Ramaphosa’s court bid to halt impeachment process
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal team has filed papers in a bid to set aside the independent report by a panel led by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo which found that the President may have committed serious violations of the Constitution in his handling of a theft case at his Phala Phala farm. About $538,000 was stolen from a couch on the farm. Ramaphosa argues in the court papers: “The remit of the panel is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to show that the president is guilty of serious misconduct. This requires more than a prima facie case.” If the report is set aside, Ramaphosa will escape a possible impeachment process ordered by the Constitutional Court this month.
Oil rises above $100 a barrel after attacks, but talks still on
Oil rose above $100 a barrel again yesterday after fresh US strikes on Iranian targets, evidently delaying what the US administration had hoped would be a deal announced by last evening. Iran said the US had committed a “gross violation” of the ceasefire by striking targets near the contested Strait of Hormuz. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio modified his expectations, saying it could take “a few days” to negotiate a deal to halt the conflict, after both sides had previously indicated progress on an initial agreement that would end hostilities and restart shipping through the Strait. The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.
ANC will not join Conference of the Left – Mbalula
The ANC will not be attending the Conference of the Left, a gathering called by its long-standing allies in the South African Communist Party, according to ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula, reporting back on the weekend meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee. The Conference of the Left is an attempt by the SACP to rally leftist forces in the country towards a common agenda. It envisioned creating a council to coordinate their activities where these converge. In particular, the “left” could use this approach to forthcoming local government elections. This comes as the SACP is determined to contest the election under its own banner, rather than from within the ANC, as has been the case in the past. Mbalula said: “We say openly to our country: the African National Congress does not consider this convening to be a Conference of the Left. The composition is itself the political argument. A gathering that proposes to sit chambers of commerce alongside the Bolshevik Party, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party alongside AZAPO, business formations alongside trade unions, is not a left formation in any received meaning of the term. It is a coalition of negation — united by what it stands against, namely the African National Congress in government — and unable to articulate the positive programme by which the working class and the people would advance under its banner. It is a political project dressed in theoretical clothing.”
Lunar base plans revealed
Robotic landers, hopping drones and specialised vehicles are among items NASA intends sending to the Moon as part of US plans to build a lunar base. The US wants to land Americans back on the Moon before President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029. In March, Nasa announced a $20 billion programme to construct a permanent base powered by nuclear and solar energy at the Moon’s south pole by 2032.
Police officer and mom becomes first Hong Kong astronaut in space
Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer and mother of three, serves as the payload scientist in the three-member crew who have made their way to China’s Tiangong space station. Li is also a computer coder. The Shenzhou-23 spacecraft is tasked with studying the effects of microgravity on the human body, among many experiments. Apart from Li, the two other astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, a 39-year-old space engineer and Zhang Zhiyuan, a 39-year-old former air force pilot. At least one member of the crew will spend a full year in orbit as part of a key experiment. Authorities will determine who that will be at a later date. The mission is the latest in China’s ambitious space programme to send humans to the moon by 2030.
Financial benefits of AI in healthcare outstrip costs – report
The financial benefits of spending on AI and digitisation are already outstripping the costs of implementation, according to South Africa’s largest private hospital operator, Netcare. CEO Richard Friedland told investors that cumulative savings and cost avoidance as a result of AI and digitisation now totalled R705 million, compared to spending on implementation of R670 million. He said digitisation was helping with everything from the management of patient records to the development of new clinical products, with Netcare already using its own algorithm to detect sepsis (blood poisoning) in patients hours before clinical symptoms appeared.
Sources: Business Day, The Guardian, News24, BBC