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The model counts water for making hydrogen, treating supplies and cooling equipment. It puts use at 35 to 170 litres per kilogram of hydrogen, against the industry claim of about nine litres. The authors say desalination would release salty, chemical-laden wastewater that could harm marine life, and that old groundwater could run out. They write about Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, which want to supply Europe. This is a modelling study, so its results depend on its assumptions.Share

The $6.3B figure is described as a record for a heist. Reports did not say here who carried out the theft.

The experts' warnings concerned North Korea's long-running hacking campaigns. They said the state's attacks were persistent and patient.Share

Sibiya's legal team argues that the magistrate misdirected herself, despite the evidence the defence presented. The appeal is now before the High Court in Johannesburg.

The Randburg Magistrates' Court found that Sibiya failed to show exceptional circumstances that would justify his release.Share

Democrats also flipped Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. Paxton was Trump's handpicked Republican candidate in Texas. Jon Ossoff held his Democratic seat in Georgia, and Abdul El-Sayed was fighting to keep the party's hold on a seat in Michigan.

Democrats have flipped eight House seats so far. Analysts began to predict a big Democratic victory in the House. Kansas last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1932.

Polls pointed to public anger over Trump's handling of the economy after the war in Iran. They said fuel prices rose sharply and the cost of living went up. Columnist Ed Luce wrote that Trump's heavy-handed input backfired in several midterm races.Share

Wednesday is a public holiday. Some voters in the queue complained that 7am is a late start for voting.

Madumetja Mothabele, a 61-year-old voter, said residents want service delivery and electricity, and that rent is very expensive. Rejoice Makgoro, a state pensioner, said she gets an old age grant of R2,400 a month. She said food is expensive and the grant is too small for her food and rent, and she wants it raised to at least R3,000.Share

The researchers suggest that losing these Bglap3 neurons with age may contribute to the decline in spatial memory. The work is peer-reviewed. It gives scientists a specific cell type to study further. The findings come from mice, and the link to memory decline is a suggestion, not proof. The work is far from applying to people.Share

Experts expect the fight for control of councils to end in another round of coalition talks. They project more hung councils, where no party wins an outright majority.

Two other stories made news on the same day. Nomthandazo Nama, a KwaZulu-Natal flood victim, moved into a new home in the Cornubia housing development. She said she struggled with leaks and a crumbling floor in less than five months, and that the contractors did not install a gutter.

Muzi Ngongoma, a disabled flood victim, was allocated a double-storey home in Cornubia. Separately, the high court in Pretoria voided the award of the National Lottery licence to Sizekhaya Holdings. The court sent the matter back to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, and Ithuba welcomed the ruling.Share

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to vote at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg. Deputy President Paul Mashatile is due to vote at St Johannes Lutheran Church in Kelvin, Johannesburg. The Presidency announced the plans of both leaders.

IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya and his team promised credible, free and fair elections.Share

Persistent rain stopped play in Durban on Tuesday, so the match never started. The Dolphins are seventh on the log, four points behind the Cobras.

The Cobras hold the fourth and final semifinal place in the YesPlay Pro20 Cup. Boland are third on the log.Share

The team, including Logan, Jon and Kendra, annotated more than 70,000 birdsong syllables from public recordings. Both birds and humans kept pitch changes small between neighbouring syllables and used regular rhythms. Birds that learn their songs did not differ clearly from those that do not. The authors say they need more studies to explain the patterns. Their idea is that breathing and vocal muscles may shape them.Share

The MK Party has 15% support among registered voters aged 18 to 24, and the DA has 13%. Another 9% of these voters said they will not vote. The findings come from the Ipsos Pulse of the People study, released ahead of the local government elections.

Ipsos political analyst Mari Harris said young South Africans are sending a clear message to parties. She said many of them do not feel represented and are sceptical of politicians. She also said youth unemployment gets too little attention, which keeps registration lower than among older voters.

Statistics from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) show about 693,000 people aged 15 to 19 are registered to vote. About 5 million registered voters are aged 20 to 29. Councillor candidates aged 18 to 39 make up 32% of the total, and the IEC said young people are still not adequately represented on party lists.Share

NATJOINTS briefed the media in Pretoria. Co-chairperson Tebello Mosikili, who is also Deputy National Police Commissioner, said police recorded the 21 case dockets since Monday. The incidents also include destruction of election material and impersonating officials of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Two of the six suspects were arrested for impersonating an IEC official at Ingcobo in the Eastern Cape. The fact sheet also lists Mmametlake in Mpumalanga and Pienaar and Christiana in North West as places linked to incidents.

