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ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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London’s biggest divorce case hinges on a R5bn superyacht

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  22 May London’s biggest divorce case hinges on a R5bn superyacht Jonathan Browning SHARE 0:00 SUBSCRIBERS CAN LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE The luxury yatch Luna, owned by Azarbaijani businessman Farkhad Akhmedov. (Photo by Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) At the heart of the largest money fight that London’s divorce courts have ever known sits the Luna - a 115m, nine-deck luxury motor yacht holed up at a berth in a dusty marina in Dubai. The Luna is the largest and most expensive single asset held by companies linked to oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov, who bought the vessel from his fellow billionaire Roman Abramovich. It is also the prized target for Tatiana Akhmedova, Farkhad’s former wife of 21 years. Worth about 250 million pounds (R5 billion), seizing control of the yacht would go a long way toward satisfying a London court’s 450-million-pound divorce award in her favour. But that, Tatiana is finding out, won’t be easy. With settlement talks with her former husband ...
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South Africa is changing its marriage laws – but key issues are still up for discussion

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  Staff Writer 21 May 2021 Subscribe It is an incontestable fact that this country needs a new marriage policy, says home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi. Presenting his departmental budget speech this week, the minister said that the new policy will be based on three of the pillars of the country’s constitution – equality, non-discrimination and human dignity. The minister said that to get married in South Africa, you are required to choose between three acts of Parliament: The Marriage Act of 1961 Recognition of C ustomary  M arriage Act of 1998 Civil U nion Act of 2006 The minister  said that these  three acts have many gaps, omissions and weaknesses in that they d o not cater or give recognition to Muslim marriages, Hindu marriages and marriages conducted according to Jewish rites; He added that the current legislation fails to recognise  many traditional marriages taking place in many royal families, and do not effectively p revent  minor children fr...
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Which countries have the world’s largest coal reserves?

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  Visual Capitalist Elements   | September 15, 2021 | 8:58 am   Intelligence   Australia   USA   Coal   The Countries With the Largest Coal Reserves Cheap and abundant coal remains one of the largest sources of energy worldwide, even as governments set out goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While jurisdictions in Europe and North America have been phasing out coal use in power generation, it has been on the rise in Asia. China and India are scrambling to provide electricity to a growing population and relying on coal power plants to meet demands despite the environmental costs. SIGN UP FOR THE ENERGY DIGEST Sign Up This infographic takes a look into the  BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 , and the 11 countries that make up  89%  of the coal reserves globally. Coal Reserves, by Country While countries need to phase out coal by 2040 to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, consumption in key ...
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MOTORS MARINE MAY 7, 2021 Boat of the Week: This 171-Foot Super-Luxe Sportfishing Yacht Is the Largest in the World

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  The epic vessel is a 30-knot "battlewagon" designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish. It's also decidedly lavish. By  HOWARD WALKER           Courtesy Vripack To hook the world’s biggest fighting fish, in the words of Chief Brody in the classic 1975 movie  Jaws , “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Privately owned  fishing  boats won’t come any bigger than this astonishing 171-foot super-luxury sportfisherman, set to claim the title of “World’s Largest Sportfish Superyacht.” Designed by Dutch naval architects  Vripack , and soon to start construction at the Royal Huisman yard in the Netherlands, Project 406 as it’s currently codenamed, will be a 30-knot “battlewagon,” designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish to the ends of the earth. “Project 406 is a sportfishing machine on steroids,” Vripack co-creative director Bart M. Bouwhuis told  Robb Report . “It has the proportions of a typical American sportfishing ...
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This New Ultralight Aircraft May Be World’s Fastest Single-Engine Business Jet

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  The speedy LAR-01's automotive interior adds comfort and luxury. Plus: The wings detach, so the jet can be stored in a home garage. By  MICHAEL VERDON           Courtesy Flaris The  Flaris  LAR-01 has a number of striking stats, including being a ton lighter (literally) than its competitors, along with an unusually short-field landing capability, and detachable wings. But its most impressive number is the 250-knot true air speed, which its designers say makes it the world’s fastest business jet among single-engine very light jets and turboprop aircraft. Flaris says recent tests “confirmed the assumptions made previously” about the effectiveness of multiple systems, including its Garmin G600 avionics and Flaris Flight Assistance System flight computer, as well as the landing gear and emergency parachute system. But it also claims more impressive stats like the 250-knot TSA at 10,000 feet. Its 6,000-feet-per-minute climb rate, adds the compan...
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