Court dismisses Zuma-Sambudla bid to withdraw terrorism charges
The Durban High Court rejected the application by Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the former president's daughter, to have charges of incitement to commit terrorism and public violence withdrawn. The court postponed the case to May next year.
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Zuma-Sambudla remains out on a warning while the case continues. Her advocate, Dali Mpofu, argued that the State failed to present enough evidence to prove key elements of the charges. He also said she was being targeted because of her surname.
State prosecutor Mayen Naidoo said the prosecution presented sufficient evidence. He argued that her repeated social media posts and the language she used could be read as encouraging violence.
Science
Scarcer food may have led early humans to reuse stone tools
Researchers led by Ecker rebuilt ancient landscapes at Florisbad in central South Africa from sediment biomarkers. They found that stone tools were reworked more heavily when food was probably less abundant.
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The team compared the landscape record with stone tools and animal remains from the Free State site. The paper says the region supported ecosystems unlike today's around 200,000 years ago. The work links how early Homo sapiens made and reused tools to the food their surroundings offered. It is peer-reviewed and appears in Communications Earth & Environment. The link between food and tools is an inference from correlation, so it does not show cause.
World
Singapore Airlines unveils new cabins in all four classes
Singapore Airlines is spending more than S$2bn (R25.83bn) to upgrade long-haul cabins on 72 aircraft. The airline said the new seats will arrive from the second half of 2027.
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The airline showed the new cabins in Singapore on Friday. It called the programme the biggest and most comprehensive overhaul in its history. The work covers A350-900 aircraft that the airline will retrofit and Boeing 777-9 aircraft that it has on order, and it includes larger double-bed first-class suites.
The airline pays for the work from its cash balance, which stood at S$9.1bn (R117.4bn) at the end of June. The total includes a S$1.1bn (R14.19bn) plan to refurbish the A350s, which it announced in 2024.
Chief commercial officer Lee Lik Hsin said certification delays pushed back the A350 seats by about half a year. The entry into service of the 777-9 has slipped for years because of certification problems. Chief executive Goh Choon Phong said customers asked for more comfort, more privacy and spaces they can adapt.
David Flynn, editor-in-chief of Executive Traveller, said business class is a solid and much-needed catch-up to rivals, not a big leap ahead. He said the airline looks to beat Emirates and arguably Cathay on features and ease of use in business class. He said the new first class ranks among the world's best.
World
Five people rescued after months lost at sea
Five people, including two children, survived after a boat trip between two Indonesian islands went wrong. Their boat was spotted near Fanning Island in Kiribati, about 5,600 km from where it began. Four others on board are unaccounted for.
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Nine people set off on a planned one-hour trip between two Indonesian islands. The group went missing on 30 July after a storm blew their boat off course. Villagers on Fanning Island helped bring the five survivors to safety.
Searches ended in early August. It is not clear how the survivors lived through the months at sea or what happened to the other four people.
Science
Tshwane says water supply is stabilising but reservoirs stay low
The City of Tshwane says three reservoirs are critically low: Soshanguve L Tower at 6%, Klapperkop in Region Three at 5% and Magalies/Rosslyn at 16%. The city is working with Rand Water to balance supply.
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The city said it is working with Rand Water, the bulk water supplier, to balance supply and manage restrictions. It asked residents to use water only for essential needs.
Officials said infrastructure failures, reduced bulk water supply and high consumption have made it harder to restore reliable supply.
WorldCrime
US planning commission approves Trump's 76m triumphal arch
The National Capital Planning Commission voted late on Thursday to approve the arch after hearing from about 100 opponents. A judge who is considering legal challenges could still block construction.
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Virginia and the District of Columbia have sued the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior to halt the project. They say the arch is legally indefensible and that Congress has not approved it. The government says Congress approved it more than 100 years ago, when it also authorised a bridge across the Potomac River.
Representative Don Beyer, who speaks for northern Virginia, opposes the arch. He told the commission it would snarl traffic for years, affect the nearby airport and bring serious threats to public safety.
