Vessel reportedly hit by “unknown projectiles” as Iran warns US
A tanker reported being hit by “unknown projectiles” in the Strait of Hormuz soon after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would help trapped ships through the waterway. In a further development this morning, Iran reportedly warned the US navy against entering the Hormuz strait. State media in Iran quoted Ali Abdollahi, head of the Iranian forces’ unified command, as saying: “We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces.We warn that any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive US army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz.”
Merz downplays significance of planned US troop reduction
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said there “is no connection” between his critical comments about US President Donald Trump’s prosecution of the war against Iran, and the US’s decision to reduce its troop deployment in Germany. Merz reaffirmed his commitment to the transatlantic alliance, saying: “I have to accept that the American president has a different view on [the Iran war] than we do. But that does not change the fact that I remain convinced that the Americans are important partners for us.”
Top economist raises spectre of nil growth in SA, and “even a recession”
Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt has warned that, given South Africa’s overall slow economic growth, the penalty of the oil price remaining “close to $120 for a long time” is the risk of “0% growth or maybe even a recession”. Higher fuel prices likely this week will also add to inflation. Reports say that, based on the latest under-recovery figures released by the Central Energy Fund, the petrol price could climb to R24 a litre (R25 inland) this week, with the rounded wholesale price of diesel rising to R29 a litre.
Investigative journalism “indispensable” to democracy – Gauteng High Court
Judge Elmien du Plessis of the Gauteng High Court has said in a ruling dismissing a second bid to stop News24’s reporting on a controversial multi-billion-rand tender at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality that “[i]nvestigative journalists who serve [the ‘founding values of accountability, responsiveness and openness in Section 1 of the Constitution’] by providing information that enables citizens to hold government accountable perform a function that is indispensable to a constitutional democracy. It is their independence from the state, not any usurpation of the police’s function, that makes their work constitutionally valuable”. The application dismissed by Judge Du Plessis had been brought by Theuwedi Trading Enterprise and its sole director, Nakampe Aubrey Moliwa. It sought to compel News24 to remove a story published on 16 April, which the applicants argued implied that the company and its director had a motive to murder Ekurhuleni’s senior forensic auditor Mpho Mafole. Mafole was shot dead last June, three days after publishing an audit report detailing irregularities in the awarding of a R1.8 billion tender for chemical toilets. Theuwedi was one of 15 contractors appointed.
WHO investigates suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship
Three people from the MV Hondius cruise ship have died – two on board, and one in transit through South Africa – and a third is in intensive care in Johannesburg after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus. The British national, aged 69, who is undergoing treatment in South Africa, is the only confirmed case of hantavirus. The first two victims were a 70-year-old and 69-year-old Dutch husband and wife. The wife collapsed at OR Tambo airport while awaiting a connecting flight home, and died in a nearby hospital. The body of the third individual is still on board the ship. The WHO says five more suspected cases are under investigation. Hantavirus infections occur when the virus becomes airborne from a rodent’s urine, droppings, or saliva, and, less commonly, can be spread through rodent bites or scratches. Transmission between people is rare. Given the virus’s long incubation period, it is suspected that the victims became infected before joining the cruise.
Meat, petrol ads banned in Amsterdam to meet “environmental targets”
From Friday 1 May, adverts for burgers, petrol cars and airlines have been stripped from billboards, tram shelters, and metro stations in Amsterdam to meet what politicians say are the local government’s own environmental targets. This makes Amsterdam the world’s first capital city to ban public advertisements for both meat and fossil fuel products.
Sources: The Guardian, News24, BBC, Reuters, Netwerk24.