Day: June 19, 2022

South Africa has turned to Russia for food as it also considers Moscow’s help to mitigate record fuel prices.

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin seeking the supply of agricultural products and fertilizers.

The telephone discussion between the two BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) leaders was a Pretoria initiative.

“The Presidents expressed satisfaction with the current level of the two countries’ strategic partnership and stressed the shared intention to expand mutually beneficial cooperation, above all in trade, the economy, and investment,” read a Kremlin press release.

“They also discussed in detail issues of food security, including the supply of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the African continent, in particular South Africa.

“The leaders also noted the importance of joint work within BRICS in order to further promote the role of this association in global politics and economics.

“Vladimir Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. It was agreed to maintain contact.”

While Ramaphosa and Putin spoke on the phone, it was the same day South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe told parliament they are pondering Russian crude imports.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, there have been fuel hikes in South Africa and that has had a knock-on effect on skyrocketing prices of basic commodities.

“We should consider importing crude oil from Russia at a low price because it is not sanctioned,” Mantashe said.

Mantashe was addressing a parliamentary debate on domestic fuel prices and he added that sanctions announced by the US and EU on Russia “have resulted in major imbalance in the demand and supply” for oil.

The US and EU imposed sanctions on Russian oil imports, but consumers outside their jurisdiction can buy from Moscow.

Also, discounted oil from Russia is available for purchase by BRICS countries and for South Africa, that would be an option from relying on the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

While Russia has received a cold shoulder from the West since its invasion of Ukraine, a number of African countries have been strengthening their diplomatic relations with Moscow.

Source: Nam News Network

Responding to today’s ministerial decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the TRIPs Agreement, Tamaryn Nelson, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, said:

“More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic and the WTO still hasn’t made the changes needed to ensure everyone has access to life-saving health products when they most need them. Under the terms of this decision, hundreds of millions of people in developing countries will likely continue to be denied access to many of these products.

“This decision is unlikely to make a significant difference in global access to Covid-19 vaccines right now. And the fact that the WTO decided to postpone by six months the decision around extending the agreement to cover diagnostics and therapeutics – at this stage of the pandemic – demonstrates how the WTO is out of step with reality.

“This decision is not only a hollow response to Covid-19, but it sends the message that intellectual property rights outweigh the rights to health and life. After more than 18 months of discussion, the WTO has missed an opportunity to use its power to set global trade rules that save lives, setting a worrying precedent for international cooperation in future public health emergencies.”

Background

The WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement sets out minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP), such as copyrights, trademarks, patents, undisclosed information (including trade secrets and test data) and anti-competitive practices.

As IP rights can create barriers to timely access to lifesaving health products the TRIPS Agreement includes safeguards known as “flexibilities” so states can amend their laws and take certain measures to address public health emergencies, such as issuing compulsory licenses that would allow a company to produce a lifesaving drug without following IP rules.

The Covid-19 pandemic has raised questions about whether the “flexibilities” are effective to address the world’s urgent needs, given that they usually apply on a country-by-country, case-by-case, and drug-by-drug basis and have onerous reporting requirements.

In October 2020, India and South Africa requested a temporary waiver (IP/C/W/669) to intellectual property protections that would allow countries to produce versions of Covid-19 products more easily. Despite receiving support from more than 100 countries, this draft has stalled due to opposition from a small number of wealthy states.

A new draft ministerial decision spearheaded by the WTO Director General (WT/MIN(22)/W/15) but largely based on proposals from the European Union, was discussed and eventually adopted at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) held from 12 to 17 June 2022. Rather than waive intellectual property protections, it provides some clarifications to current “flexibilities” and a narrow exception to an export restriction on Covid-19 vaccines for the duration of five years.

