During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China plans to upgrade 770,000 kilometres of urban underground pipelines as part of efforts to build safer, more reliable and resilient cities.

Former Liverpool and England star Kevin Keegan has died aged 75 after battling cancer, his family announced.

Get the Daily Lotto results as soon as they are drawn on The Citizen, so you can rest easy and check your tickets with confidence. Estimated Daily Lotto jackpot for Monday, 20 July 2026: Daily Lotto: R400 000 Daily Lotto results for 20 July 2026: The winning Daily Lotto numbers will appear below after the draw. Usually, within 10 minutes of the draw. You might need to refresh the page to see the updated results. Daily Lotto: 03, 13, 19, 25, 31. For more details and to verify the Daily Lotto results, visit the National Lottery website. How to play Daily Lotto in SA? If you are buying a ticket in-store: Pick up a betslip in any lottery store. Choose five numbers between 1 and 36 or ask for a Quick Pick. Entries cost R3 each. You can play a max of R150, but you are allowed to play multiple boards. Select how many consecutive draws you wish to enter, up to a maximum of 10. Leave blank for a single draw. Take your betslip to the teller to pay for your ticket. Write your details on the back of your ticket in case you need to claim a prize. If you do not sign your ticket and you lose it, anyone can use it to claim the prize. If you are playing online: Set up a lottery account here and make a deposit to pay for tickets. Choose five numbers from 1 to 36 or select ‘Quick Pick’ to generate a random set. Repeat this on as many boards as you want to play. Decide whether to enter a single draw or multiple draws. Confirm and pay for your entry. What time is the Daily Lotto draw? The Daily Lotto draws take place shortly after 9pm every evening, and tickets can be bought until 8:30pm.

The wait is (almost) over. Marvel Studios released the first proper trailer for Avengers: Doomsday on Monday, ahead of the film’s Comic-Con New York panel this coming weekend, with the studio timing the drop to coincide with tickets going on sale. The film, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, was pushed from its original May 2026 date to 18 December 2026 – and judging by fan sentiment, this trailer is the clearest sign yet that the wait will be worth it. The Avengers: Doomsday footage introduces Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, teased as one of the most formidable villains the MCU has produced. Here’s what’s sending fans into a frenzy. Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday. Picture: Marvel Studios via Disney South Africa Doctor Doom holds court – and Professor X sounds the alarm The trailer opens as Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier warns, “Something’s coming, something we may not be able to deter… before this day is done, we will be faced with an unthinkable decision.” This, intercut with profile shots of the film’s big villain, Doom, still masked up. What follows is a series of cameo shots showing just how many stars have been pulled in to make this Avengers: Doomsday crossover a reality. Thor vs Doom: the Stormbreaker moment everyone’s talking about In the centrepiece action beat, Doom casually catches Thor’s Stormbreaker with one hand – a deliberate, chilling callback to the Infinity War scene where Thor failed to stop Thanos the same way. Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday. Picture: Marvel Studios via Disney South Africa Elsewhere, Doom is shown fully armoured, blasting Thor with enough force to leave him immobilised – three steps ahead of whatever plan the Avengers can muster. It’s enough to make Thor fear Doom more than he ever feared Thanos and to realise his side needs nothing short of a miracle. Steve Rogers answers the call (L-R): Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Picture: Marvel Studios via Disney South Africa And here’s that miracle. Thor, carrying Mjolnir, encounters Steve Rogers, who greets him with a soft “Hey, pal.” Thor responds, “It’s not possible,” and holds out the hammer to test whether this really is Captain America. Evans returns with long hair and a full beard – the same rugged look he wore in Infinity War – immediately sparking fan debate over whether this is really “our” Steve or a variant. Either way, he’s still worthy: he grips Mjolnir without issue, a comeback the very first teaser had already given away. Steve is also shown meeting Yelena Belova, telling her that Natasha was family to him – which makes her family too. X-Men, incursions and a crowded multiverse (L-R) The Dora Milaje, Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Joaquin Torres/Falcon (Danny Ramirez), and Ava/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday. Picture: Marvel Studios via Disney South Africa Pedro Pascal’s, Vanessa Kirby’s, Joseph Quinn’s and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Fantastic Four cross paths with people who plainly don’t belong in their reality, while the classic X-Men line-up – Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Kelsey Grammer and Channing Tatum – turn up alongside Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. Shuri’s Black Panther and fellow Wakandan M’Baku are also on hand to help take on Doom. (L-R): John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Alexei/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Ava/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Picture: Marvel Studios via Disney South Africa Also spotted: Loki, back in his TVA suit, inside Steve’s house from the first teaser, and Reed Richards yelling “Answer me” at Doom. Tickets, format and the countdown to December Tickets for the exclusive Infinity Vision screenings went on sale the same morning the trailer dropped. Expect this trailer to run ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day when it opens worldwide next week – and Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con is only days away.

