HAVANA, March 4 (Reuters) – A power outage struck most of Cuba, including Havana, the state electric utility said on Wednesday, as the Communist-run government grapples with increased pressure from the Trump administration that has curtailed oil shipments.

JERUSALEM, March 4 (Reuters) – Israel warned residents to immediately leave a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday, ordering them to move north of the Litani River on the third day of full-blown hostilities with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

KATHMANDU, March 5 (Reuters) – Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests and the deaths of 77 people forced Nepal’s then prime minister to quit, people began voting on Thursday in a general election that will choose a new parliament in the Himalayan nation.

BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) – China said on Thursday that it would build a “childbirth-friendly society” in the next five years as it pledged to address concerns over employment, education, medical care, health and income, according to an official government report.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has urgently advised more than 6,400 citizens in the Middle East to evacuate via limited commercial flights as attacks and regional instability escalate.

Major-General Richard Shibiri, tasked with leading organised crime investigations within the police’s detective and forensic division, accepted an R80,000 loan from alleged tender kingpin and organised crime accused Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.

Durban is pressing ahead with plans to build a massive 400MW artificial intelligence data centre in partnership with a South Korean power consortium. It would be South Africa’s biggest digital data centre, burning up the equivalent of a staggering 25% of the city of Durban’s current electricity supply.

New Zealand 173 for 1 (Finn Allen 100 not out, Kagiso Rabada 1-22) beat South Africa 169 for 8 (Marco Jansen 55 not out, Cole McConchie 2-9) by nine wickets.

Cormac Cullinan has the quiet energy and good humour of a man contented to live on a planet he loves. For much of his working life he’s been fighting for its rights in the face of human exploitation and neglect, his weapon of choice the law. Just recently he’s been on a quest to win legal status for Table Mountain.

A cleanup operation in Alexandra escalates into a hostage situation as Johannesburg officials and journalists are trapped in a suspected brothel amid rising public outcry over lawlessness.

This is a presentation made on Monday at the eThekwini Colloquium on global dynamics.

In a searing indictment of South Africa’s post-apartheid leadership, top prosecutor Anton Ackermann detailed a systematic, state-sanctioned campaign to bury Truth and Reconciliation Commission cases, placing former president Thabo Mbeki at the centre of a ‘Machiavellian’ effort to guarantee impunity for apartheid-era perpetrators.

While Mosiuoa Lekota, who died on Wednesday, will be rightly remembered for his role in the United Democratic Front and his fight against apartheid, there is a danger that his subsequent — and equally vital — contributions to our democracy will be overshadowed.

The escalating situation in Iran is a massive drag on any South African business immersed in the global supply chain. But for a multinational network operator like MTN, it is all their worst nightmares coming true at once.

US Defence ⁠Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump had gotten the “last laugh” after the US military killed an Iranian ⁠official who led an effort to assassinate him.