The justice department said construction could begin this week if it is permitted. The first six to eight months would focus on excavation and foundation work. Above-ground work would start in May 2027 at the earliest, and the whole job would take 33 to 39 months.
The arch would stand more than 24m taller than the Arc de Triomphe. The US Capitol is about 87m tall. A gold winged female figure 18m tall would top the arch.
Trump said the arch would serve as a military asset and could house drones and snipers. He also said it would look better than any other arch in the world.
WorldCrime
Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie faces sentencing for murder
A Kenyan court is due to sentence Paul Mackenzie on Friday, after convicting him in October of murdering 190 children and one adult. Prosecutors want the death penalty for the self-proclaimed pastor, and his lawyer said he would appeal.
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Mackenzie led a starvation cult in the Shakahola Forest. He was convicted of murders committed between January 2021 and September 2023. Twenty-eight co-accused were convicted with him. Around 120 prosecution witnesses testified during the trial.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions urged a death sentence for Mackenzie, subject to his mitigation, remorse and prospects of rehabilitation. Prosecutors asked for life imprisonment for the co-accused. They said these defendants were deeply indoctrinated and at risk of reoffending.
Prosecutors say Mackenzie told followers to starve themselves and their children to go to heaven before the world ended. Mackenzie said he did not force anyone to starve. He also denies separate charges of manslaughter and terrorism.
Stephen Mwiti, aged 48, lost six children in the forest after his wife took them there in 2022. He said he fears Mackenzie may keep spreading his messages from prison. He hopes the defendants would be held in solitary confinement if jailed.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights put the 2024 death toll at 429. Officials could confirm the identities of only 26 of the more than 400 bodies. Kenya last carried out an execution in 1987.
Crime
Gauteng trains 80 traffic wardens as liquor inspectors
Gauteng is training 80 provincial traffic wardens this week to act as liquor inspectors. They will work to curb underage drinking, illegal liquor trading and alcohol-related crime and violence ahead of the festive season.
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The wardens will serve as liquor inspectors under the Gauteng Liquor Board. The community safety department said the programme marks the start of the province's festive season readiness campaign.
Motlatjo Moholwa, head of the Gauteng economic development department, said the initiative shows the need to balance economic growth with public safety. He said the government still backs legitimate businesses and the jobs they create. He added that it also aims to protect consumers and communities, and to promote a responsible liquor industry.
TechEconomy
Dropbox buys Tigris Data for $350 million
Dropbox agreed to acquire Tigris Data to strengthen its AI infrastructure. The deal is expected to support DBX Agent Cloud, a new storage platform for developers who build AI models and agents.
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Dropbox is the buyer and Tigris Data is the company being acquired. The price is $350 million.
The deal is expected to help develop DBX Agent Cloud. Reports describe it as a storage platform aimed at developers of AI models and agents.
EconomyWorld
Asian stocks plunge as US election results shake AI trade
South Korea's Kospi fell 8.5% and Japanese stocks dropped more than 3% in the first five minutes of trading. US equities lost more than $3tn on the previous day, on worries about the AI boom.
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Shares of South Korean chipmakers tumbled, which triggered circuit breakers in that market. Trading was chaotic across Asia as markets followed the sell-off in the US.
Investors fear that victories by the Democrats in US midterm races will slow the AI boom. This is a market worry, not an established outcome.
US stock futures pointed to easing selling pressure during Asian trading. S&P 500 futures gained 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.8%. The yield on 10-year US Treasuries was flat at 4.84%, and the dollar rose 0.3% against a basket of key trading partners.
TechEconomy
Zipline raises $1.5 billion and expands Walmart drone deal
The drone delivery company now has a valuation of $21.5 billion after the funding round. Zipline also widened its partnership with the US retailer Walmart, which is increasing its bet on delivery by drone.
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Zipline announced the funding round on Thursday. The company makes drones that deliver goods to customers.
Walmart is the retail partner in the expanded deal.