Source: Amnesty International

A global consortium of major space agencies is celebrating 50 years of collaboration in the provision of meteorological satellites vital for weather forecasts, life-saving early warning services and - increasingly - climate change monitoring and other application areas

The Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) consists of satellite agencies from China, Europe, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States, as well as international users including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

Space agency heads have delivered congratulatory messages for the 50th anniversary ceremony on 17 June at WMO headquarters. The event will showcase the benefits of coordinated space-based observations based on the principal of working together. Participants will also look ahead to challenges in an era of threats of disruption from solar related “space weather” and growing pressure on scarce radio frequencies used for meteorological purposes; as well as to opportunities provided by supercomputers, IT cloud technology and Artificial Intelligence.

“In order to meet the expectations from governments, industry, and citizens for improved weather forecasts and early warnings of high impact weather events, the key priority of the CGMS is to continuously deliver high-quality and increasingly accurate observations from space,” says Phil Evans, EUMETSAT Director-General and head of the CGMS Secretariat.

“A globally coordinated response is necessary, and mechanisms like the CGMS will play a key role in this,” he says.

CGMS was established in 1972 by satellite agencies from Europe, Japan and the United States in order to coordinate the operation and use of fledgling geostationary satellites. Over the years, the membership and remit have expanded to cover an ever-growing number of weather, climate, ocean and environmental monitoring applications.

CGMS has more recently added coordination of climate and greenhouse gas observations as well as space weather (related to solar activity) to its priority areas of activity for the coming decade.

“The power of partnerships is pivotal and will be even more so in future as we embrace an Earth-systems approach to forecasts and predictions,” says WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

“Satellite observations have greatly increased our understanding of what is happening in our atmosphere, in remote parts of the planet and deep in the oceans. We can predict storm tracks and precipitation patterns and monitor drought and wildfires. This underpins our efforts to strengthen disaster resilience and response and support decision-making on climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he says.

“CGMS exemplifies the international cooperation which is needed to realize the WMO Integrated Global Observing System as well as initiatives to increase access to early warning systems and to strengthen monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.

Meteorological eyes in the sky

Over the years, the coverage of the “meteorological eyes in the sky” has become all-encompassing to include polar and elliptic orbit observations, in addition to geostationary satellites.

Joint collaboration between Europe, the US, and China enabled the expansion the constellation of international polar orbiting meteorological satellites from a two-orbit to a three-orbit system. In the past, EUMETSAT and NOAA operated mid-morning and mid-afternoon orbits and observations have now been greatly enhanced by an early-morning orbit from China’s polar orbiting satellites.

Combined, this three-orbit satellite system is able to provide more observations of everything from severe weather events, to forest fires, to ocean surface winds. Polar orbiting meteorological satellites are vital for global numerical weather prediction models as they provide around 90% of the satellite data used for reducing errors in forecasts.

CGMS standardizes processing and distribution of data to serve global users, in particular the WMO community. In addition, the development of global standards for metadata for satellite data and products have significantly improved the exchange of data between partners.

One of the overriding achievements of CGMS is the Establishment of a global back-up framework (contingency planning) – the concept of “helping thy neighbour.”

In the event of failure of one member’s assets, CGMS members have supported each other by moving satellites from their nominal positions in order to ensure continuity of observations over another part of the globe.

The same philosophy of “satellites serving society” characterizes many of CGMS-related activities.

Looking at the geostationary satellites as an example, EUMETSAT satellites help keep an eye on the Indian Ocean, providing data crucial for Indian Ocean islands and for eastern Africa and complementing the satellites of China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Japan’s Himawari-8 has brought the power of new satellite data to the Asia-Pacific region and China’s FY-4 satellite provides additional unprecedented information about the same region.

“We have the privilege and unique advantage of acting on behalf of a well-structured, user-driven community responsible for facing global challenges that will impact future generations. Let’s act together and deliver!” says Phil Evans, head of the CGMS Secretariat.

Source: World Meteorological Organization

The year 2021 was a challenging one for the communities, the world, and for the millions of young women and girls in East and Southern Africa. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that hampered our efforts in delivering a better region and a sustainable world through our Transformative Results, we rose with grit and grace to face these challenges.

Health systems strained under the weight of the pandemic, supply chains unraveled, and our programmes and services were delayed. In the middle of these health-related crossfires, women and girls became targets – vulnerable to gender-based violence and harmful practices, maternal deaths, and complications from the lack of access to family planning.

