Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
Newsbrief

Latest posts

Science

Fishers and green groups demand sardine fishing pause

Environmental groups and small-scale fishers want the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to be more open about a mass sardine die-off along roughly 2,600 kilometres of coastline. They want fishing suspended until a new survey is done.

Read moreShow less

The die-offs are linked to the pilchard herpesvirus. The government has temporarily restricted commercial fishing catches. The groups want a full suspension until a new biomass survey ends and an updated catch limit is announced.

Neville Van Rooy, spokesperson for The Green Connection, said nobody yet knows how bad the damage is. He said the scale must be checked and made public. He warned that continued fishing could harm the fish population more.

WWF South Africa wants a total ban on sardine fishing. The department said there was not enough evidence to justify a complete ban. Fishers and conservationists say the government lets fishing go on despite doubt about the outbreak's effect on stocks.

Fishing communities said falling sardine numbers could threaten livelihoods and food security.

Other

Weather Service forecasts showers and thundershowers across northern South Africa

The South African Weather Service gives a 30 to 60 percent chance of showers and thundershowers on Tuesday. It urges residents to take shelter during thunderstorms and lightning.

Read moreShow less

The rain is likely mainly over the northern parts of the country. The forecast covers North-West, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo.

Meteorologist Azwi Tuwani advised people to make sure they are in a safe place whenever they hear thunder.

Politics

IEC fires presiding officer over ANC car at Hammarsdale

The Electoral Commission dismissed a presiding officer who was seen putting ballot papers and the voters' roll into a car with African National Congress branding. The incident happened at a Hammarsdale voting station in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday.

Read moreShow less

KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga disclosed the dismissal at a media briefing in Durban. She said the officer was moving sensitive material at the end of the day.

The Electoral Commission said items such as ballot papers, security stamps, ink and the voters' roll do not stay overnight at a voting station. It said presiding officers are sometimes trusted to transport this material. The commission said it fired the officer and will not take the matter any further.

Politics

Johannesburg voters cite roads and sewage before local elections

Voters at the Joubert Park Lapeng Child and Family Resource Centre in Johannesburg said broken roads, open sewage drains and hopes for the next generation drove them to vote. The 2026 local government elections take place on 4 November.

Read moreShow less

John Masuku, a 70-year-old voter from Hillbrow, said he was voting because he needs the roads fixed. He said the roads and traffic lights where he lives do not work, so crossing a busy road is hard.

Masuku also said open sewage drains in his area put young people at risk. He said a pupil almost fell into an open sewage pipe.

Another voter, who did not give his name, said residents have to vote because otherwise leaders will do nothing. Aviwe Ngcina, originally from the Eastern Cape, also spoke about why she was voting.

CrimePolitics

Court convicts two over Phala Phala farm theft

The Modimolle regional court found Imanuwela David guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking, theft and money-laundering. Froliana Joseph was convicted of conspiracy to commit housebreaking, and Ndilinasho Joseph was acquitted on all charges. The ruling came on Monday.

Read moreShow less

The case concerned the theft of $580,000 (R9.6m) in cash from President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. Magistrate Peter Manthata presided. The matter is postponed to 13 November 2026 for pre-sentence proceedings.

Ramaphosa said the cash came from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa, who paid it to former farm manager Sylvester Ndlovu on Christmas Day in 2019. He said Mustafa wanted to buy a herd of buffalo.

Former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser opened a separate case against Ramaphosa, presidential protection head Wally Rhoode and crime intelligence members. He accused them of kidnapping and money-laundering, for allegedly hiding the break-in. The court noted a delay of two years between the incident and the opening of the criminal case.

Science

Tshwane mayor tells Bronkhorstspruit residents not to drink tap water

Mayor Nasiphi Moya said the water has not been declared safe while testing continues. Tests found a low level of E. coli in discharge during cleaning of a sump at the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant.

