The Stormers are gradually introducing promising youngsters alongside experienced players, using a “critical pathway” model designed to build depth without sacrificing URC continuity.

Prosecutors told the court that Carrim was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday night while allegedly preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia via Dubai.

The French prime minister called for localised curfews on Monday, as protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris and authorities scrambled to stem public discontent that over the weekend saw mass cost-of-living demonstrations spill over into some of the worst street violence in recent years. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu huddled with ministers in a crisis meeting after the interior minister said the police “had lost control” during the weekend’s unrest. France considers curfews after violent protests With the Yellow Vests movement, which organised the weekend’s rallies, calling for a new round of protests next Saturday, Lecornu called for regional authorities to impose “partial” and “localised” curfews to protect businesses after hundreds of shops were damaged and looted. “I’m absolutely determined to restore public order”, he vowed, adding that the government was ready to impose a state of emergency “if needed”. Other European countries, where anger over rising prices has also led to protests, were keeping a nervous eye on the developments, with smaller clashes breaking out in Milan and Belgium over the weekend and protests simmering in Spain and Portugal. Some half a million people turned out across France on Saturday to denounce the surging cost of living, a culmination of four weeks of protests that began with high school students demanding better conditions at their schools. What started as peaceful demonstrations morphed into violence in some places, as masked groups on the sidelines of the protests attacked law enforcement, broke into town halls and other public buildings, setting many of them ablaze, looted shops, and set fire to cars, bicycles and scooters on the streets. Thousands arrested as security response faces scrutiny Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered to resign on Monday after more than 2 500 people were arrested and nearly 1 000 members of the security forces injured. Protesters were also hurt, with one demonstrator’s hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade. “On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” Nunez said. French President Emmanuel Macron refused Nunez’s resignation, even as he acknowledged security and intelligence failures in the government response, despite the deployment of some 60 000 law enforcement personnel across the country on Saturday. Nationwide, more than 2 330 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, 70 percent of whom were adults — and many of whom were already known to authorities, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said Monday. More than 2 000 shops were expected to have been affected by the weekend’s violence across France, with damage running into “hundreds of millions of euros”, according to chamber of commerce president Alain Di Crescenzo. In an address to the nation Sunday, Macron slammed the “unbridled” violence and said local authorities would be able to ban some rallies, but stopped short of imposing more drastic measures. City authorities in Marseille said on Monday they had banned public gatherings from noon to 08pm (1000-1800 GMT). The European Union slammed the weekend violence as “unacceptable” but warned that the right to peaceful protest “must be protected” in France. Germany condemned the violence and updated its travel advice for France, saying “further demonstrations and, in some cases, further outbreaks of violence in the coming days cannot be ruled out”. The United Kingdom said the right to protest “can never excuse violence”. Louvre blocked The public discontent showed no signs of subsiding on Monday, with demonstrators blocking the entrance to Paris’s iconic Louvre Museum, the most visited in the world. Rising prices have fuelled anger in France, where diesel prices have jumped nearly 40 percent and petrol by 25 percent since March and where food prices have risen by 25 percent since 2021. The unrest has flared just months before a key presidential election where centrist Macron cannot stand again and Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate for the National Rally party, is riding high in the polls. Ministers and Le Pen have accused ultra-left groups of stoking the violence to boost the chances of the far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon in the presidential polls. On Monday Lecornu blamed the “ultra-left movement” for seeking to “orchestrate deep unrest across the country.” “There is a whole network that could be mobilised to even call into question the timetable for the presidential election and the holding of the presidential election itself,” Lecornu told reporters. Europe Similar demonstrations have broken out in other countries. During the weekend, clashes broke out on the sidelines of a cost-of-living demonstration in Milan, with Mayor Giuseppe Sala warning: “I’m very worried because it’s a new phenomenon, which also originates from an international scenario and therefore feeds itself.” In Belgium, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters in Brussels and Liege. In Spain, hundreds of tents have occupied Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square since September, when the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong flat sparked nationwide protests in a country with soaring housing costs. Protesters have also set up tents in Portugal’s main cities of Lisbon and Porto over rising costs of housing.

