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A rodent-borne illness is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others. Studies indicate hantaviruses have been around for centuries, with outbreaks documented in Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it has been linked with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure. It wasn't until the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The disease gained attention last year after the late actor Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico. The World Health Organisation said in a statement Sunday that detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, including further laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing. The virus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, ...
A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organisation and South Africa's Department of Health said Sunday. In a statement to The Associated Press, WHO said an investigation was underway but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the UN's health agency said, and it was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship. The Dutch company that operates the cruise said the ship was now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation off Africa's west coast, and local authorities were assisting but had not allowed anyone to disembark. It said the two sick people onboard requiring urgent medical care were crew members. Hantavirus infections are spread mainly by rodents Hantaviruses, which are found throughout
Two enormous sandlike dunes at an old chemical processing plant in South Africa are at the centre of an exploratory US-backed project to extract highly sought-after rare earth elements from industrial mining waste. The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project has US support through a USD 50 million equity investment by the government's International Development Finance Corporation and is part of accelerated US efforts to reduce reliance on economic rival China for the minerals crucial for making electronic devices, robotics, defence systems, electric vehicles and other high-tech products. Countries have identified dozens of minerals, including copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel, as critical because they are essential for new technologies. The 17 rare earth elements are a subset of them. President Donald Trump has made expanding US access to critical minerals, including rare earth elements, a central policy to counter China. The Trump administration said this year it will deploy nearly USD 12
India has a major role to play in the remaking of the post-World War II world order, which is on the brink of collapse, South African Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Zuko Godlimpi told a gathering of captains of industry, academics and policy makers in Pretoria on Monday. The minister was delivering the keynote address at the 2nd annual India-South Africa Business Conclave, organised jointly by the High Commission of India and the CII-India Business Forum. Godlimpi said independent India was born two years after World War II ended amid the global trade system architecture that was created by the West. "India emerged as a young democracy in a world that was already being shaped by major powers," he said. Commenting on India's plans to become a dominant world force by the time of the centenary of its independence in 2047, the minister said it is in a uniquely-different position now. "India will find itself in a position where, as opposed to inheriting a world order, it is now
England, South Africa and West Indies are set to depart India over the weekend on chartered flights arranged by the ICC following disruption to commercial air travel due to the ongoing conflict involving US, Israel and Iran. A source told PTI that England, who went down to India in the second semifinal on Thursday, are expected to leave from Mumbai on Saturday evening on a direct flight to London. West Indies and South Africa are the other two teams still in the country despite their campaigns having ended. While the Windies were knocked out of the T20 World Cup after India defeated them by five wickets at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, South Africa's campaign ended after their defeat to New Zealand here in the first semifinal on Wednesday. Both South Africa and West Indies will travel together from Kolkata on a another charter flight. The two sides are likely to fly first to Johannesburg before the West Indies contingent continues onward to Antigua. The exact departure time is yet
A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday. The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16. At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown. According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6. An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle. The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to h
At least 11 people, including three children, were killed in a mass shooting at a bar in a township near the South African administrative capital of Pretoria, police said on Saturday. Another 14 people were wounded and taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds, according to a statement from the South African Police Services. Police didn't give details on the ages of those who were injured. The shooting happened at an unlicensed bar in the Saulsville township west of Pretoria in the early hours of Saturday. The children killed were a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. Police said they were searching for three suspects. South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 an average of more than 70 a day.
With US President Donald Trump announcing that he is barring South Africa from participating in next year's G20 summit in Miami, the Congress on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "self-proclaimed champion" of both Africa and the Global South and asked whether he will take up South Africa's cause with his "good friend". Trump said Wednesday that he is barring South Africa from participating in the Group of 20 summit next year in Miami and will "stop all payments and subsidies" to the country over its treatment of a US government representative at this year's global meeting. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said South Africa has been in the G20 from the very beginning simply because it is the largest economy measured by size of GDP in the African continent. "It is not there because the US is doing it some favour. It was very much present at the very first G20 Summit held in Washington DC that was chaired by ..