Read moreShow less

Moya briefed the media on progress to fix the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant. The City of Tshwane failed to chlorinate water from the plant. Over 800 cases of gastrointestinal illness were reported in the area last month.

The E. coli was found in water discharged while workers cleaned the clear water sump. The city will repeat disinfection until the contamination is gone.

Moya said videos are circulating, including some by councillors, that show water coming out of reservoirs. She said residents must not use the water even where it looks clean.

Economy

Petrol price drops 1c a litre as diesel falls over R1

The November fuel price adjustment starts on Wednesday 4 November. A higher slate levy cancels most of the R1.50 per litre general fuel levy cut on petrol, while wholesale diesel falls by about R1.10 to R1.20 per litre.

Read moreShow less

A litre of 95-octane petrol will cost R30.24 in Gauteng and R29.37 at the coast. The slate levy rises by about 48c per litre because the Slate Fund balance was almost -R16 billion at the end of September. Reports give the new slate levy as 135.64c and 135.84c per litre.

Illuminating paraffin rises by R3.66 per litre at retail. The maximum retail price of LPG rises by R1.83 per kilogram inland and R2.08 per kilogram in the Western Cape.

The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources blamed Middle East uncertainty, including recent attacks on Saudi Arabia infrastructure, and high freight and insurance costs. It also cited tight global diesel supply, higher seasonal demand before the Northern Hemisphere winter, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The average Brent crude price rose from $101 to $108 per barrel over the review period. The rand weakened from an average of R16.21 to R16.55 against the dollar. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced the temporary fuel levy cuts in the medium-term budget policy statement.

CrimePolitics

Two women arrested for posing as IEC official in Ngcobo

Police arrested two women, aged 57 and 61, on 3 November after they allegedly tried to collect voting material at Ngcobo Police Station. They allegedly claimed a presiding officer had sent them.

Read moreShow less

Police spokesperson Nobuntu Gantana said the presiding officer was in the queue at the station at the time. The officer dismissed the women's claims.

Gantana said the two suspects were being processed after their arrest. Police allege the women posed as an official of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

TechEconomy

Anthropic commits to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure

Anthropic said its spending on computing power is rising faster than its revenues. The AI company wants the spending to support its rapid growth in the coming years.

Read moreShow less

Anthropic revealed the commitment on 2 November. The spending covers AI infrastructure over the coming years. One report described the move as a bid to keep up the company's fast growth.

In a related item, OpenAI hired Dan Driscoll, the former US Army secretary. OpenAI is the maker of ChatGPT. The same report said the military seeks to expand its use of AI.

Science

Dutch team builds a soft robot arm powered by algae

Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands built a small strip of two hydrogel layers with microalgae growing on it. It bends back and forth as the light changes, and it can grasp and lift small objects. The work is peer-reviewed in Nature Communications.

Read moreShow less

Professor Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam led the work, and PhD candidate Fan Jiang was first author. In light, the algae make sugars through photosynthesis and raise the pH in the hydrogel. The two layers swell by different amounts, so the strip bends. In the dark the pH falls, and the strip starts to bend the other way within 10 seconds. The strip is about 2 cm long and 1 mm thick. Aubin-Tam calls it a proof-of-concept, and the team had no specific application in mind.

Politics

Hot election day forecast with storms possible in Gauteng

Pretoria could reach 32°C and Johannesburg 30°C on Wednesday 4 November, local government election day, according to AccuWeather forecasts. Cape Town should reach 28°C and stay mostly dry.

Read moreShow less

AccuWeather forecasts a possible afternoon thunderstorm in Pretoria. Thunderstorms are possible in parts of Johannesburg too. The forecast gives a 55% probability of precipitation and a 33% chance of thunderstorms for both cities.

Forecast rainfall is 1.3mm in Pretoria and 2.2mm in Johannesburg. The maximum UV index is 13 in both cities, which is classed as extreme. Cape Town has a maximum UV index of 5, which is moderate.

Overnight lows are forecast at 20°C in Pretoria, 17°C in Johannesburg and 16°C in Cape Town.

