines for an initiation ritual that reportedly included branding founder Keith Raniere's initials on women, attempts to recruit celebrities, and accusations that members were turned into sex slaves for Raniere. Clare Bronfman, 39, a British-educated aspiring Olympic showjumper, was ordered by a judge in Brooklyn to be held under house arrest, on $100 million bail. Her lawyer, Susan Necheles, said Bronfman had done nothing wrong. “Nxivm was not a criminal enterprise but … an organisation that helped thousands of people. The charges are the result of government overreaching and charging an individual with crimes just because the government disagrees with some beliefs taught by Nxivm and held by Clare.” She will appear in court with Raniere and Smallville actress Allison Mack. - © The Daily Telegraph

Hold her down, will you, said euthanasia doc

A doctor has been formally reprimanded by the Dutch medical complaints board for carrying out euthanasia on a 74-year-old woman with dementia, despite her resistance. The woman refused a cup of coffee containing a sedative and when she struggled, the doctor asked her husband and daughter to hold her down so she could insert a drip containing the lethal injection. The case is the first time since the Dutch euthanasia law was passed in 2002 that a practitioner has been formally censured. According to the Dutch NOS broadcaster, the public prosecutor will announce after the summer whether the doctor will face criminal prosecution. - © The Daily Telegraph

Tokyo sarin-attack cultists get whiff of justice

Six more members of the cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo’s subway have been executed. Japan's public broadcaster NHK and other outlets said all six Aum Shinrikyo cult members remaining on death row had been executed on Thursday. Authorities hanged “guru” Shoko Asahara and six of his followers earlier this month after years on death row and years of legal wrangling and public soul-searching over the group and its crimes. While Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, public support for it remains high despite international criticism. Local media said authorities wanted to execute all Aum members on death row before the country’s emperor abdicates next year, which will start a new imperial era. - © The Daily Telegraph