https://www.facebook.com/111753831846697/

Modern Era News, Thohoyandou (2025)

10/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING-N3🚨N3 in KZN closed following paraffin spill. Delay your trip, warns transport department

Traffic on the N3 at Ashburton in KwaZulu-Natal is backed up in both directions following a truck crash.

The provincial Department of Transport has urged motorists to delay their trips or seek alternate routes.

Speaking on behalf of the department, spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane, said the closure is as a result of an accident and clean up crews have been activated as one of the trucks had been transporting paraffin, which is highly flammable.

"There is currently huge congestion along all routes between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The congestion has now spilled over onto alternative routes such as the R103 and R603," Ncalane said.

He added that teams are working on mop up operations that are expected to last most of the day.
"Motorists are urged to use alternative routes such as th eR103 and R603, however they are cautioned of heavy congestion on those roads due to road works," Ncalane said.

Meanwhile, emergency services have attended to a truck crash on Richmond Road, near the N3, Durban-bound.

At least two people are believed to be entrapped in one of the heavy-duty vehicles.

IOL
MENews

09/08/2023

🌏BREAKING-NEWS🚨Tory Lanez handed 10 years in jail for shooting Megan Thee Stallion’s foot

Rapper Tory Lanez from Canada was found guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot as the two were leaving a party in Los Angeles in 2020 and received a 10-year prison term.

After a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills residence on July 12, 2020, Lanez, whose actual name is Daystar Peterson, shot Megan, the three-time Grammy winner whose full name is Megan Pete.
Stallion won Grammy awards for best new artist, best rap performance and best rap song in 2021.

She has also been nominated for six more.
According to Megan Thee Stallion, The shooting was preceded by an argument that became heated when the two began attacking each other’s music careers, this is what she told the court during the two-week trial
During the hearing, which ended on Tuesday, Megan, 28, was the target of what the prosecution described as “repeated and grotesque attacks.”
The case was well-publicized and ended with the hearing.
Kaya959
MENews

09/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING-MZANSI🚨Gordhan gives Eskom the go-ahead to split off distribution arm

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has approved the sale of Eskom's distribution assets to a new state-owned company.
The new company, which has yet to be named, will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the power utility.

The minister gave his stamp of approval for the deal to go ahead in a letter to Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana.
Under the Public Finance Management Act, Gordhan's approval is needed for Eskom to dispose of any of its assets.

In his 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced that Eskom would be split into separate distribution, generation and transmission entities, adding that "bold decisions and decisive action" were needed to save the struggling power utility.

While Ramaphosa said that the government would immediately embark on the process of establishing the three separate entities, the split has been dragged out for the past four years But moves to unbundle Eskom appear to have recently gained momentum.

Last month, SA's energy regulator approved a licence for an independent transmission company to operate the country's power grid.

"This is a milestone decision by the energy regulator and will immensely contribute in Eskom’s unbundling trajectory," said Thembani Bukula, chair of the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa).

The National Transmission Company of South Africa, like the proposed distribution company, will be a state-owned subsidiary of Eskom.

Carol Paton | Grid hogs move over!

In his letter to Makwana, Gordhan asked Eskom to speed up the legal separation of the distribution and generation arms.

"The entity must provide a quarterly progress report on the legal separation of transmission, distribution and generation companies," he said.

The minister also asked for more engagements between his department and Eskom on the model for the distribution company, and how it would make money.
news24
MENews

09/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING-LIMPOPO🚨SAPS launch manhunt after prisoner escapes from Limpopo police station

Limpopo police have launched a manhunt for an awaiting trial prisoner that escaped from Lephalale Police Station on Tuesday.

According to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, the 32-year-old prisoner has been identified as Anthony Makhusha - a Zimbabwean national.

Makhusha is facing a charge of fraud.

“It is alleged that he was in the Community Service Centre at about 1pm when he escaped.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are forming part of the investigation,” said Ledwaba.

In addition, police have opened a case of Escaping from Lawful Custody for further investigation.

“The Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has urged communities to assist police with information regarding this suspect and not to attempt to apprehend him.”

Last month Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said over 200 inmates had escaped from prisons across South Africa over the last five years.

Addressing Parliament, Lamola attributed these incidents to a lack of maintenance and poor infrastructure at some of the country’s facilities.

He further said a total of 208 prisoners were re-arrested during the same period.

IOL
MENews

09/08/2023

🌏BREAKING-NEWS🚨Iraq bans media from using term 'homos*xuality', says they must use 's*xual deviance'

Iraq's official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term "homos*xuality" and instead to say "s*xual deviance," a government spokesperson said and a document from the regulator shows.