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is barring South Africa from participating in the Group of 20 summit next year in Miami and will "stop all payments and subsidies" to the country over its treatment of a US government representative at this year's global meeting. Trump chose not to have an American delegation attend the recent summit hosted by South Africa, saying he did so because white Afrikaners were being violently persecuted -- a claim that South Africa, which was mired for decades in racial apartheid, has rejected as baseless.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday returned to India after a three-day visit to South Africa for the G20 and IBSA meetings. At the G20 Leaders Summit, Modi called for a global compact to prevent misuse of artificial intelligence and made a strong pitch for critical technologies to be human-centric, instead of finance-centric. At the India-Brazil-South Africa leaders meeting, the prime minister said the reform of the UN Security Council was no longer an option, but a necessity and asserted that the troika should send a clear message for changes to institutions of global governance. "The successful Johannesburg G20 will contribute to a prosperous and sustainable planet," Modi said in a post on X on Sunday. "My meetings and interactions with world leaders were very fruitful and will deepen India's bilateral linkages with various nations. I'd like to thank the wonderful people of South Africa, President Ramaphosa and the Government of South Africa for organising the Summit," Modi .
It is unfortunate that the US did not participate in the G20 in Johannesburg this weekend because important matters relating to world trade were discussed, South Africa's Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau said on Sunday. Tau, asked whether the US would lose out by not attending and reduce its influence on global trade, said this needed to be judged in the context of what the outcomes of the G20 have been. It's been an important discussion around global trade, issues around the World Trade Organisation (WTO), discussion around industrialisation, financing for development, around debt. All those issues are important for the entire world and it is quite unfortunate that their (the US) voice was not coming across at these meetings, Tau said in a media briefing. The minister said discussions with the US around trade would continue. G20 is a separate process. Of course, I can't pretend that it does not reflect on the issues that have been discussed, but so far it hasn
G20 nations have underscored the need for enhancing the representation and voice of developing countries in decision making in Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) like the World Bank and IMF and other international economic and financial institutions. "In that context, we welcome the creation of a 25th chair at the IMF Executive Board to enhance the voice and representation of Sub-Saharan Africa," as per the leaders' declaration during the G20 South Africa Summit held in Johannesburg. G20 leaders reaffirm the critical role of MDBs in driving poverty reduction, economic growth, and development across client countries. "We welcome the inaugural Progress Implementation Report on the G20 MDB Roadmap by the Heads of MDBs Group. We further acknowledge the Capital Adequacy Framework's (CAF) potential to help MDBs more efficiently utilise existing resources, share more risk with the private sector and utilise new instruments to increase lending capacity over the next decade and recognise
RITES Limited, a firm under the Ministry of Railways, for the first time will export in-service diesel locomotives to South Africa from the end of this fiscal year, the company's chairman and managing director, Rahul Mithal, said. Since Indian Railways is almost fully electrified, it is exploring opportunities to export its in-service diesel locomotives, having over 15 years of functional life remaining, he said. RITES has secured orders to export 18 in-service locomotives to South Africa after suitable modifications to suit the country's operational requirements, he said. While RITES has been exporting new locomotives, this is the first time the company has secured an order for the export of in-service locomotives, he added. South Africa follows the Cape Gauge system, where the distance between the tracks is 1,067 mm, whereas India's rail system operates on the Broad Gauge system with a track width of 1,676 mm. "We will deliver the first modified in-service diesel locomotive by .
The heads of state attending the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg on Saturday adopted a Declaration by consensus despite US attempts to stop it. It is a great moment for us because we believe that this will revolutionise the (African) continent, South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola said on host broadcaster SABC, calling the Declaration as an affirmation of multilateralism. Generally, the adoption of the Declaration happens at the end of the Leaders' Summit. This time it happened at the start of the meet. The Declaration has been negotiated and agreed upon by the Sherpas that needed to agree on (it). The various leaders who are here have been briefed by their Sherpas on what is in the Declaration, so there was nothing that stops us from putting the Declaration forward for adoption by the leaders who are in the first segment of this (two-day) meeting, Lamola said about the unusual step of adopting the Declaration early in the start of the