Almost a third of DIRCO’s properties overseas in “poor” condition, MPs told
Thirty percent of the 174 state-owned properties in the more than R5bn overseas property portfolio held by the Department of International Relations & Co-operation (DIRCO) is rated as being in poor condition, according to a briefing to Parliament. 42% of the properties are in “fair” condition and 28% are in good condition. The portfolio was transferred to the department in 1999 and later incorporated into the Foreign Service Act. It covers properties across 114 missions, including 29 chanceries, 38 official residences, 81 staff accommodation properties and 23 undeveloped land parcels. DIRCO also rents 666 properties in countries where it does not own suitable accommodation or office space.
Australian court blocks coal mining operation in first climate-change case
In the first climate-change case to come before Australia’s top court, a coal mine in New South Wales has been stopped from going ahead with a two-decade extension. The court dismissed the appeal lodged by Mach Energy against an earlier ruling arising from a case brought by a community group. The court found local authorities had failed to properly consider imposing rules to mitigate the project’s climate footprint. Lawyers say the ruling will impact future fossil-fuel approval decisions in the state. Wendy Wales, a retired science teacher and leader of the community group that triggered action, said: “Today the high court has said what we have always known: we cannot dig up coal, ship it overseas, watch it drive climate change, and then pretend the consequences have nothing to do with us and won’t be felt by us.”
Israel and Gaza mark deadly 7 October attack
The events of 7 October three years ago are being marked at memorial events across Israel, as people remember what is regarded as the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. About 1,200 people were killed, and 251 taken hostage. In the wake of the attack, Israel launched an extensive military offensive in Gaza, displacing more than a million people and killing tens of thousands. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, at least 74,200 people have been in killed in Gaza by Israel since the action began. Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf reports that, three years on, the overriding concern is whether Gaza’s Palestinians will ultimately be able to remain on their land.
Death row inmate Pike “conscious and speaking” after surviving execution
Fifty-year-old Christa Pike, who was last week rushed to hospital after surviving two failed attempts at execution by lethal injection in a Tennessee prison, is “conscious and speaking”, her lawyers have said. She is still receiving critical medical care while handcuffed in hospital. She remained unconscious for days as medical staff cleared her body of the injected chemical. Pike, who was sentenced to death after murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995, is believed to be the first person ever to have survived a lethal injection. Her apparent recovery is being considered unprecedented.
Sources: Business Day, Reuters, BBC.