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Our journalism shall chiefly focus on financial reporting , sustainable development, science and technology.

21/02/2025

Anglo American writes down value of diamond firm De Beers by $2.9bn

The world’s biggest diamond miner, De Beers, cost its parent company almost $3bn last year as the growth in lab-grown stones continues to take the shine off the industry.

Anglo American was forced to write down the value of the renowned gem producer for a second consecutive year as its chief executive admitted the diamond markets had proved “really, really difficult for the company”.

Duncan Wanblad, the chief executive of Anglo American, added that its plan to shrug off De Beers as part of a radical strategy to dismantle parts of the 108-year-old group – which coined the slogan “a diamond is forever” in 1947 – may be delayed.

He added that the FTSE 100 company did not expect “much traction or progress” on its plans to spin off De Beers in the first half of the year, which could be via a trade sale or a listing via an IPO or demerger, but it might “pick up” towards the end of the year.

Botswana announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with De Beers, the world's leading diamond company, to ext...
04/02/2025

Botswana announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with De Beers, the world's leading diamond company, to extract and sell diamonds, bringing confidence to the country's diamond-dependent economy.

Ahunna Eziakonwa (5th L), assistant secretary general and regional director for UNDP Africa, Justin Hunyepa (6th L, Fron...
19/12/2024

Ahunna Eziakonwa (5th L), assistant secretary general and regional director for UNDP Africa, Justin Hunyepa (6th L, Front), Botswana's assistant minister of higher education, and guests pose for a group photo during the launch of a University Innovation Pod (UniPod) in Gaborone, Botswana, on Dec. 16, 2024. Botswana launched its first University Innovation Pod (UniPod) Monday, with the goal of empowering young people, encouraging innovation and transforming creative ideas into real, marketable solutions.
📷:Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua

As part of the One Planet Summit initiative, the Governments of France, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia, with the World Ban...
16/12/2024

As part of the One Planet Summit initiative, the Governments of France, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia, with the World Bank Group, organized a summit to drive the international cooperation agenda on water.
The One Water Summit sought to contribute to the ongoing UN discussions to enhance global water governance, transform water planning and management, and accelerate action on SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), while acting as an incubator for solutions in preparation for the 2026 UN Water Conference.

Photo: Joshua Lanzarini

11/12/2024

AI predicts Earth's peak warming

TNN Reporter

Researchers have found that the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is now almost certainly out of reach.

The results, published Dec. 10 in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest the hottest years ahead will very likely shatter existing heat records. There is a 50% chance, the authors reported, that global warming will breach 2 degrees Celsius even if humanity meets current goals of rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by the 2050s.

05/12/2024

Foreign visitors in a recent trip to southwest China's Sichuan province were treated with aromatic coffee, not from a human barista but a robot, which elicited gasps of exclamation. Take a look.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

Migrant birds fly in the afterglow of the setting sun over the Wuxing white crane conservation area by the Poyang Lake i...
05/12/2024

Migrant birds fly in the afterglow of the setting sun over the Wuxing white crane conservation area by the Poyang Lake in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province. Upon the early winter, the Poyang Lake in Jiangxi hails numerous migratory birds including white cranes and swans, which take the lake as their winter habitat.

📷: Xinhua/Zhou Mi

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The migration and spread of ancient humans across the Eurasian continent after leaving Afric...
05/12/2024

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The migration and spread of ancient humans across the Eurasian continent after leaving Africa were significantly influenced by climate change and landscape evolution, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.

The study, led by researchers from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has revealed new evidence that early human migration and the development of stone tool technology in Eurasia were closely related to climate and landscape changes.

The research indicates that between 900,000 and 600,000 years ago, aridification and landscape shifts in Eurasia prompted ancient human migration and the advancement of stone tool technology in the region.

Scholars have posited that early modern human migration from Africa to East Asia followed two primary routes: the northern route and the southern route. The southern route passed through the Arabian Peninsula, India, Southeast Asia, and other regions, while the northern route traversed Central Asia, Siberia, and Northwest China.

The migration and spread of ancient humans were closely linked to the evolution of climate and environment, said Zan Jinbo, the first author and co-corresponding author of the research, and a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research.

Previous understanding of the relationship between ancient human diffusion and the natural environment in Eurasia was limited due to a lack of comprehensive comparison of archaeological and paleoenvironmental records over large spatial and long temporal scales, Zan said.

In this latest research, scientists analyzed the changes in the isotopic composition of organic carbon in two typical loess profiles in central Eurasia over the past 3.6 million years.

