Police in Area 3 in Lilongwe today have seized 44 vehicles from the drivers who were violating traffic laws.

Lilongwe police spokesperson, Hastings Chigalu said that some of the crimes involved illegal tolling, drivers driving under the influence of alcohol, having a lot of people in a car comparing with the seats of the car and traveling without proper permits.

Chigalu said that police in the city will continue to do this especially during Christmas season and into the New Year season.

Authorities in China have placed several cities under partial or full lockdown following a spike in Covid-19 cases. Millions of people across China are now living under lockdown as the country is battling its worst Covid-19 outbreak in 2 years.

The lockdown comes after new cases topped 1 000 for two consecutive days. On Sunday, the National Health Commission reported that the number of new locally transmitted cases was now at 3 100, the highest since 2020.

According to the South China Morning Post, health authorities have attributed the epidemic surge to the Omicron variant. Omicron is more transmissible but is less severe than the original Covid-19 virus.

The surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lockdown several northeastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.

China, where the virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019, has maintained a strict zero-Covid policy. This includes swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when clusters have emerged.

Which regions in China are witnessing a surge?

• To contain the spread of Covid-19, the Chinese government put the high-tech Shenzhen city under lockdown. The city has a population of over 17 million.
• Changchun, an industrial base of 9 million people in Jilin province, was locked down on Friday, while a few other cities have been closed down since March 1.
• Residents of Jilin were ordered against leaving their residential compounds for non-essential reasons. All residents of Jilin have completed six sounds of mass testing, reported news agency AFP.
• The country’s financial hub Shanghai has been reporting a surge in cases over the last one month.

What are some of the main restrictions imposed during lockdown?

• Cinemas, theatres and museums have been shut in Shanghai.
• The city also has shut down schools and shifted to online learning.
• Shanghai Disneyland resort has restricted entry with visitors requiring a COVID negative certificate issued within 24 hours.
• The Canton Fair, China’s oldest and biggest trade fair has been shut down, Guangzhou officials said.
• In Shenzen, public transport including buses and subways will be suspended starting March 14.
• Dining in restaurants, closed indoor entertainment have been halted in all nine districts.
• Companies have been asked to shift to remote working, with exceptions only for essential sectors.

At least 27 people have been arrested in Dowa for allegedly failing to comply with Coronavirus preventive regulations.

Spokesperson for the district police station, Gladson M’bumpha has said that the suspects were selling items outside permitted time and did not wear face masks.

The suspects were arrested around Dowa boma and Dzaleka refugee Camp.

The 27 are expected to appear before court today.

The sweeping exercise, led by Detective Chance Sibale of Dowa Police Station took place on Monday night of December 20 2021 around Dowa and Dzaleka Refugee Camp Trading Centres.

Among the 27 suspects, four have been arrested for the offence of selling outside permitted hours and 23 have been arrested for failing to put on face masks, all contravening Covid-19 rules and regulations.

The suspects will appear before court soon to answer charges of selling outside permitted hours and failing to put on face masks contravening Covid-19 rules and regulations, according to Gladson M’bumpha, police publicist for Dowa.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife Michael Usi, has officially opened the K6 billion, 46-room Sunbird Waterfront Hotel in Salima.

The hotel project which started in 2019 has been completed this month.

After a tour of the Hotel, Usi said not only will the imposing facility improve tourism prospects in the country but also promote Salima as a leading tourism destination in the country.

“This is a great architectural work and in line with government 2063 vision of a transformed Malawi in terms of infrastructure standards. This will surely contribute immensely to tourism attraction in the country. This is the direction we should take as a nation. Tourism has potential to improve the economic development of this country if well promoted coupled with good infrastructure such as this,” said Usi.

Source: National Publication

The body of late Mama Mbumba Margaret Banda, wife to late Aleke Banda will be laid to rest today in Chirimba Township in the commercial capital Blantyre.

Margaret Banda died of COVID-19 on Thursday at Partners in Hope hospital in Lilongwe.

Masankho Banda, AKB’s son has confirmed of the development in a statement made available to faceofmalawi.

The late Mbumba Banda senior was born on October 11, 1938.

Meanwhile the funeral ceremony is underway in Chirimba, Blantyre.

South Africans took to social media to express their displeasure after President Cyril Ramaphosa reintroduced tough restrictions including a ban on alcohol sales and an extended nightly curfew.

Following the fast-increasing surge of Covid-19 cases, President Ramaphosa moved the country’s lockdown restrictions to level 4.