NATJOINTS said law enforcement agencies remain on high alert. It said they will act against anyone who tries to interfere with the electoral process.

SANDF Brigadier-General Martin Gopane said the military does not foresee problems that would need soldiers. He said the defence force remains on standby and is ready to deploy if the need arises.Share

The JSE All Share index closed at 109,275 points on Tuesday, down 0.2%. The Top 40 index fell to 101,192, down 0.2%.

The rand ended at R16.60 to the US dollar, stronger than R16.69 the day before. Gold was at $3,945 an ounce, down 0.6%. Brent crude was at $103.22 a barrel, down 1.5%.Share

Aubrey Ledwaba lodged the complaint in February 2026, when he was Gauteng acting judge president. The Judicial Conduct Committee produced the report that the commission considered.

The Hawks arrested Phahlane and three co-accused in November 2025. The Hawks allege she accepted about R2m in cash and benefits to influence the outcome of a church succession case. The case involved the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Phahlane denies criminal conduct. Her bail affidavit said she intends to plead not guilty.

The National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit secured a preservation order over a luxury property in Hartbeespoort, worth about R6m. The authority said the property was bought partly with proceeds of unlawful activities, including corruption and money laundering.Share

Godongwana gave the reply to DA MP Andrew Gordon Bateman. He said the dismissal followed findings of serious procurement irregularities and misconduct. These arose from several forensic investigations that the Treasury started.

Madiehe's disciplinary hearing began on 2 February. She was found guilty on 24 August. The chair pronounced the sanction of dismissal on 7 September, and the dismissal letter was issued on 8 September.

Godongwana said the dismissal will be contested at the bargaining council and the CCMA. He said the department put internal disciplinary proceedings first and is now finalising referral of the matters to law enforcement authorities. In his view, letting the disciplinary process gain traction helped to consolidate the evidence.

Job Stadi Mngomezulu, the deputy director-general for corporate services, is the acting CEO.Share

The pair used deep learning to find halicin in 2020, from a model trained on 2,500 molecules. It killed drug-resistant bacteria in tests. In 2023 they found abaucin, which targets one species, A. baumannii. Barzilay says drug discovery is still at an early stage and AI can automate only parts of the process. MIT, the winners' own institution, announced the award.Share

At the Bud Mbelle voting station in Ward 63, 38 voters registered for special votes through home visits. The station expects 101 voters to cast ballots.

Elsie Chabane, 91, voted from her home in Ward 63. She said she loves President Cyril Ramaphosa and hopes the ANC will win. She said life has been better since 1994 and that pensioners earn because of Ramaphosa.

Chabane said she gets more than R2,000 a month as an old age grant. She also said Ramaphosa gives unemployed youth R370. Those are her claims.

Lesego Bohola, a wheelchair user in Ward 68, first voted in 1994. She said she wants a house and has lost hope of ever owning one.Share

Tau said the delegation is looking at Silicon Valley as it works to carry out South Africa's digitalisation strategy. He said the country continues to work on developing its tech industry.

The minister said the trip will include business-to-business engagement and learning. He said it will also influence future investment decisions in the sector.Share

Meintjies was 30 years old and worked as an attorney at Dane von Branden Attorneys. She was allegedly involved in several high-profile gang-related cases in Johannesburg. Police spokesperson Lt-Col Isaac Mudau is the named police contact on the case.

Arno Spangenberg of Spangenberg Attorneys knew Meintjies. He said her death is a painful reminder that no member of the legal profession should have to fear for their life while doing their work.Share

Some municipal workers are on a Grade 8 scale, while senior officials are on Grade 10. The newly signed agreement aims to fix this pay gap by moving affected employees onto the Grade 10 scale.

Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the move is critical. He said it would improve staff morale, governance and service delivery, and help grow the economy.

The provincial government said continuity would prevent instability in the City.Share

Provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said the car carried a party colours and logo. She said this sends a wrong message and that IEC staff must be impartial. One report said the car was driven by the officer's son.

The IEC said supporters of one contesting party forced their way into the precinct of a satellite storage facility at Dassenhoek Library. It said parties also tried to gain access or post private guards in Richmond, uMkhambathini and Pietermaritzburg. The IEC said no election material was tampered with. Another report said the incident happened at a facility in Marianhill, and that the IEC asked police to reinforce security at all its storage facilities in the province.