Politics

DA asks IEC to explain ballot paper delays in special voting

The Democratic Alliance says late delivery of ballot papers hit voting stations in five provinces during special voting. The party wants a timeline, a guarantee for approved special voters, and an explanation to parties before election day on Wednesday.

Read moreShow less

DA national spokesperson Jan de Villiers said the party wrote to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with three requests. The DA says the delays affected stations in the Western Cape, Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

The party asked for a timeline, a guarantee that approved special voters can vote, and a full explanation to parties in the party liaison committee. De Villiers said voters need reassurance that similar delays will not happen on election day, when all ballot papers must be in place.

Special voting continues on Tuesday. About 2.6 million South Africans are approved for special votes in the 2026 local government elections.

Science

Water department urges Gauteng residents to cut water use

The Department of Water and Sanitation says a heatwave in its third consecutive week and a likely strong El Niño put summer supplies at risk. It warns that heavy use by residents with water could leave areas with disruptions short.

Read moreShow less

Department spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said the heatwave is pushing up demand across Gauteng. She said leaking municipal pipes and high use per person add to the problem. The department said Gauteng uses about 250 litres per person a day, against an international average of 173 litres.

The department put non-revenue water at an estimated 47% and physical water losses at about 27%. It said the South African Weather Service forecasts a high likelihood of a strong El Niño in the 2026/27 summer. The department said El Niño could cut dam inflows, raise evaporation and increase demand.

The department said it cannot give Rand Water more than the volume already allocated to it from the Integrated Vaal River System. Mavasa said the department will cut the water that farms, industries and other users, including water boards, may draw where this is needed. She urged residents to follow municipal water restrictions and make saving water a daily habit.

Politics

Labour minister urges employers to let staff vote

Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth asked employers to release workers so they can vote in the local government elections on Wednesday. President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that day a public holiday for voting.

Read moreShow less

Meth stressed that voting is a right in the Constitution. She said employers must not threaten workers, punish them or block them from using that right.

She also asked employers and employees to plan their voting arrangements in advance. Special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday.

PoliticsCrime

KZN police commissioner tells officers to act firmly on election day

Police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi sent off officers in Durban before the local government elections on Wednesday. More than 300 voting stations in KwaZulu-Natal are classified as high risk, meaning crime, violence or other disturbances could occur there.

Read moreShow less

The parade in Durban on Tuesday included SAPS officers, army members and staff of the road traffic inspectorate. Mkhwanazi, the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner and a Lieutenant General, told them to deal decisively with anyone who tries to disrupt the elections.

He said officers must enforce the electoral act and the other laws of the country without compromise. He also told them not to take political sides.

Mkhwanazi said the police must treat every political party and all members of the public in the same way.

TechCrime

North Korean hackers expected to take months to launder Binance tokens

Analysts say the hackers are splitting the stolen tokens into small packages to hide their tracks. The theft, which analysts value at billions of dollars, happened last week at the crypto exchange.

Read moreShow less

Analysts and experts blame North Korean hackers for the theft from Binance. They say the tokens were worth billions of dollars. Binance is a crypto exchange.

Experts say the hackers are breaking the tokens into small packages in an attempt to hide their tracks. Analysts expect the laundering to take months.

World

Ethiopia suspends The Reporter newspaper indefinitely

The Ethiopia Media Authority suspended the independent newspaper's licence from Monday 2 November 2026. It said The Reporter published content that contradicts national interests and distorted information about foreign investment, tourism and diplomacy.

Read moreShow less

The Ethiopia Media Authority announced the order in a statement on Facebook. It bars The Reporter from publication and broadcasting until it meets its legal and professional ethical obligations. The regulator also accused the paper of unbalanced and biased reports.

The Reporter is an independent print and online newspaper. Ethiopia revoked the licence of another independent outlet, Addis Standard, in February, and that outlet has appealed.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Ethiopia 148th out of 180 in its press freedom index. The group says five journalists are detained in the country. Four of them have been held for nearly three years and face terrorism charges that carry the death penalty.

