A yet-to-be-identified woman has expressed her displeasure with the inclusion of gender-changing and explicit sexual books in school libraries for children.

The woman is seen complaining to someone in an office about the books made available to children in the library, in a video shared on social media on Friday.

She described the books as atrocious and opened one of the books that taught children how to make a baby without a male and a female but with the same gender.

She also raised another book for children aged three that teaches them about being okay in the wrong body and a book for 10-year-old children that introduces them to homos*xuality.

Four electrical contractors were brutally murdered by community members after being mistaken for cable thieves in Ekurhuleni, South Africa.

Ekurhuleni MMC for Water, Sanitation and Energy, Senzi Sibeko, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday, March 9, 2023, said an investigation is now underway into the murder of the four electrical contractors.

Sibeko said the incident happened last Monday when the four were responding to a power outage in Germiston area of Ekurhuleni.

“City of Ekurhuleni electricians requested assistance from city-approved electrical contractors to assist on the site of an electrical outage in Sarel Hattingh Street, Klippoortjie AH, Germiston.

These electrical contractors were attacked by an angry mob of community members who wrongfully assumed that these contractors were cable thieves, said Sibeko.

“Despite the contractors producing their paperwork in the form of wayleaves and other documentation, the community proceeded to attack them, which tragically resulted in the death of four contractors.”

Sibeko said the ongoing investigation is led by the South African Police Service and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department.

“It has been brought to my attention that the details of this heinous crime have been circulated to the media by a political party represented in council. I want to implore leaders of political parties to refrain from sharing information that is still subject to investigation in order to not muddy the waters and prejudice investigations underway by law-enforcement agencies,” he said.

“Equally, it is insensitive to the families of the deceased that their rights to privacy and dignity in this painful period is infringed upon for political point scoring. I want to plead with our communities and ask that you refrain from engaging in acts of violence and vigilante justice and to allow city officials or contractors in the employ of the city to do their work to ensure that communities receive the services that they deserve.”

Sibeko sent “heartfelt condolence” to the families and loved ones of the contractors who were victims of “senseless acts of violence.”

Several people have been shot dead in a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany.

According to DW, a German publication, the shooting also left several victims with gunshot wounds.German media reports said the shooting at the Kingdom Hall located in the Gross Borstel district occurred at about 9:00 p.m.

“The dead all have gunshot wounds,” stated a police spokesperson.The motive for the shooting was not immediately known, said the police, and the shooter(s) yet to be identified.The Hamburg Police tweeted that the situation had been brought under control without having to fire a shot.

“Our measures and investigations are running at full speed. As soon as there is reliable information about the use in #GroßBorstel, we will inform you immediately at this point,” said the police.

“We found a lifeless person in a community centre in #GroßBorstel, which we assume could be a perpetrator. In order to rule out the involvement of other perpetrators, we carry out checks and search comprehensively.”

The police noted that “based on the current state of affairs, we assume a perpetrator. The police measures in the area are gradually being discontinued.

Investigations into the background to the crime are ongoing” and that they “have set up a reference portal to which photos and videos of the crime or relevant events in this context can be uploaded.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission says it will approach the Appeal Court on Monday for an order to allow it to reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 elections.

On Sunday, a credible source in the commission revealed that the order was significant following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted and certified true copies of them issued.

The source, who requested anonymity, said INEC would require sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the elections that would take place on Saturday.

“The commission’s legal department is actually preparing an application to be filled in the court on Monday to seek an order for it to reconfigure its BVAS for Saturday governorship and state houses of assembly elections,” the source said.

The source explained that considering the number of BVAS required to conduct the election across states, INEC needed to reconfigure the BVAS used for the March 25 elections and deploy them to polling units for the Saturday election.

The source added that INEC technical team have to be deployed on time to commence the re-configuration of the device, which has to be done one by one.

The source explained that the order was important if the Saturday governorship and state parliamentary elections must hold as scheduled, otherwise the postponement of the election became inevitable.

On Friday, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal granted leave to the presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, to have access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC for the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.

A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh made the order after it heard two separate ex parte applications the two aggrieved presidential candidates filed alongside their political parties.

Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents it used for the presidential election to aid their petitions against the outcome of the presidential election.

“An order granting the applicants’ permission to do electronic scanning and make photocopies of voter’s registration, ballot papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the February 25,” said the court document.

“An order granting leave to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the February 25 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The plaintiffs also sought an order restraining INEC “from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued.”

The court, in its consideration, ordered INEC to allow the applicants to inspect all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the presidential election.

The court permitted the appellants to do electronic scanning and or make photocopies of the voter’s registration and ballot papers used in the presidential election.

“That leave is hereby granted to the applicants to carry out digital forensic inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the February 25, 2023 Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the court had ordered.

Due to potential cyber security risks, the European Commission has prohibited its employees from owning or using TikTok, a social media site owned by the Chinese company Bytedance.

“The measure aims to protect the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions, which may be exploited for cyberattacks,” The New York Times quoted EU spokesperson Sonya Gospodinova as saying.

The Chinese app will no longer be allowed on official devices or any personal devices that include work-related data and applications starting on March 15, according to an email sent to EU employees and obtained by The Times.

However, the commission emphasised that the rule was only a temporary measure necessary to address growing worries about cyber security threats, particularly in light of the escalating rumours that Chinese authorities may be spying on the activities of TikTok users.

But, TikTok has denied allegations that it gives the Chinese government access to users’ personal information.

“We believe this suspension is wrong and based on fundamental misconceptions,” TikTok said in response to the restriction.

The Finnish Police has reportedly arrested the pro-Biafran separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa, over his threats of no elections in Nigeria.

Ekpa had threatened that any person in the South-Eastern Part of the Nigeria who tried to participate or vote in the 2023 elections scheduled to hold on Saturday February 25 would be ruthlessly dealt with.

Ekpa was reportedly picked up from his apartment in the Lahti region of Finland by officers from the Finnish Central Criminal Police on Thursday morning.