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Seven Sentenced To Life Imprisonment In S’Africa For B*rning Two Sisters To D@ath Over Alleged Witchcraft

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Seven people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa for b*rning two sisters to death after they were accused of witchcraft.

The High Court of South, Eastern Cape Division, Mthatha, sitting in Ntabankulu, sentenced Lwandiso Mzaza (29), Lufefe Mzaza (28), Zithini Rhayisa (34), Yamkela Nonjojo (31), Odwa Nonjojo (34), Anelisiwe Nonjojo (32) and Mkhonzeni Ngcabangcosi (24) on Friday, July 12, 2024.

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NPA Regional Spokesperson, Eastern Cape Division, Luxolo Tyali, in a statement, said the court found them guilty of two counts of murder and arson for which they were sentenced to two life terms and ten years, respectively, ordered to run concurrently.

The Mzazas and Nonjojo’s are biological brothers while all the convicted persons are from the Ngonyama Administrative Area in the district of EmaXesibeni (formerly Mount Ayliff), where the crimes were committed,” the statement read.

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On 12 December 2018, the group of young people had two meetings that were chaired by the older Mzaza brother, Lwandiso, where it was decided that the deceased must be k!lled by burning them because they were practising witchcraft

“They clubbed money and bought petrol to burn the deceased, their houses, and their families. On the night of the same day, Nothethisa Ntshamba was at her home with her husband, three children and her sister, Ntombekhaya Ndlanya.

“When Nothethisa went out of the house, accompanying her sister home, they were accosted by the group, assaulted, pelted with stones, petrol poured on them and then set alight. The group then proceeded to burn the Ntshamba homestead to ashes

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“During the trial, all the accused pleaded not guilty and put into question their identity as they claimed it was at night. Rhayisa, who had confessed to the police attempted to distance herself from it, necessitating a trial-within-a-trial. The court found the confession admissible. The state further led the evidence of the eyewitnesses, some being the children of the deceased.

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“Senior State Advocate Mbulelo Nyendwa submitted to the court that violence against women accused of unfounded claims of practising witchcraft was very prevalent not only in the Eastern Cape but in the country at large.

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“He added that the children of the deceased had not only lost their mothers but had been displaced, fearing for their lives and still carrying the stigma of being called the children of witches by some members of the community.

“Judge Nozuko Mjali agreed and noted that no self-respecting state can condone what the accused did, and they deserved to be punished severely punished, as a society must be protected from people who do not respect the law.

“This court alone has lost count of cases of this nature in this Ntabankulu circuit alone,” she remarked.

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Palestinian-American Beaten To Death By Israeli Settlers In Occupied West Bank

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another man shot dead

Israeli settlers killed a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and an eyewitness, as settler violence against Palestinians ramps up in the occupied territory.

The twenty-year-old Sayfollah Musallet “was martyred after being severely beaten all over his body by settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah,” the health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

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The municipality of Sinjel said that Musallet died following a “barbaric attack” carried out by settlers as part of “daily assaults” on local residents. It alleged Israeli forces stormed the area at the same time as the settlers’ attack, obstructing the work of paramedics and volunteers.

A friend of the deceased man’s family told CNN he was with Musallet and took him to a hospital in Ramallah, adding the young man was an American citizen born in Tampa, Florida.

READ ALSO: Family Of Five Killed In Iranian Missile Strike After Fleeing Ukraine For Safety In Israel

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Israel’s military said it was “aware of reports regarding a Palestinian civilian killed and a number of injured Palestinians as a result of the confrontation, and they are being looked into by the ISA [Israeli Security Agency] and Israel Police.”

Musallet’s family is demanding the US State Department lead an investigation into the incident.

“We are devastated that our beloved Sayfollah Musallet (nicknamed Saif) was brutally beaten to death by Israeli settlers while he was protecting his family’s land from settlers who were attempting to steal it,” the family said in a statement.

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“We demand justice.”

The US State Department said in a statement to CNN that it is aware of reports of the death of an American in the West Bank, without providing a name.

READ ALSO: We Would Have Killed Iran’s Supreme Leader If Given Opportunity – Israel

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“Out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones during this difficult time, we have no further comment,” a department spokesperson said.

Musallet ran a business in Tampa and had been in the West Bank since June 4 to visit family and friends, the family statement said.

A second Palestinian man died in the attack in Sinjel after he was shot in the chest by settlers, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. Ten others were wounded in the same attack, it added.

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Following the attacks, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised what it called Israel’s expanding settlement projects in the occupied territory and called for urgent action to hold the perpetrators of settler violence accountable.

READ ALSO: UK ‘Was Informed Of US Strikes’ On Iran, Plans Evacuating Briton Out of Israel

Israel has recently ramped up military operations in the West Bank, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians and razing entire communities as it targets what it says are militants operating in the territory.

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Multiple American citizens have been killed in the West Bank in the past few years, according to Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses, including a 14-year-old boy whom the Israeli military shot dead last April in what they described as a “counterterrorism operation.”

