News snippets from around the world

The Department of Justice hack — all backups gone and R33 million ransom demanded

The hackers who attacked the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s (DOJandCD) systems earlier this month also managed to encrypt all of its backups and have demanded a 50 bitcoin (R33,234,450) ransom. MyBroadband received information from an IT company that consulted with the department, which the DOJandCD brought in to attempt to recover control of the compromised systems. According to the source, the attack resulted in the encryption of ‘everything, including the backups’, which they could not recover. The consulting IT company advised the Department of Justice to pay the ransom and budget for a cloud backup system. Based on their initial investigation, the company believes that the attackers may have entered the system as early as April this year.

https://mybroadband.co.za

We saved more than 58‚000 jobs despite budget cuts and increased demand‚ CCMA says

Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) says it was able to save 58‚165 of 138‚816 jobs that were likely to be lost to retrenchment in the 2020/2021 financial year‚ despite fiscal challenges brought about by Covid-19. The Commission has been kept busy as record numbers of workers approached it over labour disputes amid a jobs bloodbath‚ it said in its annual report released last Tuesday. Chairperson Enos Ngutshane said it was a challenging year‚ more so because they could not implement their five-year strategy as a result of Covid-19 and accompanying regulations.

www.sowetanlive.co.za

The ‘world’s safest city’ for 2021 revealed

Copenhagen has been named the world’s safest city for the first time, scoring 82.4 points out of 100 in the annual Economist Intelligence Unit’s Safe Cities Index (SCI) report. Denmark’s capital jumped from joint eighth place in 2019 to the top of the list, largely thanks to the introduction of an environmental security section, in which the city scored particularly well, along with personal security. This may help to explain the shakeup at the top of the report, which ranks 60 international destinations on digital security, health security, infrastructure, personal security, as well as environmental security, a new category for this year.

https://edition.cnn.com

NUMSA announces October strike

From 5 October, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will go on a national strike throughout the engineering sector. The announcement made last week was precipitated by a collapse in wage talks between the union and employers. NUMSA is demanding an 8% salary hike in the first year, followed by a 2% increase for two years thereafter. Employers, through the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa, are offering 4.4% for 2021, 0.5% for 2022 and 1% in 2023.

firstthing@dailymaverick.co.za

High court sets aside key aspects of Mining Charter in setback for Mineral Resources Department

The Pretoria High Court has ruled that once a mining company is empowered, it is always empowered. It also found that the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy is not empowered to make law. This is a judicial smackdown against the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, with an adverse cost finding to boot.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

South Africans are boosting their home security amid a growing crime wave

SA citizens are taking security into their own hands, according to recent data from South African insurers. This likely comes on the back of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) latest crime statistics, which show that residential robberies have increased significantly, up by 7.6% from 4,916 to 5,288 cases from January to March 2021 compared to the previous year. Quarterly crime statistics reflected double-digit increases in crimes between April and the end of June in South Africa. The statistics reflect the following increases in the different crime categories:

• 60.6% increase in contact crimes such as murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, and all categories of assault when compared to the same period last year;

• There were 5,760 murders during the first quarter of the year — an increase of 66.2%;

• 1,385 murders occurred at the home of the victim or of the perpetrator;

• There were 1,340 (33.4%) more residential robberies from April to June 2020 than the corresponding period in the previous financial year;

• 92% increase in trio crimes like house robberies, business robberies and hijackings;

• Burglary at residential premises increased 6.3%.

https://businesstech.co.za

Ten women and girls killed every day in Mexico, Amnesty report says

At least ten women and girls are murdered every day in Mexico, according to a new report that says victims’ families are often left to carry out their own homicide investigations. The scathing report, released on Monday by Amnesty International, documents both the scale of the violence and the disturbing lack of interest on the part of Mexicans. “Mexico is continuing to fail to fulfil its duty to investigate and, therefore, its duty to guarantee the rights to life and personal integrity of the victims as well as to prevent violence against women,” says the report, Justice on Trial.

www.theguardian.com

Gauteng police bust more than 900 suspects in one weekend

Under Operation O Kae Molao, close to 1,000 suspects were arrested across the Gauteng province for various crimes last weekend, and traffic infringement fines to the value of R94,400 were also issued, police have reported. Some suspects were nabbed for driving while under the influence of alcohol, selling liquor without a licence, malicious damage to property, assault, dealing with and possessing drugs, possession of stolen property and theft. Operation O Kae Molao took place in Ga-Rankuwa and Akasia, Tshwane, which saw 242 people arrested.

www.citizen.co.za

Donald Trump sues niece, New York Times for $100m over Pulitzer-winning tax story

Former US president Donald Trump has filed a $100 million lawsuit against his estranged niece Mary Trump and The New York Times, alleging they engaged in ‘an insidious plot’ to obtain his tax returns for the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of his finances. The lawsuit, filed in Dutchess County, New York state, says that The New York Times reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner conducted ‘an extensive crusade to obtain Donald J Trump’s confidential tax records.’