World

MSF says rebel rules cut care for rape survivors in North Kivu

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the number of people seeking its care for sexual violence in North Kivu fell 41 percent in August compared to January. The charity links the fall to measures imposed by the M23 rebels, who run the area.

Read moreShow less

MSF said the measures target health workers and humanitarian organisations in North Kivu, in eastern DR Congo. It says they caused a sharp fall in consultations. The charity says the rules pressure health workers to reduce the reported number of victims, by limiting recognition of sexual violence to people with visible injuries.

MSF also says the measures include intrusive and medically unnecessary examinations to prove violence. It says victims must report to police within 72 hours of an assault before they seek care. MSF said the rules "raise serious concerns about medical confidentiality, medical ethics, victim and survivor protection and access to healthcare".

The M23 is an armed anti-government group backed by Rwanda. A new group, the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, took over the M23 last month. Former president Joseph Kabila leads that group.

TechEconomy

Marvell agrees to buy Lumentum in $115 billion deal

Marvell plans to acquire Lumentum for $115 billion, and reports rank it among the largest deals in tech history. Both companies share a strategic investor, Nvidia.

Read moreShow less

Marvell is the buyer and Lumentum is the company being acquired. The deal was announced on 2 November.

Science
Rows of plain glass test tubes in a wooden rack on a laboratory bench.

AI tools for gene variants may score better than they should

A study in Nature Communications finds that AI models that predict disease-causing single-nucleotide variants look more accurate than they are. The problem arises when tests mix different types of variant.

Read moreShow less

The authors say benchmarks that combine variant types, such as canonical splice and 5' UTR variants, inflate the scores of these models. They propose a stratified benchmark that separates the types, and they use it to identify the most robust models. The study is peer-reviewed. Only a short summary was available, so the methods and results are not described here.

TechWorld

Apple warns German lawmakers their iPhones may have been hacked

Apple sent notifications to people in Germany, including a filmmaker, warning that their phones may have been infected with spyware. The warnings reached members of the German parliament.

Read moreShow less

The notifications told recipients that their iPhones may have been hacked with spyware. Apple sent them on 2 November.

The facts available do not name the spyware or say who is behind the attacks.

TechCrime

Snap settles during Los Angeles trial over addictive app claims

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, settled during the second Los Angeles state court trial over claims that social media platforms were built to addict young people. Meta, TikTok and YouTube had already settled with the plaintiffs.

Read moreShow less

Two teenagers brought the case. Plaintiff S.J. is 16 and from Illinois. Plaintiff K.D.B. is 18 and from Mississippi. Their attorneys say the platform was designed to be addictive and caused depression, anxiety and eating disorders.

The plaintiffs say they began using YouTube as early as age 3 and the other platforms around age 9. They blame compulsive habits on features such as autoplay and infinite scroll. The companies reject the claims and say they have acted to make their apps safe places for young people.

Attorneys John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott act for K.D.B. They said the settlements let them keep building toward holding social media companies accountable for the effect on children. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel had been expected to testify. A Snap spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the first case, which ended in March, a Los Angeles jury awarded a young woman $6m (R100m) in damages against Meta and YouTube. In August, Meta settled with nearly every US state and territory over teen harm lawsuits, worth up to $18bn. About $5bn of that depends on states reaching similar settlements with Snap, TikTok and YouTube.

CrimePolitics

MK Party organiser Lastborn Shazi shot dead in Umzumbe

The MK Party said its regional organiser was shot at his home on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Monday night. The party wants the provincial police killings task team to investigate, two days before local government elections.

Read moreShow less

The party said Shazi was shot at his homestead in Umzumbe, in the Ugu area. Police did not immediately respond to queries and had not given further details. One report called him a regional coordinator and said he was in a virtual meeting on election plans.