Israeli soldiers also shot dead a 26-year-old woman during a protest against an Israeli settlement in September 2024.
(CNN)

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Japan’s Petabit: What To Know About Internet Speed That Can Download 67 Million Songs In A second

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Researchers in Japan have broken the record for the fastest internet speed ever recorded: 1.02 petabits per second. That’s fast enough to “download 67 million songs in a second.”

Contents
How Fast is 1.02 Petabits Per Second?How Did Japan Make This Happen?
When Can the World Expect to Use This?

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According to FirstPost, this new speed could let someone download the entire Netflix library almost instantly—or stream millions of 8K videos at once without any buffering.

To give some perspective, Japan’s new speed is around 16 million times faster than India’s average internet speed of 63.55 Mbps and 3.5 million times faster than the U.S. average.

How Fast is 1.02 Petabits Per Second?

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A petabit is one million gigabits. So when researchers say they hit 1.02 petabits per second, they’re talking about a connection fast enough to transfer more than 100,000 HD movies in just one second.

This speed could technically download the full Netflix catalog in less than a second. Big game downloads, like the 150GB Call of Duty: Warzone, would finish in a flash.

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According to Gagadget, the full English Wikipedia is about 100GB. At this speed, you could download it “10,000 times in just one second.”

Music platforms can’t even match the scale. Spotify says a minute of audio uses about 1MB. That means, “with Japan’s new speed, you could theoretically download 67 million songs in a second—that’s more than 1,27,000 years of continuous music.”

While these examples help show how fast this is, the real impact will likely be on emerging technology.

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Things like cloud computing, AI, autonomous vehicles, and real-time translation depend on large volumes of data moving quickly. With speeds like this, data centers in different parts of the world could work together almost as if they were on the same local network. That would allow global AI systems to run with almost no delay.

How Did Japan Make This Happen?

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The breakthrough came from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), working with Sumitomo Electric and European partners.

The team sent data over 1,800 kilometers—about the distance from Delhi to Goa—using a specially built fiber-optic cable.

Typical fiber cables send data down a single path of light. This new design packs 19 separate cores into a standard-sized fiber, which researchers describe as “a 19-lane superhighway” for internet traffic. It increases capacity without requiring totally new infrastructure.

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READ ALSO:Venezuelan Deportees: US Embassy Gives Reason For Reducing Visa Validity For Nigerians

Sumitomo Electric developed the cable, while NICT and international researchers built the transmission system.

To deal with long-distance signal loss, they used advanced amplification and signal processing. The setup involved 19 loops of fiber, each 86.1 km long, with the signal passed 21 times. That totaled 1,808 km, and during the test, “180 individual data streams were sent at record-breaking speed and stability.”

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When Can the World Expect to Use This?

Most home internet is still measured in megabits per second, not terabits, much less talking about petabits. We’re far from seeing these speeds in everyday life. That means using this speed is not anytime soon.

Still, the breakthrough is getting attention from telecom companies, infrastructure providers, and governments. This could help shape the future of undersea cables, national internet backbones, and next-generation networks like 6G.

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It may take years to reach consumers, but the progress points toward a future where fast, high-capacity internet becomes standard—not something rare.

(FirstPost/Tribune)

 

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Venezuelan Deportees: US Embassy Gives Reason For Reducing Visa Validity For Nigerians

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The United States Embassy has clarified that the recent reduction in visa validity for Nigerians is unrelated to deportation issues involving other countries, e-visa policies, or affiliations such as BRICS.

According to Nigerian Tribune,  the new visa policy now limits most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to Nigerians to a single entry with a validity period of three months.

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In a post shared on its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday, the US Embassy addressed growing speculation following the policy change, which has sparked debate among Nigerians.

READ ALSO:New E-visa System Processed 14,000 Applications In Six Weeks

Many had linked the decision to the deportation of Venezuelan nationals or Nigeria’s stance on third-country deportees.

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Responding to the public reaction, the US Mission emphasized that the adjustment stems from a global review process guided by security and technical benchmarks, aimed at protecting the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.

The statement read, “The U.S. Mission Nigeria wishes to address misconceptions about the recent reduction in visa validity for most nonimmigrant U.S. visas in Nigeria and other countries.

READ ALSO:5 Asian Countries Nigerians Can Visit Without A Visa

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“This redution is not the result of any nation’s stance on third-country deportees, introduction of e-visa policies, or affiliations with groups like BRICS.

“The reduction in validity is part of an ongoing global review of the use of U.S. visas by other countries using technical and security benchmarks to safeguard U.S. immigration systems.”

Reaffirming its diplomatic ties with Nigeria, the mission added, “We value our longstanding partnership with Nigeria and remain committed to working closely with the Nigerian public and government officials to help them meet those criteria and benchmarks, thereby ensuring safe, lawful, and mutually beneficial travel between our nations.”

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