The delta variant,  which was first discovered in India, is suspected to be driving South Africa’s Covid-19 infection increase.

“We are concerned about the rapid spread of the Delta variant and it is extremely serious,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said while addressing the country late on Sunday.

On Sunday, South Africa recorded more than 15,000 new cases, including 122 deaths, bringing its total fatalities to near 60,000.

Here are some of the reactions from Twitter following the reintroduction of level 4 lockdown restrictions ;

#level4 Guess who is back pic.twitter.com/KJhOJ20JZX

— EMILY (@emily_teffoME) June 27, 2021

https://twitter.com/Hubby_king95/status/1409225189423042575?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409225189423042575%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiharare.com%2Fsouth-africans-react-after-president-ramaphosa-moves-lockdown-to-level-4%2F

Y’all really believe the 14days ? phela we still on Day 457 of 21 Days lockdown #level4 pic.twitter.com/deK3Dx3lFL

— Kween Kinah (@shekybabez) June 27, 2021

https://twitter.com/AdvoBarryRoux/status/1409215257680257030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409216107932749825%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiharare.com%2Fsouth-africans-react-after-president-ramaphosa-moves-lockdown-to-level-4%2F

https://twitter.com/AdvoBarryRoux/status/1409215257680257030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409270578507358212%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiharare.com%2Fsouth-africans-react-after-president-ramaphosa-moves-lockdown-to-level-4%2F

https://twitter.com/AdvoBarryRoux/status/1409215257680257030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409215958238085122%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiharare.com%2Fsouth-africans-react-after-president-ramaphosa-moves-lockdown-to-level-4%2F

https://twitter.com/radicalmenalin/status/1409234583552409605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409382717381398531%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiharare.com%2Fsouth-africans-react-after-president-ramaphosa-moves-lockdown-to-level-4%2F

The year is 2041, South Africa is entering the 14th wave. Only 20 million people vaccinated. Covidpreneurs are still being investigated; another 21-day lockdown is starting. Advanced Level 4. #FamilyMeeting pic.twitter.com/AQGv8w0J3j

— Khwezi (@Khwezi_bass) June 27, 2021

This comes after the country’s Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced last week, that other “contact professions” such as hairdressers, beauty salons and masseurs would be allowed to reopen from Wednesday. However, the Health Minister specifically excluded sex workers from reopening, arguing that the very nature of their profession requires close proximity of individuals that cannot be safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision by the Dutch government to allow certain people to return to work in what it termed a “risky relaxation strategy”, was made even though infection numbers have started to edge higher recently.

Unsurprisingly, the sex workers were not happy with the Minister’s decision to bar them from working saying that it was discriminatory. They argued that just like everyone else, they also have bills to pay.

Some protestors were holding signs saying that: “Blow jobs are real jobs,” “Se_x Work Is Work” and “Se_x work: Yes. Stigma: No”.

Some of the protestors also argued that they should be allowed to return to work because they can still do their jobs while maintaining social distancing. They argued that they can maintain the 5-feet (1,5-metres) distance between themselves and their clients.

One sex worker who identified herself as Princess Patricia said,

“I’m an S&M mistress. It’s no problem at all to keep the 1.5-meter distance. I can lock them up in a cage, stay far away from them, (I can) even implement COVID rules, we can play doctor, I can put them on a dog leash.

“Everything is possible, I have a very long whip. So no risk at all.”

A woman who uses the name Moira Mona said she is a dominatrix and can work further from her clients than a hairdresser.

“I can insult people from a distance and I have whips that are longer than scissors for cutting bangs. So I’ll be fine,” she said.

Another sex worker, Moira Mona, said could carry out her work and be COVID safe:

“I’m a dominatrix, I don’t even have to lay a finger on him to do something nice. You can get really creative. I hope it speaks to the imagination.”

The protests come amid growing lockdown fatigue not only in the Netherlands but across the European Union, where governments are still attempting to rein in new infections, while slowly ramping up the pace of vaccinations.

Prostitution has been recognized as an official legal profession in the Netherlands since 1988. While estimates regarding the total number of prostitutes vary, most sources place this number between 15,000 and 30,000.

The Covid-19 lockdowns have had a very different effect on people. While the boredom made some depressed, it actually helped others discover hidden talents. Take Anna Chojnicka, who started creating adorable banana peel artworks.

To pass the time and keep her creative juices flowing, social entrepreneur Anna Chojnicka started experimenting with banana peel oxidation as an art medium. Instead of doodling on canvas or paper, she decided to simply bruise bananas with thin, blunt objects and let oxidation do the rest. The bruised peel becomes darker as the hours go by, revealing the design etched into it.