Party spokesperson Mkhuseli Mlengane said KwaZulu-Natal has a painful history of political killings. The party said anyone who planned or helped with the killing must be identified and brought to justice. One report said the party also asked the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate.

ActionSA representative Zwakele Mncwango said the motive is not known and that people must rely on police investigations. He said it is hard to call the killing political if Shazi received no threats. The elections take place on 4 November 2026.

TechEconomy

Apple's inventory jumps 154% as memory chip costs rise

Apple's inventory climbed to $14.5 billion. The company says memory chip costs are unprecedented and will keep rising, which raises questions about the price of its future devices.

Read moreShow less

Apple made the statement about rising memory chip costs. The company did not say how it will change device prices.

The figures come from a single outlet's account, published on 3 November.

TechCrime

New York Times and other outlets sue browser maker Brave

The outlets allege that Brave scraped their copyrighted content and unlawfully passed it to customers, including Anthropic and Perplexity. Brave makes a privacy-focused web browser. The lawsuit was filed on Monday.

Read moreShow less

The New York Times and other news outlets are the plaintiffs in the case. They claim Brave distributed their copyrighted content to its own customers without permission.

The outlets named Anthropic and Perplexity as customers that allegedly received the content. These are claims by the plaintiffs, and Brave is the defendant.

Crime

Rival Cape Town taxi groups agree to seven-day truce

The Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA) and the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (CODETA) agreed to stop fighting, Western Cape Mobility MEC Isaac Sileku said. The turf war has claimed about a dozen lives.

Read moreShow less

The provincial taxi registrar suspended the CATA Langa Intertownship Taxi Association for at least six months. Mediators will meet the two associations separately. Further talks are planned for next Tuesday.

Sileku said both associations committed to ending the killings and working with government. He said they are committed to what they agreed, and there will be no fighting or killings. He added that court interdicts are in place to hold operators accountable.

Sileku said police and law enforcement are deployed at taxi ranks. "We will continue monitoring the situation on a daily basis."

Economy

Proxy advisers urge Shoprite investors to reject CEO pay plan

Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis oppose a R36.4 million incentive for Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht. Several large investors say they will vote against it at the annual general meeting on 6 November.

Read moreShow less

ISS also recommends that shareholders reject the implementation report. It says a special modifier let a short-term incentive metric pay out in full, although performance was below threshold. ISS said Shoprite had not given a sufficiently compelling rationale for adding another substantial incentive.

Funds under the New York City Comptroller, KLP and other investors say they will vote against the pay proposals. Together the institutions oppose the plan while overseeing almost $2 trillion in assets. Shoprite's largest shareholder is the Public Investment Corporation.

Engelbrecht earned R117.8 million in the latest financial year, up 35%. The plan for CFO Anton de Bruyn is worth R14.2 million. Last year the implementation report won 95.61% support, but the 2024 report won 74.3%, below the 75% engagement trigger.

Board member Christo Wiese defended the award. He said: "This isn’t something that was just decided in two seconds". ISS says Wiese controls about 41% of the voting rights. Shoprite declined to comment beyond its remuneration report and AGM notice.

Politics
Empty debating chamber with rows of wooden benches and a long table facing forward.

Five parties clash over housing and crime in Cape Town debate

Opposition parties accused the DA of failing poorer communities in a CapeTalk debate held a day before the local government elections. The DA defended its record in Cape Town, and parties also argued over possible coalitions.

Read moreShow less

The debate brought together the DA, ANC, EFF, GOOD and the National Coloured Congress (NCC). Lester Kiewit moderated it. Parties discussed the housing crisis, gangsterism, policing and service delivery.

Francine Higham of the DA said the city had invested more than R40 billion in infrastructure over five years, with more spending planned. She also said suspects return to communities soon after arrest, and that residents live in fear.

Carl Niehaus of the EFF said the DA had upheld divisions in Cape Town after 20 years in control of the City. He said: "The answer to crime is socioeconomic development." Brett Herron of GOOD said boots on the ground are not solving crime.