www.iol.co.za

SAA ready for take-off as Takatso focuses on share purchase deal

The South African Airways (SAA) said that it was ready for take-off last week. The national carrier will resume operations almost a year after it was grounded because of the pandemic and the business rescue process put in place soon after. SAA’s Simon Newton-Smith said they would begin with three daily flights to Cape Town: “The focus right now is bringing back what’s familiar. Really making the customer the focus – and we haven’t always been known for that – certainly on the lead-up to business rescue, but the team is coming back with a very refreshed mindset.”

https://ewn.co.za

Road spike robber killed while attacking Pretoria family

Police have issued a reminder to motorists to remain vigilant, following yet another incident of motorists being attacked after their tyres were punctured by spikes placed in the road. According to a statement issued by the SAPS, a family was attacked by three men on the R80 highway in Akasia last Friday evening at approximately 21:00. The victims apparently stopped to change their car’s tyre after hitting what they suspect were spikes placed on the road. Update: The driver was reportedly an off-duty police sergeant stationed at the Lanseria Airport ORS unit. When the criminals opened fire, the officer drew his service pistol and returned fire.

www.citizen.co.za

Dread at 30,000 feet: Inside the increasingly violent world of US flight attendants

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it has issued more than $1 million in fines to unruly airline passengers so far in 2021. US flight attendants tell CNN Travel that the stress of the situation is taking its toll. Susannah Carr, who works for a major US airline, says unruly incidents used to be ‘the exception, not the rule’. Now they’re ‘frequent’. “I come in, expecting to get push back. I come in, expecting to have a passenger that could potentially get violent,” she says. And Allie Malis, a flight attendant for American Airlines, says air crew are ‘exhausted — physically and emotionally.’ “We’ve gone through worrying about our health and safety, worrying about our jobs —now [we are] worrying about our safety in a different way.”

https://edition.cnn.com

‘The law is clear on IEC’s discretionary powers’: Thuli Madonsela weighs in on ConCourt ruling

South Africa’s former public protector Thuli Madonsela was not surprised by the Constitutional Court’s judgment on reopening the candidate nomination process for local elections. Last Monday,

the top court dismissed the DA’s application to declare the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC’s) reopening of the candidate nomination process as unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid. Madonsela said that while the law is open for interpretation, it is clear on the power of the commission in managing the elections. “While we go to court because there’s always several possible interpretations of the law, I personally thought the law is clear on the IEC’s discretionary powers regarding managing the elections. I am, accordingly, not surprised by the Constitutional Court judgment,” Madonsela tweeted. www.sowetanlive.co.za

NERSA gives Karpowerships the green light

Karpowership SA proposed to locate the three powership projects at the Ports of Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha – to generate electricity from natural gas – to be evacuated through transmission lines to substations linking to the national grid. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) last week said NERSA (National Energy Regulator of South Africa) approved generation licences for seven preferred bidders in the Risk Mitigation IPP power programme, including three Karpowership licences, despite public opposition and without any explanation. www.iol.co.za

‘Sustained downward trend’ for Covid infections in SA

Last week, Tuesday, saw South Africa record 2,197 new Covid-19 cases — a ‘sustained downward trend‘ in new infections, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). The new infections came at a positivity rate of 6.1%, which is also significantly down from the peaks of the third wave. The NICD said that there were 160 new Covid-19 related deaths on that day, with 2,886,331 confirmed cases and 86,376 fatalities, to date, across the country.

www.sowetanlive.co.za

South African police use drones to track and rearrest escaped prisoners

Three prisoners who escaped from a police van while being transported from Mossel Bay to George last week have been rearrested. The incident occurred on the N2 near Glentana. One of the men was rearrested shortly thereafter, while drones were used to track down the other two.

https://ewn.co.za

Biden signs executive order authorising new Ethiopia sanctions amid reports of atrocities

US President Joe Biden has signed a new executive order authorising broad sanctions against those involved in perpetrating the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia as reports of atrocities continue to emerge from the Tigray region. The administration did not immediately impose sanctions under the new order, but ‘is prepared to take aggressive action’ unless the parties – including the Ethiopian government, the Eritrean government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and the Amhara Regional Government – “take meaningful steps to enter into talks for a negotiated ceasefire and allow for unhindered humanitarian access,” a senior administration official told reporters. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that, “absent clear and concrete progress toward a negotiated ceasefire and an end to abuses – as well as unhindered humanitarian access to those Ethiopians who are suffering – the United States will designate imminently specific leaders, organisations, and entities under this new sanctions regime.”

https://edition.cnn.com

Call for Kraaifontein residents to join hands against crime after two more bodies found

Cape Town: Kraaifontein community leaders say that they are worried that residents are unknowingly creating a bigger problem by resorting to mob justice as a means to rid their areas of suspected criminals. This, after two men were allegedly killed by a group of unknown suspects on Sunday morning in Phase 7, Wallacedene, in what police suspect to have been a vigilante justice attack. Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum chairperson Robert Bissette said that while the community’s high murder rate could not be completely attributed to vigilante justice attacks, crime as a whole was rapidly getting out of hand. “Crime in Kraaifontein is getting out of hand, and the vigilante groups who are taking matters into their own hands are making things worse. However, that’s not the only problem. We are also battling with extortionists who are operating in various areas and parts of our community.”

www.iol.co.za/capeargus