The perils of S. Africa’s illegal mining sectorFri, 17 Jan 2025 05:20:35 GMT

The derelict Stilfontein shaft, which became a hell hole for hundreds of trapped miners, is just one of 6,000 that have been abandoned by South Africa’s gold extraction companies. The vast Witwatersrand goldfield, where the Stilfontein mine is located, was the focus of a heady gold rush in the 19th century. But the once-flourishing commercial gold mining …

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Nintendo shares tumble as Switch 2 teaser disappoints

Nintendo shares tumbled as much as seven percent on Friday after the Japanese games giant failed to impress with a teaser video of its hotly awaited Switch 2 console.The brief clip released Thursday showed a gadget that is bigger but broadly similar in appearance to the original hybrid Switch, which can be handheld or connected to a television.Nintendo gave no technical specifications such as screen resolution or processing power for the sleek-looking machine, which will be on sale — for an undisclosed price — at some point in 2025.This kept gamers and analysts guessing until a live-streamed presentation on April 2 and subsequent real-world “experience” events in the following days in major cities worldwide.The stakes are high for the eagerly awaited announcement, with gaming websites in recent weeks reporting on “industry whispers” and glimpses of purported prototypes.The first Switch has sold more than 146 million units since its launch in 2017, making it the world’s third-bestselling console after Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s DS.Krysta Yang of the Kit & Krysta Podcast said in a YouTube reaction video that the flood of unofficial previews and rumours may have spoiled the surprise.”I guess because of all the information that was already out there, maybe people were just like, ‘this is what I expected’,” she said.”I’m sure there’s going to be more details that are fun and exciting, hopefully, and more games obviously, that we’ll see in the coming months.”Nintendo’s share price had also risen strongly in recent months, gaining more than 12 percent in the last half-year.- Investor concerns -The Switch 2’s screen is larger, as are the overhauled detachable “Joy-Con” controllers that snap on — possibly with magnets — rather than sliding into position as before.Eagle-eyed gaming websites noted what they said appeared to mouse-like functionality for the Joy-Con, a mysterious extra button and a new USB-C port.Key will be the games, and Nintendo’s two-minute trailer also showed off a new version of the long-running Mario Kart series both on the new console’s built-in screen and on a TV.The previous instalment of the game, “Mario Kart 8”, has sold more than 64 million copies.The company said the new machine “plays Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games, as well as both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games” — which would fulfil a November promise on backwards compatibility.But it added that “certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2”, promising further details to come.Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst Nathan Naidu said while the new Mario Kart game was a “bright spot”, investors could be concerned about the release timeline.”As Switch 2’s release will be at least three months behind its predecessor, it might fail to top the 15 million units the Switch achieved in its first full year,” he said.With sales of the original Switch falling, Nintendo had promised to unveil the new console by the end of March.- No pressure -Serkan Toto from Tokyo firm Kantan Games said that making the Switch 2 “just a bigger and better version of the original console… might be all that Nintendo needs”.”There was really no pressure from gamers for Nintendo to reinvent the wheel,” Toto told AFP.”Gamers are surely not blown away by the reveal like they were when the original Switch was shown for the first time, but I think year-one demand at least will be very high.”The Kyoto-based company has been diversifying into theme parks and funding films based on its characters such as the huge 2023 live-action hit “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”.”However, Nintendo still generates approximately 91 percent of its revenue from its Nintendo Switch business, which shows the importance of the Switch 2,” said Darang Candra, an analyst with games market research firm Niko Partners.In afternoon trade, Nintendo shares were down 4.84 percent, having pared its earlier steep losses.

Israeli cabinet to meet on ceasefire after PM says hostage deal finalised

Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet Friday after final details of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal were ironed out, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, with the United States “confident” the truce would begin as planned this weekend. If approved by Israel’s cabinet, the ceasefire agreement would take effect Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalised.Away from the diplomacy, Israeli strikes killed dozens of people, Gaza rescuers said Thursday, while Israel’s military reported hitting about 50 targets across the territory over the past day.Netanyahu’s office had accused Hamas on Thursday of reneging on key parts of the agreement to extort last-minute concessions — an allegation Hamas denied.His office said early Friday a “deal to release the hostages” had been reached and he had ordered the political-security cabinet to meet later in the day.”The government will then convene to approve the deal,” it added.At least two cabinet members have voiced opposition to the ceasefire, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying that he and his party colleagues would quit the government — but not the ruling coalition — if it approved the “irresponsible” deal.Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also opposes the truce, calling it a “dangerous deal”.But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been involved in months of mediation efforts, said Thursday he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.- Continued strikes – Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced on Wednesday, killing at least 80 people and wounding hundreds since then.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.During the attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Mixed feelings -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States, after months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history.If finalised, it would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who claimed credit for the agreement.”If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said in an interview Thursday.Envoys from both the Trump team and the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden were present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.In Israel and Gaza, there were celebrations welcoming the truce deal, but also anguish.Saeed Alloush, who lives in north Gaza, said he and his loved ones were “waiting for the truce and were happy”, until overnight strikes killed many of his relatives.”It was the happiest night since October 7″ until “we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people from the Alloush family”, he said.In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said he felt “great joy” that some hostages would return alive, but also “great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally”.- ‘Permanent end’ -Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.Biden said the second phase of the agreement could bring a “permanent end to the war”.He added the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also underscored the “importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza.Cairo said it was ready to host an international conference on reconstruction in Gaza, where the United Nations has said it would take more than a decade to rebuild civilian infrastructure.In a statement Thursday, G7 leaders called the ceasefire deal “a significant development” and urged Israel and Hamas to work on its “full implementation.”The World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said Thursday that at least $10 billion would probably be needed over the next five to seven years to rebuild Gaza’s devastated health system alone.The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to start later this month, welcomed the ceasefire deal.”What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.burs-ser/ami/tym/kma