NCC leader Fadiel Adams said backyard dwellers in coloured communities are being overlooked. Opposition parties also said the DA is wrong to warn of a "coalition of chaos". ANC mayoral candidate Jerimia Thuynsma also took part.

World

Russia says it downed nearly 500 drones headed for Moscow

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences downed the drones as fighting flared after a truce in the Kherson region ended on Sunday. Ukrainian officials said overnight Russian strikes killed at least 26 people in a Zaporizhzhia village.

Read moreShow less

Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, said a strike hit a passageway between buildings at a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district. Ukrainian authorities said the strike wounded 25 people. Synegubov said 200 patients will be evacuated to other medical facilities.

Kharkiv's mayor, Igor Terekhov, warned on Telegram that the city was "under a combined attack by ballistic missiles and guided aerial bombs".

The strikes came as talks between Russia and Ukraine, led by Washington, were set to resume next week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said. The flare-up has dashed hopes of progress towards peace.

Crime

David Mmelesi faces sentence for 2023 crash that injured Mokgoro

The Northern Cape High Court is due to sentence David Mmelesi on Tuesday. He is the former partner of the late Constitutional Court Justice Yvonne Mokgoro, and the court convicted him of culpable homicide in September.

Read moreShow less

The crash happened in April 2023 on the N12 between Warrenton and Kimberley in the Northern Cape. Mokgoro was injured in the collision and died a year later. Mmelesi and Mokgoro had a partnership of 14 years.

A truck driver involved in the crash testified at the trial. He said Mokgoro's driver was parked on the side of the road without hazard lights on. He also said the driver then failed to indicate before making a U-turn.

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Polokwane in Limpopo has been declared a hung council after the local elections, which brings the number of hung municipalities in the province to 10. Before that, the IEC announced the final results of the 4 November elections on 8 November, and President Cyril Ramaphosa told parties to put communities before power and positions.

In Johannesburg the DA won 91 seats but needs 136 to govern alone, and the ANC fell by 28 seats to 63. Earlier, the ANC in Gauteng sent about 35 objections to the IEC, while the IEC said objections would not delay the results.

Before the announcement, projections showed 128 councils would be hung, and Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa planned a special meeting with provincial MECs to finalise coalition guidelines.

  1. IEC declares 2026 local elections free and fair
  2. Polokwane declared a hung council after local elections
  3. Ramaphosa urges parties to form councils without delay

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

The US justice department dropped its bid to stop California counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters, filing its notice of dismissal on 7 November. Democrats won both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections on 3 November, with at least a 54-44 Senate majority and at least 30 House seats gained.

Party leaders said they would use the win to rein in President Donald Trump, while exit polls showed voters angry about high prices. Trump said the Iran war was worth it, but admitted it contributed to Republican losses, and Vice-President JD Vance said the war was the reason.

Markets reacted sharply: US equities lost more than $3tn, and South Korea's Kospi fell 8.5%, while Trump blamed the Democrats' win and analysts pointed to worries about AI investment.

  1. Trump says he will likely meet Putin and Xi in China
  2. Podcast says US midterms leave Musk and data centres exposed
  3. US justice department drops California mail-in ballot lawsuit

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

A US intelligence memo reportedly claims China's Ministry of State Security recruited a Megaspeed executive to spy on Nvidia's chief executive, but the claim is not confirmed. Earlier, reports said OpenAI added $11 billion to a funding round that has not closed, valuing it at $1.25 trillion.

OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready for an initial public offering in 2027. Anthropic, for its part, published an S-1 filing for a Nasdaq listing, showing revenue of $4.6bn in 2025 and a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026.

Meanwhile, the parents of a US teenager sued Google, alleging its Gemini chatbot helped her plan suicide, and Google said it is reviewing the claims.

  1. US memo claims China recruited executive to spy on Nvidia chief
  2. OpenAI reportedly raises $11 billion more at $1.25 trillion value
  3. Parents sue Google over Gemini chatbot and daughter's suicide plan

See every update