Anna partially bruises the banana with the blunt end of a comb or pin, allows the designed to darken, and then continues with the rest of her artwork. It’s a time-consuming process, but then again, she started doing it to pass the time, so…

From intricate scenes that require a strong knowledge of light and shading, to detailed portraits or goofy illustrations, there seems to be no limit to Anna Chojnicka’s banana bruising capabilities. She has been posting a banana artwork a day since the UK lockdown started, and with the lockdowns expected to continue through the winter holidays, we can expect more in the coming weeks.

Even though Anna, who goes by Banana Bruiser on social media, has just 1,600 followers on Instagram (at the time of this writing), her art has already gone viral, after being featured in a video by the BBC World Service.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about all those wasted bananas, Anna assures us that she eats every one of her “canvases” after taking photos of her artworks, so there is no food waste to talk about.

If you love banana art, you’re going to “looove” the world’s most expensive banana artwork!

Hungarian lawmaker resigns after he was caught fleeing a ‘sex party’ during lockdown.

József Szàjer resigned after admitting to breaching lockdown rules to attend a private party.

József Szàjer is a member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party. The MEP resigned from his position after he was reportedly caught fleeing what the media reported as “a 25-man orgy”.

According to CNN, Szàjer released a statement in which he admitted that he had been “present” at a “private party” during lockdown. Sarah Durant, the spokeswoman for the Brussels’ public prosecutor’s office, revealed that the “private party” took place in an apartment above a bar in the historic city center at around 9:30 pm last Friday.

Furthermore, Durant disclosed that neighbors had called the police and “complained of nighttime noise and potential violations of measures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The politician had tried to flee by climbing down a drainpipe.

Szàjer had leaped out of a window and climbed down a drainpipe to avoid being arrested. The public prosecutor’s office further explained:

“A passer-by reported to the police that he had seen a man fleeing along the gutter; he was able to identify the man. The man’s hands were bloody. It is possible that he may have been injured while fleeing. Narcotics were found in his backpack. The man was unable to produce any identity documents. He was escorted to his place of residence, where he identified himself as S. J. (1961) by means of a diplomatic passport.”

Szàjer released a statement, apologizing for his behavior.

According to The Guardian, the 59-year-old politician had denied carrying narcotics but had nevertheless apologized for his actions. In addition to this, Szájer begged his wife and daughter to forgive him:

A newspaper article appeared in the Belgian press today about a house party in Brussels on Friday, which I attended. After the police asked for my identity – since I did not have ID on me – I declared that I was an MEP. The police continued the process and finally issued an official verbal warning and transported me home. I did not use drugs. I offered to the police to take an instant test, but they did not do it. Police said an ecstasy pill was found. It’s not mine, I don’t know who placed it and how. I made a statement to the police about this. I deeply regret violating the Covid restrictions – it was irresponsible on my part. I am ready to pay the fine that occurs. With my resignation on Sunday I drew the political and personal consequences. I apologise to my family, to my colleagues, to my voters. I ask them to evaluate my misstep against a background of 30 years of devoted and hard work. The misstep is strictly personal. I am the one who owns responsibility for it.

József Szàjer

The High Court sitting as Constitutional Court which was hearing the Lockdown cases, has ruled that the Covid-19 rules that were gazzeted on April 9, 2020 were unconstitutional.

Three judges that were hearing the case; Fiona Mwale, Dorothy De Gabrielle and Ken Manda made the ruling yesterday.

“The Minister of Health has powers to make subsidiary laws without departing from the parent Act, hence the Covid-19 rules under which the lockdown obtains are unconstitutional in view of section 44,45, 46 and 58 of the constitution,” reads the judgment.

In April this year, the then ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) under former president Peter Mutharika imposed a 21 day lockdown as a way of containing the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

However, some stakeholders rushed to court seeking for an injunction against the said lockdown.

Two women who attacked police officers at an illegal house party during the coronavirus lockdown have been jailed.

Bayleigh Meadows and Millie Robinson, both 21, were drinking and playing loud music at a friend’s flat in Edgeland Terrace, Eastbourne, on 8 April.

Two officers sent to the property were denied entry and punched and kicked, with one hit by a toilet roll holder, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Robinson was jailed for six months, and Meadows was jailed for a year.

Meadows, of Lottbridge Drive in Eastbourne, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Robinson, of Edgeland Terrace, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker.