Politics
MK Party wins Richmond and Impendle in KZN local elections
Early results on the Electoral Commission of South Africa dashboard show the MK Party winning outright majorities in two KwaZulu-Natal municipalities that the ANC governed outright before. Counting continues, and the commission will declare final results on Sunday.
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The two municipalities are Richmond and Impendle. The results are the latest on the commission's dashboard, and more are still coming in. The election is the first local government contest for the MK Party.
Mkhuseli Mlengane, the MK Party's provincial spokesperson, said the people of KwaZulu-Natal want change. He also said the party took a couple of municipalities from the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Mike Mabuyakhulu, the ANC convenor in KwaZulu-Natal, said it is still too early to analyse the party's performance.
TechEconomy
OpenAI could be ready for a share listing in 2027
OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2027. He spoke at a technology conference held by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
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Brockman also spoke about OpenAI's gains in the enterprise market, which means sales to businesses. He said the company had been gaining ground there.
Rival AI company Anthropic had already made inroads in that market, according to the original report of the talk.
WorldEconomy
Trump blames Democrats' election win for US stock market fall
The US president posted on Truth Social after markets closed on Thursday, saying the stock market crashed because Democrats had a big Tuesday in the midterm elections. Analysts gave a different reason for the selloff, linked to artificial intelligence investment.
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Analysts said the selloff came from fears that Democrats would threaten the boom in investment in AI data centres. The Nasdaq had its worst session in percentage terms since April 2025.
Trump also said in his post that Democrats had only themselves to blame. He made the claim on Thursday, after US markets closed.
CrimePolitics
Court to rule on Zuma-Sambudla bid to drop terrorism charges
The Durban High Court is due to give judgment on Friday on Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's application to withdraw charges of incitement to commit terrorism and public violence. The charges stem from her social media posts during the July 2021 unrest.
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Zuma-Sambudla, 44, is the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma. She was charged last year and has been expelled from the MK Party. Her lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, argues that the State's evidence is laughable and that the posts were simply a greeting.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) opposes the application. It says there are reasonable grounds for a conviction. The State says her social media account played a significant role in the lead-up to the unrest.
The unrest followed the arrest of Jacob Zuma in July 2021.
TechCrime
Meta, Google and TikTok sue California over teen social media law
The three companies filed lawsuits against the California Attorney General to challenge a state law that would limit social media access for children under 16. The law could take effect next year.
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Meta, Google and TikTok are the plaintiffs in the cases. The California Attorney General is the defendant.
The law would restrict how children under 16 use social media in the state if it goes into effect.
Science
Ancient DNA suggests Germanic languages reached Scandinavia 800 years later
Researchers led by the University of Copenhagen and Leiden University analysed DNA from thousands of prehistoric Europeans, including more than 700 newly sequenced people. Two studies in Nature test theories on how the Germanic and Celtic languages spread.
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The team found that a second group with steppe ancestry reached Eastern Scandinavia about 4,000 years ago, probably from across the Baltic Sea. They say these newcomers may have brought the precursor of Germanic, some 800 years later than traditionally assumed. The authors wrote about their own peer-reviewed work, and this link between ancestry and language is a suggestion, not proof.
Politics
DA expects coalition talks in Gauteng after Cape Town win
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said the party will now turn to metros in other provinces. He plans a significant announcement at the national results centre in Midrand on Friday, and the party appears to have won majority control in Cape Town.
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Hill-Lewis spoke after he claimed an early victory in Cape Town on Thursday. He said the win endorses what the DA has achieved in the city so far. He also said the party's work in Cape Town over the last five years was never only about Cape Town.
Reports said Cape Town is the only metro likely to have majority governance after this week's municipal elections. Coalition talks in Gauteng are expected to start on Friday. Hill-Lewis said the coming days will bring hard and intense negotiations.
Hill-Lewis said he does not claim that Cape Town is a perfect city.
Economy
Blackstone doubles lock-up periods for some Asian private equity investors
The change applies to the US firm's flagship retail private equity fund. Blackstone wants to prevent a repeat of the waves of redemptions that hit its property and credit funds, according to a media report.