One comment cut through the noise of a recent SASSA discussion and set off a heated debate about fairness. Judi Black explained that she and others like her had paid taxes “for more than 65 years, all our working lives,” yet don’t qualify for a government pension because they contributed to a private pension fund instead. To make matters worse, she says that private pensions are still taxed, leaving contributors feeling penalised for having planned. ‘A hobo in the street’ can claim more, readers argue Black’s comment didn’t stop there. She argued that someone who has “never contributed one cent to the betterment of the country” can access a grant, a disability payment and a government pension all at once, a claim that resonated with several other commenters frustrated by what they see as an unequal system. The comment reignited a familiar tension between those who feel the tax system rewards non-contributors while punishing workers and savers. Gingie Thembani took the opposing view entirely, simply urging SASSA to “tell workers to pay more Tax” to fund grants, a suggestion that clashes directly with pensioners like Black, who already feel overburdened. The exchange highlights a deepening divide among South Africans over who should carry the financial weight of the country’s social support system, and who should benefit from it. A system many feel needs rethinking Beyond the tax argument, the broader comment section reflected growing unease about whether SASSA’s structure fairly balances support among pensioners, private contributors, and those relying solely on state assistance. With emotions running high and comments split down the middle, it’s clear this isn’t just a policy debate for many South Africans; it’s personal. Win R2 000 in the South African SASSA grant survey If you receive a SASSA grant and want to share your story, we want to hear from you. Take part in our survey and stand a chance to win R2 000. Your responses help us tell the stories that matter.

Grant amounts were the biggest source of frustration in the comments, with Jacques Pretorius arguing plainly, “SASSA should be equal to minimum wage per month, R4k. can’t see why not.” His comment struck a chord, drawing five separate replies as other users weighed in on whether such an increase would be realistic. Maria Mothopheni backed the call for higher payouts, describing her own grant as “so small I get not even half of SASSA money eish”, a comment that reflects a common complaint that different grant types leave some beneficiaries far worse off than others. Scrap the child grant, boost pensioners instead? One suggestion generated significant back-and-forth among commenters. Megan Cunningham proposed cancelling the child grant entirely and redirecting those funds toward the older person’s grant, an idea that split opinion sharply, sparking eleven replies beneath it. The scale of the response suggests this isn’t a fringe view; many grant recipients appear to be weighing up which groups they believe are most in need and questioning whether SASSA’s current age-based grant structure gets that balance right. Beyond the policy debate, some reactions were purely emotional. Bantseng Nthutang responded to the discussion with a string of crying emojis and a broken heart, a reminder that behind the arguments over figures and funding formulas are real people who feel the strain of the current system daily. Win R2 000 in the South African SASSA grant survey If you receive a SASSA grant and want to share your story, we want to hear from you. Take part in our survey and stand a chance to win R2 000. Your responses help us tell the stories that matter.

Following industry criticism, Openserve has mounted a defence of its decision to launch its own ISP.

The best mobile network in South Africa has unhappy customers; the worst-measured has the happiest. Why?