The court heard Robinson was intoxicated and repeatedly taunted a female police officer with threats such as: “I’ve got coronavirus, watch out.”

She then become violent when a male police sergeant tried to arrest her.

‘Absolutely disgraceful’

During the assault, Meadows swung a toilet roll holder with a heavy base at the officer, causing a cut on his forehead.

Robinson’s defence barrister, Rebecca Upton, said she had found lockdown “extremely hard” and felt “extremely isolated”, leading to a decline in her mental health.

Adam James, representing Meadows, said she had underlying mental health issues and could not remember much of what happened.

PC Carl Smith said: “The verbal and physical abuse our officers were faced with in this situation was absolutely disgraceful.

“This happened during the height of the coronavirus lockdown period, when officers were continuing to do their job in challenging circumstances.”

A third defendant, Nicole Stonestreet, 20, of Seaside in Eastbourne, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and is due to appear at Hastings Magistrates’ Court on 26 June.

The UK government on Monday June 1, introduced new measures that ban people from socialising indoors with anyone not already in their household.

The new regulation reads: ‘No person may participate in a gathering which takes place in a public or private place indoors, and consists of two or more persons.’

Previously, anyone who goes inside another person’s home would be breaching the lockdown rules but now both persons could be prosecuted under the new amendment to the The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations 2020 bill, that was tabled before Parliament on Monday.

According to the new rules, only those with ‘reasonable excuses’ will be allowed to meet privately indoors, which does not include meeting up to have sex.

Reasonable excuses include jogging or exercising for elite athletes, movement of vulnerable people and key or essential workers.

Other people that can give reasonable excuses include people that meet in a private space for childcare, separated parents who live in different households seeing their children,  people providing emergency assistance and those attending a funeral.

Police forces in the UK have been told to disperse any large groups and use fines and arrests ‘where appropriate’ as a last resort – but they can only ‘direct’ someone to go home and have ‘no powers’ to remove someone by force, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing have said in a joint paper.

Their advice to officers also makes clear that the new coronavirus guidelines /laws ‘provide no power of entry.’ Downing Street has also been clear that police do not have the power to enter gardens to check party numbers.

The new regulations comes after  a study by researchers at the universities of Anglia Ruskin and Ulster, showed six in 10 Britons have gone without having sexual activity during lockdown.

The Covid-19 lockdown has uncovered there is a high increase in Saudi Arabia men having 2 or more secret wives and families outside their registered marriages resulting in a 30% increase in divorces as women discover their shenanigans

Divorce rates shot up to a 7,482 record, resulting in a shocking 30 per cent increase in requests for divorces within a period of two weeks into the month of May from women through ‘khula’ – the Islamic process in which a woman can divorce her husband.

Khula is a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband in Islam by returning the dowry (mahr) or something else that she received from her husband to prove they were harmed by the husband, and as agreed by the spouses or court decree.

This is a huge increase from the previously recorded divorces of such nature.

Gulf News reports that the marriage annulment requests are mainly from employed women, businesswomen, doctors and prominent women in the community who claim to have discovered – through the Covid-19 lockdown – that their husbands had secret wives and families.

Polygamy, the practice of taking more than one wife, is legal in the religion of Islam and its legal status differs between Muslim-majority countries – it has generally been accepted in Saudi Arabia, but the modern change in social dynamics show that women are slowly rejecting the concept. This has resulted in the prevalence of unknown secret marriages from polygamous husbands.

Contrary to popular belief that self-isolation from the Covid-19 crisis would strengthen family relations and increase family bonding, statistics show the pandemic has shown a rising concern about domestic conflicts, abuse and divorce rates across the world.

Namibia’s President Hage Geingob on Thursday admitted to breaching coronavirus regulations last month by hosting a celebration to mark his party’s 60th anniversary and subsequently fining all the guests who attended.

The South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) birthday party took place in parliament on April 19, when Namibia was under lockdown and group gatherings were banned to limit the spread of coronavirus.

“We had a very important occasion of the 60th anniversary of SWAPO,” Geingob said on Thursday during a press conference on the country’s Covid-19 response.

“Although we were as little as ten leaders… we were found not on the right side of the regulations and law. We had to admit guilt and we were punished, we paid,” President Geingob was quoted by The Telegraph.

The president said that less than 10 people attended the event, including the Vice President, the Prime Minister and party’s Secretary  General.

All have since been fined Sh12,000 ($115).

In March President Geingob courted controversy by inviting several African presidents to his swearing-in ceremony, prompting them to breach their own travel bans.