By integrating data on carbon isotopes, river terrace landscapes, distribution of aeolian loess, and ancient human remains across Eurasia, they found that since 900,000 to 600,000 years ago, global cooling and the uplift of the northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau led to increased climate fluctuations, environmental drying, and widespread development of river terraces in the northern route region.

"There are significant differences in the environmental drivers of ancient human diffusion between Eurasia and Africa," said co-author Fang Xiaomin from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, who is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In North and East Africa, wet climates provided a green corridor for ancient humans to migrate out of Africa. In contrast, in Eurasia, aridification and landscape changes offered more open habitats, convenient passages, and water sources, significantly impacting the living environment and spatial diffusion of ancient humans in Eurasia, Fang said.

This image provided by the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, shows an artistic rendering of ancient human migration. (ITP/Handout via Xinhua)

02/12/2024

Pretoria high court grants emergency aid to illegal miners amid police crackdown~ TL

On Sunday, the Pretoria high court granted Lawyers for Human Rights an interim order that will allow community members and charitable organisations to provide food, water, and medication to illegal miners at Stilfontein mine in North West.

An unknown number of miners remain underground in an effort to evade arrest after police started Operation Vala Umgodi, which focuses on curbing illegal mining.

The court held a virtual sitting on Sunday after Lawyers for Human Rights launched an urgent application seeking relief on what it described as life-threatening conditions for artisanal miners trapped underground after the sealing and blocking of mine entrances by police as part of their operation.In its ruling, the court granted immediate interim relief, ordering the respondents, including the police minister and the MEC for community safety and transport management (North West), to allow community members, charitable organisations, and interested parties to provide food, water, and medication to the trapped miners within two hours of the court order being handed down.

In a statement, Lawyers for Human Rights said the court emphasised that this aid must be facilitated without delay, addressing the miners’ critical need for humanitarian assistance.

“LHR welcomes the interim order, which highlights the paramount importance of the artisanal miners’ right to life and the right not to have the quality of their life diminished. The interim order affirms that the state cannot use starvation and dehydration, internationally recognised elements of crimes against humanity, as a tool for purported law enforcement.

“This would be contrary to the right to life, human dignity, and the right not to be treated in an inhumane and degrading way, which are rights which cannot be limited. We reiterate that the state and the South African Police Service (SAPS) must act within the bounds of the constitution, upholding their obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil the rights enshrined therein even when seeking to enforce the law,” reads the statement.

Lawyers for Human Rights said it would return to court on December 5, with additional relief being sought by the applicants, including an order allowing for the continuation of community rescue efforts and declaring the conduct of police in using starvation and dehydration as a tool against communities is unconstitutional.

12/11/2024

ICJ on obligations of States regarding climate change

UN Climate Change Conference Baku - November 2024
11–22 November 2024 | Baku, Azerbaijan

The International Court of Justice will issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of States under international law to protect the climate system.

When it comes to international attention for climate change, the year 2024 will end with a bang. Merely a week after the end of the UN Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan, key stakeholders will meet again at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for a much awaited hearings on the obligations of States in respect of climate change.

Recent years have seen an increase in not only climate-related court cases, but also a deeper engagement of legal scholars and judicial bodies with matters related to the environment more generally. We have seen children, elderly women, and non-governmental organizations go to court to bring about enhanced climate action. We have seen the UN General Assembly (UNGA) recognize the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. We have also seen nature rights laws passed in various jurisdictions around the globe.

Most recently, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) confirmed that States have to prevent, reduce, and control marine pollution from greenhouse gas emissions and protect and preserve the marine environment from climate change impacts and ocean acidification.

Another advisory opinion is pending at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) on the individual and collective obligations of States to respond to the climate emergency within the framework of international human rights law and specifically under the American Convention on Human Rights and other inter-American treaties.

The ICJ, which is the only court with both general and universal jurisdiction, is expected to further clarify States’ obligations.

A Vanuatu-led initiative managed to gather enough support from Member States for the UNGA to adopt a resolution in 2023, which requests the ICJ to clarify:

the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases for states and for present and future generations; and
the legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, with respect to:
States, including, in particular, small island developing States, which due to their geographical circumstances and level of development, are injured or specially affected by or are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change; and
peoples and individuals of the present and future generations affected by the adverse effects of climate change.
All UN Member States are entitled to participate in the proceedings. A number of organizations, including the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), were also authorized to participate. A total of 91 written statements and 62 written comments have been filed with the Court’s registry. More than 100 oral statements are expected to be made at the hearing.

The public hearings are scheduled to begin on 2 December 2024. The oral proceedings will provide an opportunity for States and organizations to further elaborate on their written submissions and respond to questions from the Court. Once the written and oral proceedings have concluded, the Court will retire to begin its deliberations, following which it will deliver its advisory opinion in open court. This is expected to occur in early 2025.