Eskom reported its best energy availability in six years on Friday, but load reduction still hits parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Eskom said on Friday that its power fleet was performing at a six-year high, yet customers in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal still faced load reduction. The update comes less than two weeks before the 4 November Local Government elections. The ANC, DA, EFF and MK party set out their electricity plans in their manifestos. The ANC and DA focused on improving municipal networks; meanwhile, the EFF wants electricity treated as a public good, and MK Party targets private power producers. Eskom reports highest energy availability in six years According to Eskom, its energy availability factor for the financial year to date reached 68.2%, the best level in six years. That was 12.8% higher than three years ago and returned about 6 536MW of capacity to the grid. Diesel spending also dropped by R4.87 billion compared with the same period last year. The utility said the gains left room for growth. “Eskom currently has 5 695MW of surplus capacity available as a platform for growth and industrialisation,” Eskom stated. Eskom credited its Generation Recovery Plan for the turnaround. “These gains reflect sustained operational improvements under the Generation Recovery Plan and have contributed to South Africa recording 518 consecutive days without loadshedding since 16 May 2025,” the utility noted. Load reduction still affects Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Eskom said the number of customers hit by load reduction had fallen from about 1.69 million, an 88.6% reduction. The remaining impact was confined to selected areas in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where about 80% of previously affected customers had already been returned to normal supply. “Seven provinces remain free from load reduction, with 89% of targeted customers restored to normal supply and only 193 556 customers, or 2.7% of Eskom’s customer base, still affected,” Eskom said. The utility aims to end the intervention by March 2027 and appealed to communities for help. ANC promises stronger municipal networks and Eskom coordination The ANC pointed to national progress to back its case. In its manifesto, the party said it had achieved more than 400 consecutive days without load shedding. “Load shedding that crippled every household and business in the country has been brought to an end,” the ANC stated. For municipalities, the party pledged to upgrade distribution networks, expand smart metering, cut outages, and speed up fault response. It also promised to raise monthly Free Basic Electricity for qualifying households. ANC-run municipalities would consider a feed-in tariff for rooftop solar users and adopt a NERSA-approved wheeling tariff so businesses could buy clean power through municipal networks. “We will strengthen coordination with Eskom, protect electricity infrastructure from theft, vandalism and illegal connections, expand electrification using appropriate technologies, and reduce technical and non-technical losses,” the party pledged. DA wants municipalities to buy and sell their own power DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis framed electricity as part of the party’s promise to get municipalities working. “We will keep the lights on by reinvesting electricity revenue into electrical infrastructure, maintaining grids, enabling municipalities to buy and sell their own power, and supporting households and businesses that can feed electricity back into the system,” Hill-Lewis said in the manifesto’s foreword. The DA promised to let municipalities use private firms to run electricity trading services. It also planned to pay grid maintenance contractors based on network uptime and to publish map-based reports on blackouts. According to the manifesto, municipalities would also push Eskom for clear service level agreements. “Municipalities must be empowered to buy and sell electricity directly from private energy companies without waiting years for national government approval,” the party stated. EFF pledges free prepaid meters and in-house technicians The EFF said its municipalities would treat electricity as a developmental public good rather than a profit-making function. It promised to scrap extra charges on prepaid meters, install them for free, and restore full municipal control of billing. “EFF municipalities will strengthen revenue collection through improved billing systems, smart metering, and fair enforcement against non-payment by high-consumption users,” the party added. The party also pledged to employ its own engineers and electricians and to set emergency response times of no more than one hour for faults. The EFF further planned solar panels, solar geysers and battery storage for households still waiting for electricity. It said it would also develop community-based renewable projects with Eskom. “Billions of Rands are lost annually through water and electricity wastage caused by poorly maintained infrastructure,” the party stated. The EFF described unreliable services as a matter of dignity. “There can be no dignity where water does not flow, where electricity is unreliable, where roads are unsafe, and where clinics cannot serve the sick,” the party said. MK party opposes private power producers The MK party’s manifesto, titled The People’s Mandate, was broader in scope and said little about municipal networks. It pledged to “Ensure that key state SEO’s provide cheap electricity, water, and transport for citizens and industry”. Furthermore, the party plans to review and repeal the independent power producer programme and the unbundling of Eskom. It also promised to renew Eskom’s coal fleet and speed up its nuclear new build programme. “Since 2018, critical infrastructure has deteriorated, with trains inoperative, expensive and intermittent electricity supply, dilapidated roads, and prolonged water shortages,” MK said. The party added that state-owned companies should supply cheap electricity to citizens and industry. “Increasingly, we see the commodification of electricity, water, and transport because of those who seek to profit from the provision of basic services,” MK claimed.