On the first day, 133,931 special votes were administered in KwaZulu-Natal, or 37% of the 362,878 approved applications. Of these, 68,114 were home visits and 65,817 were votes at voting stations. On Tuesday, 228,947 special votes remained, including 83,315 home visits. Masinga said the IEC worries most about the home visits, because they depend on its teams reaching every voter.Share

The video was posted by a Facebook account called TheDebster Jaars, which describes its owner as a digital creator, singer and comedian. When it was examined, the video had about 8,000 likes, 634 comments and 7,600 shares. The identity and motives of the creator remain unclear.

A related AI-generated image also tested positive on SynthID, the watermark detection tool built by Google DeepMind. The video spreads ahead of municipal elections, which are due on Wednesday. The Electoral Commission of South Africa reported a Mandela deepfake to Real411.

The fact check found that the new videos and images give Mandela a political position he never expressed in this form. It said he allegedly warned against unquestioning loyalty to the ANC in a 1993 speech to a Cosatu congress. At an ANC rally for his 90th birthday in 2008, he said he would be nothing without the ANC.Share

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission is taking legal steps to hold the identified people and political parties accountable. Deputy chief electoral officer Masego Sheburi said videos of special vote ballots being moved show standard procedure. He said the envelopes were already reconciled and voter details were removed.

The IEC said a candidate in Mpumalanga was arrested after allegedly storming a voting station and damaging materials. It also said MK Party supporters allegedly stormed a storage facility in KwaZulu-Natal and held officials hostage.

The 34 complaints on the Real411 platform covered misinformation, disinformation, incitement to violence, hate speech and harassment. Of these, 58.8% involved X and 23.5% involved TikTok.Share

NatJOINTS co-chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili briefed the media on Tuesday evening. She said police opened the case dockets over the two days of special voting, ahead of the local government elections on Wednesday, 4 November.

Police are investigating the death of an Electoral Commission presiding officer in the North West. They are also investigating the killing of a regional leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party in KwaZulu-Natal.

Other arrests include two suspects for impersonating an election official at Ingcobo in the Eastern Cape. One suspect was held for destroying election material in Mmametlake, and one for malicious damage to property in Pienaar, both in Mpumalanga.

Mosikili urged political parties, members and supporters to show tolerance and restraint. She said the investigating team will follow all leads to bring those responsible to justice. She also said contingency measures are in place for power interruptions in some municipalities.Share

Gauteng recorded the most special votes with 264,898, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 208,846 and Eastern Cape with 207,258. Limpopo had 180,627 and Mpumalanga 149,714. Western Cape had 148,493, North West 126,187, Free State 75,946 and Northern Cape 63,973.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya spoke at a media briefing at the Results Operation Centre in Midrand after voting stations closed at 5pm on Tuesday. He said the special votes are securely stored and the figures are preliminary. About 2.6 million approved voters could vote early.

Moepya said the commission is fully prepared for Election Day. He said logistical, security and operational arrangements are in place across all nine provinces. The commission said 29.2 million voters are registered, with 23,696 voting stations and 188,000 officials.

The commission condemned incidents of intimidation, disruption and damage to election materials. It said it is taking legal action against the people and political parties involved.Share

The Electoral Commission of South Africa hopes the second day of special voting goes more smoothly. Ballot deliveries ran late in Cape Town on the first day. Polling stations are expected to open at 8am.

Other stories on the day included the fraud case against Ekurhuleni municipal manager Kagiso Lerutla. His lawyers are considering an application to strike the case off the roll under Section 342A of the Criminal Procedure Act. They cite delays, including that representations made to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in September have no outcome yet.

Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo said South Africa's removal from AGOA does not mean the country will lose access to the US market. He said the move is not entirely unexpected, as South Africa already faced pressure in 2014 to move on from the arrangement.

Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said Russian air defences downed nearly 500 drones headed for the capital. He said a flare-up in fighting with Ukraine dashed hopes of progress towards peace.Share

Special voting took place over two days, on Monday and Tuesday. Reports from Johannesburg, Sandton, Mogale City, Krugersdorp, Orlando West and Pretoria covered the second day.

In Bronkhorstspruit, residents still face problems with water quality. Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya urged residents not to drink tap water until the municipality confirms it is safe in an official communication.Share