The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) document said that the use of the term "gender" was also banned. It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications.

A government official later said that the decision still required final approval.

The regulator "directs media organisations ... not to use the term 'homos*xuality' and to use the correct term 's*xual deviance'," the Arabic-language statement said.

A government spokesperson said a penalty for violating the rule had not yet been set but could include a fine.

Iraq does not explicitly criminalise gay s*x but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target members of the LGBT community.

Major Iraqi parties have in the past two months stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by Shi'ite Muslim factions opposed to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.

More than 60 countries criminalise gay s*x, while same-s*x s*xual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data.

news24
MENews.

09/08/2023

🌏BREAKING-NEWS🚨World Bank halts new funding to Uganda over anti-LGBTQ laws

By David Malingha

The World Bank halted new loans to Uganda over the East African government’s enactment of anti-LGBTQ laws that include the death penalty in some cases.

The announcement by the bank comes three months after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed legislation that includes life imprisonment for s*xual acts and the death penalty for “aggravated homos*xuality,” defined in part as engaging in s*x if one is HIV-positive

“Uganda’s Anti-Homos*xuality Act contradicts the World Bank’s values,” the Washington-based lender said in a statement on Tuesday. “After reviewing our portfolio in the context of the new legislation, no new public financing will be presented to our board of executive directors.”

The bank’s decision puts at risk support for Uganda’s plan to transform its economy and become an upper-middle income country by 2040. The World Bank’s portfolio of International Development Association funding to the country was $5.4 billion, at the end of 2022, according to information on its website.

LGBTQ rights are coming under increased pressure globally, with the Indian government opposing giving legal recognition to same-s*x marriages amid a Supreme Court hearing on the matter and anti-transgender legislation passing in states across the US. In Kenya, President William Ruto in March criticized a pro-LGBTQ ruling by the nation’s top court, while Ghanaian lawmakers are considering punitive legislation.

Uganda’s representative to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare, criticized the World Bank decision as “draconian” in a post on X, the social media network previously known as Twitter. He called for urgent reforms at the bank.

news24
MENews.

09/08/2023

🌏BREAKING-AFRICA🚨Antony Blinken: "Wagner takes advantage of the situation in Niger"

The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken warned in an interview published on Tuesday that Wagner was taking advantage of the instability caused by the coup in Niger, the group of Russian mercenaries having already moved closer to neighboring Mali.

The US secretary of state tells the BBC he does not believe Wagner - who initiated a failed rebellion attempt against Moscow in June - was behind the coup that ousted the president elected Mohamed Bazoum from office.

"I think what happened, and what continues to happen in Niger, was not orchestrated by Russia or Wagner," Blinken said. "But insofar as they take advantage of it - and this is a repetition of what has happened in other countries, where they have brought only bad things in their wake - it is not a good thing,” he added.

“Wherever Wagner went: death, destruction, and exploitation followed,” he added.

In Africa, Wagner offers a catalog of services to struggling plans. In Mali, in the Central African Republic, it protects the power in place, offers military training, even legal advice to rewrite the mining code or the Constitution.

In exchange, the group practices predation and pays itself on local resources, in particular gold mines and other minerals.

"The whole of the central Sahel region could come under Russian influence via the Wagner group whose brutal terrorism has been clearly exposed in Ukraine," wrote President-elect Mohamed Bazoum in an op-ed published Thursday in the Washington Post.

From the capital Niamey, Antony Blinken 's deputy said yesterday that "the people who took this decision (of the coup) understand very well the risks to their sovereignty posed by an invitation from Wagner" .

09/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING-PRETORIA🚨Paroled Boeremag member arrested in Pretoria for r**e, s*xual grooming of minors

One of the infamous Boeremag members has been rearrested while out on parole for crimes he allegedly committed, which include r**e and the s*xual grooming of minors.

Without naming the man, police told News24 a suspect was arrested in Boschkop, Pretoria, on Tuesday morning.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said cases of r**e and s*xual grooming were opened at Boschkop police station and then transferred to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit for investigation.
"The investigation led to the arrest of the 46-year-old suspect," Masondo added

"He is expected to appear in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on Thursday, 10 August 2023."
Masondo added the crimes were allegedly committed in Kleinfontein, which is a culturally segregated community in Pretoria.
News24 was able to establish the identity of the suspect as one of the Boeremag members.
Two independent sources confirmed the man was a parolee who was convicted and sentenced as part of the right-wing Boeremag movement.
The suspect cannot be named until he has appeared in court and pleaded to the charges.