South Africans planning a December getaway could save money by looking beyond the country’s biggest holiday destinations. December is one of the most expensive times of year to travel domestically, with accommodation prices rising sharply in many popular destinations as demand peaks. But current December 2026 accommodation data shows that there are still destinations where travellers can find relatively better value. So, where to go on holiday this December? Gqeberha Gqeberha is emerging as one of the more affordable holiday destinations for families travelling from Gauteng. A current December 2026 comparison found that a family of four could get flights from OR Tambo to Gqeberha and 14 nights of accommodation for about R24 600 in total, or roughly R439 per person per night. The comparison used a two-week stay and flights, making it more useful for holidaymakers than simply comparing nightly room rates. Flights were also substantially cheaper than comparable routes to Durban and Cape Town in the same comparison. For a family travelling from Johannesburg, that combination can make Gqeberha worth considering even though it is further away. Jeffrey’s Bay Just west of Gqeberha, Jeffrey’s Bay is another holiday destination option for travellers looking for a beach holiday without necessarily paying Garden Route hotspot prices. Current December 2026 hotel data puts the typical nightly price at around R1 204, with available prices ranging from roughly R806 to R2 006. That does not make every property cheap, particularly during Christmas week, but it provides considerably more choice than simply booking into a luxury resort. The town also has plenty of beaches and outdoor activities that do not require a large entertainment budget. Margate and the KZN South Coast For holidaymakers in KwaZulu-Natal, the South Coast remains one of the most obvious places to look for value. Margate, Umzumbe, Scottburgh, Pennington and Port Edward all offer self-catering and budget accommodation, giving families the option of spending more of their holiday budget on the actual trip rather than eating out every day. The KZN South Coast also has the advantage of being within driving distance of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, reducing the cost of flights. Recent accommodation research found budget options in Umzumbe from around R300 per person per night, while four-person bungalows started at around R1 000 a night. Port Edward also had accommodation options from around R500 a night outside the peak period. Those are not guaranteed December prices, however, and travellers should check the exact dates before treating them as a holiday budget. St Helena Bay Travellers heading to the West Coast could also look at St Helena Bay instead of more expensive destinations around Cape Town. Current December 2026 hotel data puts the typical nightly price at around R1 584, compared with R1 287 in November. Available December prices currently range from approximately R1 089 to R2 322. It is therefore not exactly a bargain-basement destination, but it can offer better value than some of the country’s premium coastal markets. The big warning about December prices Holidaymakers should be careful when comparing accommodation prices online. An August 2026 analysis of more than 5 000 properties found that nearly a third of properties with both September and December rates had increased their cheapest listed December rate. Among those properties, the median increase was 22.2%. The same analysis warned that even a December price visible online could still change, while an early-December rate may hide much higher prices around Christmas and New Year. That makes the timing of a trip almost as important as the destination.

Motorists travelling along the M3 near Wynberg Park in Cape Town are being urged to slow down after an oil spill left the road slippery and vehicles at risk of losing traction on Monday afternoon. The warning applies to the M3 northbound near the Wynberg Hill landmark, where drivers are advised to reduce their speed and approach the affected stretch with caution. Avoid sudden braking Motorists heading towards Cape Town should remain alert and avoid sudden braking that could cause their vehicles to skid on the slippery surface. The oil spill poses a potential hazard, particularly for drivers travelling at higher speeds or those who are unaware of the affected section of road. Motorists are urged to exercise patience and remain vigilant while travelling through the area. Further details about the spill, including its cause and whether any traffic disruptions or road closures will follow, have not yet been confirmed. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

Samro now requires members to disclose AI use in songs but sets no minimum human contribution.

The Cape Town start-up has filed US patent applications for technology aimed at AI voice-clone scams.