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A lock-up period is the time during which investors cannot withdraw their money from a fund. Blackstone is doubling this period only for some investors in Asia.
The report on the plan did not come from Blackstone itself. Blackstone had not confirmed the change in the material available.
Politics
Coalition talks start in eThekwini as MK Party leads early
Early indications show the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party ahead in eThekwini, but some parties say their agents' data point to no outright winner. The DA and the MK Party have each ruled out working together.
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DA mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said the party will not form a coalition with the MK Party. He said this was a promise made before the election and the DA intends to keep it. He also said the DA will be a big player in the coalition process.
MK Party KZN spokesperson Mkhuseli Mlengane said the party has no interest in working with the DA. He said the MK Party intends to govern municipalities alone.
The Electoral Commission said eThekwini results will be slightly delayed. The EFF and the ANC both said it is too early for coalition talks. A party needs a 113-seat majority in the eThekwini council to govern alone.
Crime
Mmelesi gets suspended sentence for death of Yvonne Mokgoro
The Kimberley regional court gave David Gaolatlhe Mmelesi, 68, five years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, for culpable homicide. Mokgoro, a retired Constitutional Court justice and his partner, died in May 2024 after a road collision.
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The collision happened on 3 April 2023 between Warrenton and Kimberley. Mokgoro was a passenger and was seriously injured. She later died in a Johannesburg hospital.
The sentence stays suspended on one condition. Mmelesi must not be convicted of the same offence during the five years.
The state presented testimony from a truck driver. The witness said Mmelesi made a U-turn without indicating, and that his vehicle then stood on the side of the road without hazard lights.
The Mokgoro family asked for a direct custodial sentence. Ithateng Mokgoro, her eldest son, spoke for the family. The family said Mmelesi showed no genuine remorse. It also said it spent about R3 million on medical costs and more than R600,000 on legal costs.
Politics
DA wins 5 Western Cape municipalities outright as counting continues
The Democratic Alliance also leads in 16 other Western Cape councils where it has no outright majority. The number of hung councils in the province has grown from 11 before the elections to 15.
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The DA won George outright on Friday morning, which brought its outright wins to five of the 25 municipalities in the province. Results from the local government elections are still coming in.
Counting is not complete. About 74% of the provincial vote has been captured so far. In the City of Cape Town, about 50% of the metro vote has been captured.
Science
Physicists extend Einstein's 1905 theory to near-light-speed particles
Physicists at MIT and the University of California at Santa Barbara have built a theory for how a particle moving near the speed of light is pushed and pulled in a fluid. It extends Einstein's 1905 work and appears in Physical Review Letters.
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Graduate student Jean Du Plessis of MIT and Bruno Scheihing-Hitschfeld of UCSB say Einstein's balance of drag and random kicks breaks down at such speeds. They suggest tracking heavy quarks through quark-gluon plasma, the fluid of the early universe. Rare, unusually large changes in a quark's motion could reveal the plasma's microscopic structure. The work is peer-reviewed but theoretical, and experiments have not yet tested its predictions.
World
Pope Leo leaves Rome for 12-day South America tour
Pope Leo, the first US-born pope, starts a tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru about a month after lung cancer surgery. The Vatican says he has fully healed and no special medical precautions are being taken.
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The tour runs until 17 November and covers about 31,000km across 10 cities. Leo, who is 71, will give 36 speeches. Argentinian officials say about 7-million people will attend events with him.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the pope sees the trip as a homecoming to places where he lived for a long time and feels closely connected. He said Leo carries a message of unity and asks people to see each other as one family. The Vatican also said Leo will meet survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
Medical experts said Leo might need rest breaks. They said he could consider extra oxygen, especially in the high Peruvian Andes.
World
Newsom commutes all 548 California death sentences to life
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced in a three-page letter that he believes capital punishment is morally wrong. The inmates will get life in prison without parole, and the move covers more than a fourth of all US death row prisoners.