09/08/2023

🇿🇦DID YOU KNOW🚨Ramaphosa to commemorate Women’s Day at Union Buildings due to 'high security risk' in Khayelitsha

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his Women's Day commemoration message in Pretoria Today rather than Khayelitsha due to the “security risk” associated with the taxi unrest in Cape Town

President Cyril Ramaphosa will no longer deliver his Women's Day commemoration message in Khayelitsha Today due to the “security risk” associated with the taxi unrest in Cape Town.

The department of sport, arts and culture announced on Tuesday that the event will now take place at the Union Buildings' South Lawns in Pretoria.

“This change has been necessitated by the ongoing taxi strike in Cape Town, where Khayelitsha has been deemed a high-security risk area,” the department said.

On Monday, TimesLIVE reported the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) as saying it would continue its strike in the Western Cape after talks with the government to resolve the impasse collapsed at the weekend.

Chaos ensued in the city last week when Santaco abruptly halted minibus taxi operations in the Western Cape after an impasse with Cape Town authorities. This followed a blockade by taxi operators on Tuesday after 15 vehicles were impounded.

The situation escalated into clashes with police and metro police, who used stun grenades to disperse crowds and smashed a window in a taxi to extract protesters. More than 200,000 commuters were affected

09/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING-CAPE TOWN🚨
City of Cape Town welcomes court interdict against SANTACO

By: Natasha Archary

The City of Cape Town has welcomed the Western Cape High Court granting an interdict against the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO)

This after the taxi stayaway in the city took a violent turn, costing the lives of two people, with 3 others injured, due to lawlessness, looting and other acts of criminality.

Not only have roads been obstructed, but a number of vehicles have been torched since last week Monday, 31 July, after thousands of taxis were impounded due to traffic violations.

While the City of Cape Town stresses, Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis stresses that by-laws weren’t the cause of SANTACO staging a stayaway, the City says the interdict is necessary to prevent any further destruction of property, and infrastructure.

“The City will uphold the rule of law without fear of favour, as was demonstrated earlier on Monday, with the clearing and impounding of vehicles blockading major routes.

This interdict further empowers our work with SAPS to keep our roads open, protect buses and commuters, and arrest the perpetrators of disorder.

We reiterate, that until the violence stops, there can be no further discussions. We call on SANTACO to stop the violence immediately.”

The interdict prohibits the obstruction of any public road, interference or blocking of vehicles in commute, and violence.

Seventy-two people have so far been arrested for public violence since the strike was actioned, leaving thousands of commuters stranded

09/08/2023

🇨🇳 BREAKING-CHINA🚨

China warns of disease outbreaks in flood-hit areas as death toll rises

China has warned of crop and animal diseases breaking out as floodwaters retreated from rural areas in the north, while some cities struggled to restore drinking water supplies after the worst flooding in six decades which have left more than 30 dead.

Hebei province, which shares a border with the capital Beijing, was struck by more than a year’s rainfall last week from storms that followed Typhoon Doksuri, affecting autumn crops and damaging agricultural equipment

It comes as the Beijing Daily newspaper reported that there had been 33 deaths from heavy floods in the capital, as of 8 August. Eighteen people remained missing, the paper said on Wednesday.

Agriculture minister Tang Renjian said local authorities must step up measures to prevent and control major disease outbreaks caused by dead animals, pests and insects. He made the comments after an inspection of affected areas on Tuesday.
Waterlogging must also be reduced and floodwaters from planted fields drained to minimise crop losses, Tang said, adding that it must be ensured that winter wheat planting is unaffected.

Farms across Hebei have been severely affected, with numerous pigs and sheep drowning in the flood waters and crops destroyed.
“Agricultural and rural departments at all levels should accurately assess the disaster situation of farmers, help the affected farmers solve practical difficulties, and prevent disaster-caused poverty or return to poverty,” Tang said in a statement posted on the ministry website.

09/08/2023

🇿🇦BREAKING MZANSI🚨Mother films herself kicking her son to hurt baby daddy

ByNatasha Archary

A mother who allegedly filmed herself kicking her son and sending the video to her baby daddy in an attempt to hurt him, has come under fire on social media.

In the video, which is too graphic to share, the mother, who has been identified as Nthabiseng Nhlapo, can be seen kicking her toddler boy in the stomach, multiple times, before stomping on his neck with her foot.

It is alleged, the mother sent the child’s father, Mxolisi Scorch the video after he had dumped her.

In another video, also recorded by Nthabiseng, she confronts her baby daddy after he had allegedly told her to leave his house because he was done with their relationship.

Nthabiseng was furious that her baby daddy kicked her and their son out of their home, saying she was shocked that he is showing her no emotion after she brought their child into the world.

Modern Era News

10/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

09/08/2023

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category