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Fire Guts South African Parliament Building In Cape Town

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A major fire broke out at South Africa’s seat of parliament in Cape Town early Sunday, sending a thick column of smoke into the sky and threatening the National Assembly building.

The fire was believed to have started in one of the older buildings in the parliament precinct, leading to a security cordon nearby the cathedral where anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu was buried just hours before.

“The roof has caught fire and the National Assembly building is also on fire,” a spokesman for the city’s emergency services told AFP, requesting reinforcements at the scene.

“The fire is not under control and cracks in the walls of the building have been reported,” he added.

No one was believed to have been harmed and the cause of the blaze was not yet known.

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Emergency services said that the “fire is currently on the third floor — initial reports indicate it started in the office space and is spreading toward the gymnasium”.

– ‘Situation under control’ –
The fire broke out in a former parliament building at around 0300 GMT on Sunday.

Flames and smoke were visible above the building in the early morning, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

Concerned Cape Town residents quickly shared pictures of the fire on Twitter.

Former Cape Town mayor and current minister Patricia de Lille told reporters at the scene that the “actual National assembly is still safe”.

“Fire Service have the situation under control,” she added.

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Firefighter reinforcements arrived at the scene, using a crane to spray water on the flames.

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Emergency services feared the fire could spread swiftly through the old rooms, which are decorated with thick carpets and curtains.

The area around the fire in the upmarket neighbourhood was quickly cordoned off.

The cordon stretched to where flowers were still displayed in front the nearby St. George’s Cathedral, where Tutu’s funeral took place on Saturday.

After a simple, no-frills mass, with a cheap coffin — according to the famously modest Tutu’s instructions — his ashes were interred in the cathedral.

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While Cape Town is home to South Africa’s seat of parliament, including the National Assembly and upper House National Council of Provinces, the government is based in Pretoria.

The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town consist of three sections, including the original and oldest building that was completed in 1884.

The newer additions — constructed in the 1920s and 1980s — house the National Assembly.

Cape Town suffered a previous fire in April, when a blaze on the famed Table Mountain which overlooks the city spread, ravaging part of The University of Cape Town’s library holding a unique collection of African archives.

(AFP/PUNCH)

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Israel Bombs Gaza, Fights Hamas Around Hospitals

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Israeli forces pounded besieged Gaza on Wednesday in the war sparked by the October 7 attack and fought Hamas around several hospitals despite a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire.

Talks in Qatar towards a truce and hostage release deal, involving US and Egyptian mediators, have brought no result so far, with Israel and the Palestinian militant group blaming each other.

Tensions have risen between Israel and its top ally the United States over the soaring civilian death toll and dire food shortages in Gaza, and Israeli plans to push its ground offensive into the far-southern city of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians.

In heavy overnight bombardment, Israeli strikes again hit Gaza City and Rafah, where a fireball lit up the sky over the city crowded with up to 1.5 million people, most of them displaced by the war.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 66 people were killed in overnight bombardment and combat.

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Israeli forces have battled militants in and around three Gaza hospitals, raising fears for patients, medical staff and displaced people inside them.

Fighting has raged for nine days around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, and more recently near two hospitals in the main southern city of Khan Yunis, Al-Amal and Nasser.

The army and Shin Bet security service said they were “continuing to conduct precise operational activities” in both cities “while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment”.

The army said “Troops continued to eliminate terrorists and locate terror infrastructure and weapons” around Al-Shifa.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Female Engineer Invents Smart Bra To Detect Breast Cancer

“Thus far, hundreds of terrorists have been apprehended and dozens of terrorists have been killed in the area of the hospital,” it said.

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Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles have also massed around the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said, adding that shots were fired but no raid had yet been launched.

The Palestinian Red Crescent warned that thousands were trapped inside and “their lives are in danger”. The Israeli army has yet to comment on the situation in and around the hospital.

UN warns of ‘man-made famine’
Gaza has endured almost six months of war and a siege that has cut off most food, water, fuel and other supplies, and the UN has warned that its 2.4 million people are on the brink of a “man-made famine”.

The flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed amid the war and due to lengthy Israeli cargo inspections.

Donor governments have airdropped food into Gaza where desperate crowds have rushed towards aid packages drifting down on parachutes. At least 18 people have been reported killed in stampedes or drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.

Hamas has urged an end to the airdrops and called for stepped-up road deliveries instead. The United States said it would keep airdropping humanitarian supplies while also pushing for more overland deliveries.

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The war broke out when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

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The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel says that, after an earlier truce and hostage deal, about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,414 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry.

Israel also charges that Palestinian militants sexually assaulted October 7 victims and hostages.

The New York Times published a report on the first Israeli woman to speak publicly about having been sexually abused, 40-year-old lawyer Amit Soussana.

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Soussana, who was abducted from a kibbutz on October 7 and released in November, said she was repeatedly beaten and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by her guard inside Gaza.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that her abuse “is a wake up call to the world to act. To do everything and pressure Hamas. To free our hostages. To bring our hostages home.”

Death toll ‘far too high’
The UN Security Council on Monday passed its first resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of the captives.

The United States, which had blocked previous resolutions, abstained, drawing an angry rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The right-wing premier cancelled an Israeli delegation’s planned visit to Washington, although Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was already there.

READ ALSO: Ghana’s High Commissioner To Nigeria Is Dead

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Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin stressed, before meeting Gallant, that “the number of civilian casualties is far too high, and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low” in Gaza.

Despite the tensions, Rear Admiral Hagari said security cooperation was closer than ever, “encompassing the entire US military and the US intelligence services”.