Through disruptions and changes, our resilience, our agility, our sense of purpose remained solid. Read how we rose to the challenge in our 2021 annual report.

Source: United Nations Population Fund

NELSPRUIT - The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela is concerned about the rate in which some of the young people are found to be in conflict with the law. This comes in the wake of a terrifying incident in which five suspects were arrested on allegations of murdering a man, aged 25 as well as for gang raping three women, aged between 27 and 35. Three of those suspects are under age (two are 17 years of age whilst one is 16 years old). The incident reportedly occurred at Bethal on Friday night, 17 June 2022.

According to the report on Saturday, 18 June 2022 police received a complaint from Bethal hospital about a man who was admitted with multiple stab wounds but unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. Upon arrival at the hospital the members opened a murder case.

The investigation by the police then revealed that on that fateful night, a group of about five males reportedly had an altercation with the man who then ran towards a local fuel station in Bethal. It is further alleged that the man was pursued by the suspects thereby stabbing him several times before they left him in a pool of blood.

The medical personnel were notified about the incident and upon arrival they took him to hospital but later the victim was certified dead. Police learnt through their probe that after the incident, the suspects proceeded to a certain house where they found three women and allegedly gang raped them before they fled the scene on foot.

A team consisting of the Bravo Security Company, members from Bethal, Secunda Crime Intelligence and Emzinoni converged with a sole purpose to bring the suspects to book. It was not long before the five were cornered and arrested as well as charged for murder with additional three counts of rape on Saturday, 18 June 2022.

The man has reportedly been identified by his family as Mr June Mwafor and the police are working in collaboration with other stakeholders, including the Probation Officers as well as Social Workers, taking into consideration the fact that some of the suspects are minors.

Police cannot rule out the possibility of the five being involved in some kind of gangsterism however this will form part of the investigation by the detectives.

All suspects are expected to appear at the Bethal Magistrate's Court on Monday, 20 June 2022 facing the outlined charges.

Meanwhile the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has reassured the public that police will continue to work tirelessly in order to dismantle any form of criminal groupings or syndicates that terrorize communities with crime, citing the recent hefty sentence imposed in Marite. "There is so much space created by the various challenges that the world faces today, of which young people can turn into opportunities by bringing forth innovative ideas and solutions rather than engaging themselves in criminal activities. We encourage the youth to join Youth Crime Prevention Desk in their respective police stations in order to constructively participate in inventive ways of preventing and tackling crime in the society," said the General.

Source: South African Police Service

DURBAN – Yesterday, the Economic Infrastructure Task Team (EITT) acted swiftly after receiving intelligence about cable theft on a railway track at Mobeni near SJ Smith Hostel.

The EITT members followed up on the information and it led them to Swinton Road where they found three men in possession of fifty one metres of copper cables, eight bundles of copper cables, seven metres of aluminium cable.

The suspects aged 16 between and 26 were arrested and charged for theft. They were detained at Montclair SAPS and they will appear before the Durban Magistrates Court on Monday.

Source: South African Police Service

GQEBERHA - Shortly after a complaint of vehicle hijacking was reported to police, Gqeberha K9 Unit members arrested a suspect and recovered the vehicle in Ikamvelihle on Friday evening, 17 June 2022.

It is alleged that at about 19:50 on the mentioned date, the complainant exited a house in Indwe Street in Ikamvelihle and while walking to his vehicle he saw 3 unknown males knocking at the house next door. As he got into his vehicle, the same men pointed him with firearms and forced him out of the vehicle. They drove off in his white Nissan Micra.

Immediately the K9 members responded to the complaint and not long later, the vehicle was spotted in Ngxangxosi Street in NU3 in Ikamvelihle. The vehicle was stopped, searched and one male, aged 33 years, was arrested for vehicle hijacking. The suspect was alone in the vehicle.

He is expected to appear in the Motherwell magistrate court on Monday, 20 June 2022.

Source: South African Police Service