Even though the Court’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, as the principal judicial body of the United Nations, the ICJ’s assessment will provide authoritative guidance on the nature and scope of States’ obligations in respect of climate change under international law. It will provide a clear legal benchmark—including with regard to the rights of future generations—that that will feed into national and regional court cases and the UN climate negotiations.

Geopolitical guessing game – what does a second Trump US presidency spell for SA and global trade ties? By Peter Fabrici...
10/11/2024

Geopolitical guessing game – what does a second Trump US presidency spell for SA and global trade ties?

By Peter Fabricius/ Daily Maverick

Will another Donald Trump presidency be good or bad for South Africa? No one seems sure, not even the South African government.

Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, posted an enthusiastic message on X on Wednesday, welcoming Trump’s victory and noting that “historically, relations between South Africa and the US thrive under a Republican White House”.

He noted, for instance, that in Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, he had appointed as his ambassador to South Africa a woman born in the country – Lana Marks – “who was brilliant, and helped to enhance the strong and mutually beneficial ties between our two nations”.

Then Monyela’s social media post suddenly disappeared. Sources in the department told Daily Maverick his superiors had made him take it down, even if there was some truth in it. But it was clearly ideologically incorrect as the ANC has historically had closer ties with America’s Democratic Party.

Monyela was obviously referring to programmes such as Pepfar, which has given South Africa more than $8-billion to fight Aids; the US Development Finance Corporation, which can provide up to $60-billion in government money to leverage investment in Africa and elsewhere; and Prosper Africa, which coordinates 17 US agencies in supporting African development. They have all been introduced during Republican presidencies, though all have enjoyed strong bipartisan support.

But Trump is not the Republican Party of old. He prides himself on his unpredictability in foreign policy. The world is anxiously wondering what will he do now that he is armed with a powerful mandate after sweeping the White House, the Senate and probably the House of Representatives.

For South Africa, the uncertainty is mostly about economic relations with the US and particularly the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which gives duty-free access to the lucrative US market for most exports of eligible sub-Saharan countries. It has been profitable in particular for South African exporters of vehicles, wines and fruit.

But the Agoa programme expires next year and there are some doubts about whether Trump will support its renewal, as he believes in reciprocity and Agoa is a one-way deal. African countries don’t have to open their markets to US imports.

And, even if Agoa is renewed, South Africa remains at risk of being suspended because of the ANC’s friendships with Russia, China and Iran, which have annoyed Republican legislators in particular.

Photo: Vecteezy | Trump silhouette. Design: Kassie Naidoo

Close all spaza shops, reregister them: ANC's Mbalula tells government'Owners should be deported if they are not properl...
09/11/2024

Close all spaza shops, reregister them: ANC's Mbalula tells government

'Owners should be deported if they are not properly documented'

By Kgothatso Madisa

Close all spaza shops and register them anew. And if the owners are found to be in the country illegally, deport them.

This is the call the ANC made on Thursday to the government after the deaths of several children in Gauteng townships allegedly after eating poisonous food bought in local spaza shops.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Thursday said the party and its government should not behave as if they are not in power and called on them to act immediately.

At least 12 children have died and many others have been hospitalised in several townships, including Soweto, after eating snacks bought at some local spazas.

Mbalula said the government should immediately move to shut all spaza shops, have them register afresh and permanently close those without proper documentation. Owners should be deported if they are not properly documented.

He said the ANC was saddened by the developments that have affected so many children.

“These tragedies underscore a growing concern over the health, safety and hygiene in shops and food outlets across our communities and highlight the urgent need for regulatory improvements,” said Mbalula.

“To this extent, as the ANC we call on our government to lead the regulation of the spaza shop environment and ensure that all spaza shops close down and register afresh to ensure that we've got the right people serving our communities.”

Mbalula said this should also be used as an opportunity to crack down on illegal immigrants.

“Over and above that, deal with those who are operating illegal spaza shops and those who are illegal in terms of immigration laws,” he said.

“Spaza shops have long played a central role in our local communities. We must stop paying lip service and act.”

The Gauteng provincial government first hinted on the move to close all spaza shops earlier in the week, calling the tragedy a state of disaster

Gauteng finance MEC Lebogang Maile said urgent action was needed to curb further deaths as the situation was getting out of control.

“If I had to do things my way, first I would just close everything and then we start from the beginning so that those shops that are not located in proper areas, which are on pavements, shops that have no licences, everyone would have to start from the beginning,” Maile told Newzroom Afrika.

Some ministers are understood to have also been briefed by the Gauteng acting premier Kedibone Diale-Tlabela on Wednesday about the imminent move to shut down all spaza shops in the province.

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