A handful of leaders still attended the event, including Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco.

A university student identified as, Claire Natukunda has died at her boyfriend’s home after failing to return home before the Covid19 lockdown.

The student died in Maganjo, at her boyfriend’s house identified as Junju. She was reportedly two months pregnant

Junju was not at home when his 20 year old girlfriend died because he had walked to Kampala to look for money to help him take Claire to hospital. He was asked to return by authorities and arrested on arrival and taken to Kawempe police station where he has spent Wednesday night.

The body was first taken to the nearby Community Hospital Kawempe Lugoba before it was taken to Mulago for postmortem.

According to the messages on her phone, it seemed to have family disagreements with her parents and siblings who live in Kitemu on Masaka road.

Messages found in her phone shows that she had family disagreements with her parents and siblings who live in Kitemu on Masaka road. According to the messages, she refused to come home after they had asked her to return. Consequently, she decided to stay with her boyfriend.

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa has just announced that churches will be allowed to re-open from June 1, but congregations will be limited to 50 people.

The decision was made in consultation with religious leaders in the country who have recently described as ‘ridiculous’ the government’s earlier decision to keep churches closed while schools were being reopened.

Ramaphosa said worshippers must wear masks and follow recommended social distance advice to contain the spread and transmission of the coronavirus.

He also called on the country to join in a national day of prayer and meditation on 31 May. During his update to the nation, Ramaphosa also said:

Our religious leaders occupy positions of immense trust and authority in our communities and need to play a proactive role in raising the level of public awareness around the coronavirus in their services, in faith communication groups and through their pastoral work and activities.

Some churches including Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Church had resorted to online services to keep in touch with congregants as the lockdown regulations prohibited physical gatherings.

Desperate South Africans have turned to smoking Rooibos tea due to the government’s ban on the sell of cigarettes.

Since the national lockdown came into effect on 27 March, it has been illegal to buy and sell cigarettes. This means that people who smoke have now gone for almost 2 months without being able to buy cigarettes.

The publicationhas learned that some of these people have turned to smoking teas in an effort to satiate their intense cravings.

A 29-year Melville resident who used to smoke Golden Virginia rolling tobacco told publication Business Insider SA,“Smoking tea doesn’t quite satisfy the craving but tricks the mind well enough.

“So, the transition to smoking tea was fairly easy.”

Another smoker who is now smoking tea complained that Rooibos is difficult to roll because it is too dry. He, however, said that Rooibos is surprisingly strong.

“Not Texan strong, but Stuyvesant red strong.”

The Melville smoker also echoed the sentiments that Rooibos is difficult to roll because of its dryness.

“It tastes a little like a forest fire but leaves a nice rooibos-y aftertaste. I smoked plain rooibos, without adding anything to it. It burns surprisingly well like an actual cigarette would, but it’s quite difficult to roll because the tea is so dry.”

However, a lung expert warned against smoking tea saying that it could result in structural lung damage in the long term.

Professor Keertan Dheda, director of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity and head of the division of pulmonology at the University of Cape Town, told the publication

“…smoking tea will result in the inhalation of several substances, including caffeine and particulate matter, which is likely to be harmful in the long run. Chronic inhalation of particulate matter is often associated with subversion of immune responses and structural lung damage and therefore, as a general rule, I would advise against it.”

Professor Dheda stressed that studies need to be done to explore this further and unequivocally demonstrate the dangers of smoking tea leaves.

Human rights groups and experts have welcomed a series of orders issued by a South African court that compel authorities to prevent police and army brutality during the enforcement of a lockdown meant to curb the spread of coronavirus.

In its judgement on Friday, the Pretoria-based High Court declared that everyone in the country is entitled to a number of human rights – including the right to life, the right not to be tortured in any way and the right not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way – even during an emergency.

It came after an urgent application brought by the family of Collins Khosa, a father of three who died of his injuries after he was allegedly beaten by security forces on April 10, two weeks into the country’s lockdown.

The court heard from Khosa’s family that members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) entered his home in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township after a cup of alcohol was found in his yard.

Sales of alcohol are not allowed under the coronavirus containment measures but it is not clear why the SANDF officers entered Khosa’s house.

In her affidavit, his partner Nomsa Montsha claimed that the security forces poured beer on Khosa after dragging him outside, slammed him against a cement wall and hit him with the butt of a machinegun.

Afterwards, Khosa began vomiting, was unable to walk and lost consciousness. He was declared dead a few hours later. Montsha and Khosa’s brother-in-law said they were also assaulted.

Source: Al Jazeera