Biden warns of threats to ‘fragile’ democracy

President Joe Biden warned Thursday against the dangerous erosion of the fundamental guardrails protecting an increasingly “fragile” American democracy.A day after urging Americans to stand firm against an “oligarchy” forming under Donald Trump, Biden highlighted the specific threat posed by a cowed Supreme Court and Congress unable to keep an autocratic presidency in check.Biden, in a recorded interview with MSNBC — his last before leaving office on Monday — also revealed details of his conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed the situation in Ukraine.”I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is,” Biden said. “I really think we’re in an inflection point in history here where, unrelated to any particular leader, things are going to change drastically.””So I guess what I’m worried about is that the thing that keeps it on track are the guardrails, that there’s a Supreme Court that’s independent,” Biden said, and a Congress where you “speak your mind but you’re held accountable to basic standards.”He said the president may be the “top dog” but “you can’t dictate everything.”Biden said he did not have any recent discussions with Trump about the negotiations that led to the Gaza ceasefire deal, for which the incoming president has sought to take credit.As for Netanyahu, Biden said he still considers him a “friend” although “we don’t agree on a whole lot lately.”Biden recounted one of his early conversations with Netanyahu after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas.”I told them we were going to help, but Bibi, I said, you can’t be carpet-bombing in these communities.”And he said to me: ‘Well you did it… You carpet-bombed Berlin. You dropped a nuclear weapon. You killed thousands of people because you had to in order to win a war,'” Biden recounted.Biden said he also kept reminding Netanyahu “that he has to find a way to accomodate the legitimate concerns of a large group of people called Palestinians who have no place to live independently.”Touching on the conflict in Ukraine, Biden said Russia has suffered more than 670,000 wounded or dead since the invasion.”They’re losing big time too,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they’re going to lose everything but it means they’re not going to be able to have the kind of win (Russian leader Vladimir Putin) thought,” he said.- ‘Too much time on the policy’ -Putin wants to “reestablish the old Warsaw Pact,” Biden said. “I can’t let that happen.”Biden also said he was not concerned about his safety when he made his visit to Ukraine.The Secret Service were “very unhappy,” he said, “but I didn’t think that Putin would dare to take out an American president.”Biden, who dropped his reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance against Trump, also reflected briefly on his political failings.”Ironically, I almost spent too much time on the policy and not enough time on the politics,” he said.The hour-long sit-down interview with MSNBC was one of just a handful Biden gave to the media during his four years as president.He also rarely held full-fledged news conferences, and his White House had an occasionally tense relationship with the press, which it accused of unfairly focusing on the 82-year-old president’s age and cognitive abilities.

Trump says ceasefire ‘would’ve never happened’ without his team

US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas would have never been reached without pressure from him and his incoming administration. The agreement, which would exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, awaits approval by Israel’s security cabinet before taking effect, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be negotiated.Four days away from being inaugurated for a second term, Trump told the Dan Bongino Show that negotiations would have never finalized without pressure from his team, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.”If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said.”We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office,” he added. Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet Friday to discuss the terms of the ceasefire, which would go into effect Sunday at the earliest, just before Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday.Trump also blasted outgoing President Joe Biden for taking credit for the ceasefire agreement, calling him “ungracious” and saying: “He didn’t do anything! If I didn’t do this, if we didn’t get involved, the hostages would never be out.” Biden had proposed a ceasefire agreement last May with terms that mirrored the deal reached this week.The ceasefire agreement under discussion proposes an initial 42-day ceasefire that would see the release of 33 hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza’s populations centers.The second phase of the agreement could bring a “peramanent end to the war,” Biden said.In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Biden said that he had not had any recent discussions with Trump about the ceasefire negotiations.

Trump says ceasefire ‘would’ve never happened’ without his team

US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas would have never been reached without pressure from him and his incoming administration. The agreement, which would exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, awaits approval by Israel’s security cabinet before taking effect, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be negotiated.Four days away from being inaugurated for a second term, Trump told the Dan Bongino Show that negotiations would have never finalized without pressure from his team, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.”If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said.”We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office,” he added. Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet Friday to discuss the terms of the ceasefire, which would go into effect Sunday at the earliest, just before Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday.Trump also blasted outgoing President Joe Biden for taking credit for the ceasefire agreement, calling him “ungracious” and saying: “He didn’t do anything! If I didn’t do this, if we didn’t get involved, the hostages would never be out.” Biden had proposed a ceasefire agreement last May with terms that mirrored the deal reached this week.The ceasefire agreement under discussion proposes an initial 42-day ceasefire that would see the release of 33 hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza’s populations centers.The second phase of the agreement could bring a “peramanent end to the war,” Biden said.In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Biden said that he had not had any recent discussions with Trump about the ceasefire negotiations.