Israeli and Hamas envoys have engaged in weeks of indirect talks aimed at halting the fighting, but both sides said this week the talks were failing.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari has said that, although the CIA and Mossad chiefs had left Doha, the talks were “ongoing” at a technical level.

Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad charged that Israel “is being intransigent and wants to keep the war going, despite international positions and in defiance to UN Security Council’s decision to cease fire during Ramadan,” the ongoing Muslim holy month of fasting.

There hasn’t been any progress in ceasefire talks or negotiations for prisoners’ exchange,” he said. “The Israeli government’s procrastination is just a way to gain time and keep their aggression going.”

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Amid the bloodiest-ever Gaza conflict, Israel has also exchanged daily cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah based in southern Lebanon.

The hostilities, in which Israel has also targeted Hamas militants, have raised fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war in 2006.

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel Wednesday killing a civilian, after Israel carried out a deadly pre-dawn strike in south Lebanon.

AFP

 

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What Zelensky Told Ukraine’s National Team After Euro Qualifier Victory Over Iceland

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has showered accolades on Ukraine’s national football team for qualifying for the Euro 2024 tournament after coming from behind to beat Iceland on Tuesday.

Chelsea’s winger, Mykhailo Mudryk scored the winner for the war-devasted European country in a match that ended 2-1 at the Tarczynski Arena in Wrocław, Poland.

Ukraine trailed 1-0 at half-time after Albert Gudmundsson put Iceland ahead with a superb strike in 30 minutes of the game.

However, Serhiy Rebrov’s side came back from behind in the second half, as Viktor Tsygankov, and Mudryk’s netted at 54 and 84 minutes respectively.

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Ukraine will go into Group E at the Euro 2024 finals, alongside Belgium, Slovakia, and Romania.

Reacting to the victory on his X account, Zelensky said the win was important as it sent significant emotions through the country.

The Ukrainian leader said the victory was proof that Ukrainians win when they do not give up on trying times.

“Thank you, guys! Thank you, team! For significant emotions for the entire country. For the important victory and making it to EURO,” Zelensky said.

“For proving once again: whenever Ukrainians face difficulties but do not give up and continue to fight, Ukrainians certainly win.

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“In times, when the enemy tries to destroy us, we demonstrate every day that Ukrainians are and will be.

“Ukraine is, and will be! Thank you for the victory! Glory to Ukraine!”

Oleksandr Zinchenko, the captain of the team, earlier, also said he was proud of the players equaling it with the energy of their soldiers.

“I’m very proud to be Ukrainian, to be of the same blood as those who are now giving their lives for our freedom,” said Zinchenko.

We need to talk about it, shout about it every day. This is the only way we can win. It was one of our most emotional games.”

The Euro 2024 finals will begin on Friday, 14 June at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

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The tournament ends on Sunday, 14 July, with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany’s capital.

 

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Nigerian Female Engineer Invents Smart Bra To Detect Breast Cancer

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Nigerian robotics and embedded systems engineer, Kemisola Bolarinwa, has invented a smart bra capable of diagnosing early-stage breast cancer before symptoms develop.

Bolarinwa made the invention known to the world in February 2022, by designing the prototype of the smart bra, which was spurred by the death of her loved one in 2017.

She said before the death of her aunt, she rarely paid any attention to breast cancer because it was just something she heard on the TV or radio.

Bolarinwa, the founder and chief executive officer of Nextwear Technologies, the first wearable technology startup in Nigeria, said she was moved to invent the smart bra, after frequent visits to the hospital where her aunt was before she died.

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She said seeing other women battling breast cancer was painful, and her efforts to intensify research into the invention were increased.

Her invention was recognised by BBC Africa, adding that she spent a year and a half of intense research, before the smart bra came up in 2019.

How the smart bra works
To detect lumps in the breast, the smart bra repurposes ultrasound technology into a small form factor, with the initiative to shrink down an ultrasound machine to a portable size where it becomes wearable.

According to Bolarinwa, this was possible with nanotechnology — a branch of science, technology, and engineering that deals with the manufacturing of tech in small sizes.

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For more context, the smart bra uses an ultrasound system called the Doppler that bounces high-frequency sound waves off the body to detect blood clots, heart defects, and blocked arteries. This works differently from ultrasound machines that use sound waves to generate images of the scanned area.

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More work on the smart bra
After years of research and developing a prototype, she revealed there are still a lot of work to be achieved on the smart bra before it can be commercialised.

Bolarinwa said the smart bra still needs further development and extensive clinical trials and gave a time frame between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 for mass production.

Aside from being an inventor, Bolarinwa is also a strong advocate for getting more women interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), something she was passionate about growing up.

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Bolarinwa called for more work on research for inventions to be effective in solving the problems they are designed for while lamenting there are not adequate research organisations to help.

She said, “In four months, a fintech platform will be built and be ready for the market. This is one of the reasons why few people play in the hardware or deep tech side of technology in Africa. There aren’t enough research institutes.”

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Who she is

Bolarinwa holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering from the University of Ado-Ekiti (now Ekiti State University).

She has more than 10 years of experience exceptional tech skills and strong problem-solving skills, and is passionate about solving complex problems and staying up-to-date with the latest technologies.

Bolarinwa is an inventor, innovator, entrepreneur, and president of the Women In ICT Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing technology education, leadership, and businesses for women and young girls to resolve problems of the under-representation of women in leadership, policy-making, and math-intensive fields of science and technology.

Nigeria is endowed with exceptional and skilled inventors such as the 70-year-old man who developed more than inventions, but the challenge they are faced with is the lack of support from the government and other recognised agencies or entrepreneurs to sponsor their research and inventions.

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