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Newsom, a Democrat, said the state cannot morally kill the inmates. He said they will die in prison, but not by the hand of the state. The death penalty stays on the books in California unless voters or the legislature repeal it.
Bill Essayli, the US prosecutor in Los Angeles appointed by President Donald Trump, said the clemency is a major blow to Californians and to the families of victims. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office will keep evaluating every case eligible for the death penalty with rigor, care and restraint.
Laura Porter, head of the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said this is the largest mass clemency of a death row by a US governor so far. A poll found 55% of Americans support the death penalty for the most serious crimes, down from 63% in 2017. The poll found 31% oppose capital punishment altogether.
CrimePolitics
Limpopo police record 33 election-related crimes
Limpopo Police Commissioner Jan Scheepers said 11 people were arrested for photographing marked ballot papers and posting them on social media. In the Eastern Cape, police arrested three suspects over an alleged petrol bomb attack on a ward councillor's house.
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Scheepers said some of the Limpopo voters have appeared in court. Others have been granted bail.
In the Eastern Cape, the alleged attack happened in the Tsitsikamma area about two weeks ago. Police said the house burned down. Police later stopped a vehicle in Coldstream that held items suspected to be linked to a crime.
Police spokesperson Nobuntu Gantana said the three suspects face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of stolen property.
Politics
SACP polls strongly in Eastern Cape after leaving ANC ticket
Early results show the South African Communist Party (SACP) with more than 6% of the vote in the Eastern Cape, third behind the ANC and the DA. The party says it is satisfied with its showing in the 2026 local government elections.
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SACP First Deputy General Secretary Madala Masuku thanked South Africans and said communities responded well to the party's idea. He said the party has strong momentum but lacks the money and resources to reach its political goals. He added that the SACP made its mark despite that gap.
Xolani Malamlela, the SACP spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, said the party is humbled by the support from communities. He said the SACP has won some wards across the Eastern Cape and at national level.
The SACP contested these elections separately from the African National Congress (ANC), its former alliance partner. The results are early and may change as counting continues.
Politics
EFF sits fourth in partial election results, says it will climb
With 56% of voting districts counted, the ANC leads nationally with 31% and the DA follows with 25%. The MK Party is third. EFF Treasurer-General Omphile Maotwe said the party expects to move up as counting continues.
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Maotwe said EFF agents at most voting stations report that the party is doing well. She said those results are not yet captured in the count. She believes the party will rank higher by the next day.
About 13,000 of 23,000 voting stations were counted nationally at this stage. The EFF said it remains hopeful that its position will improve as counting goes on.
Sport
Boland beat Warriors in Super Over to go second
Dafabet Boland beat Dafabet Warriors in a Super Over at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Thursday, after both sides scored 138 in 20 overs. The YesPlay Pro20 Cup Super 8s win lifted Boland to second on the log.
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Boland made 138-5 in their 20 overs, and Warriors replied with 138-7. Lehan Botha scored a 47-ball 50 for Boland. Tristan Stubbs top-scored for Warriors with 40.
Pacer Lizaad Williams took two wickets in four balls in the Super Over and conceded two runs. Jordan Hermann was one of the Warriors batters dismissed. Ferisco Adams then hit the first ball he faced for four to win it.
Boland and Warriors both finish the night on 16 points. Boland have four wins and one loss in five games. Warriors have three wins, one loss and one no-result.
Politics
Northern Cape is first province to finish 2026 election count
The ANC won over 41% of the vote and 191 council seats in the Northern Cape, ahead of the DA with almost 22%. One outstanding voting station in Siyaquma means that municipality cannot yet be constituted.
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The EFF took 9% of the vote in the province and the Patriotic Alliance took 8%. The province has just over 700 000 voters, which is less than 3% of South Africa's registered voters.
Elkin Topkin, the Independent Electoral Commission's Provincial Head of Elections in the Northern Cape, said the count took four days. He said staff had gone without sleep for 40 hours and were glad to finish.
Topkin said the Siyaquma municipality cannot be constituted until the outstanding voting station is concluded.