JOHANNESBURG –  Nearly a month since landmark national elections saw the African National Congress (ANC) lose its majority for the first time, forcing it to form a coalition to govern South Africa, a deadlock stemming from the allocation of cabinet positions threatened to topple the whole house of cards.

Tense negotiations, mainly between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), the two biggest parties in the coalition, led to delays this week of President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing his cabinet in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Fears were heightened and markets reacted badly to news of DA leader John Steenhuisen threatening to withdraw from the coalition amid leaks of letters between the two parties’ leaders showing them at loggerheads.

But by Friday, as Ramaphosa was due to meet Steenhuisen, the political bartering that characterised the last two weeks of talks showed signs of an imminent agreement. The rand – which fell amid news of the discord – strengthened following indications that a cabinet announcement was pending and that the government would include the market-friendly, right-leaning DA.

Political analyst Khaya Sithole said markets were in favour of the DA being part of the GNU – a multiparty coalition – because the party is unlikely to demand radical shifts in economic policy. “A GNU with the DA gives the perception that there will be continuity in economic policy because the ANC will maintain the trajectory it was on,” Sithole told Al Jazeera.

He said the DA – which holds 87 parliamentary seats compared with the ANC’s 159 – would not demand new policies or have sufficient political muscle to push through radical changes. “Markets are buying into the continuation of government policies and programmes,” Sithole said, adding that, “an ANC partnership with the DA does not upend the script.” He said markets adversely reacted to fears that the DA may pull out of the GNU because the alternative – a possible allegiance between the ANC, the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other smaller parties – represented uncertainty. (Al Jazeera)…[+]

GAZA – Dozens of sick and injured children, including 20 cancer patients, have been evacuated from Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the first to leave since Israel launched its offensive in Rafah last month.

The 68 were transferred to Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, Israeli authorities say. COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for approving aid into Gaza, coordinated the passage along with the Israeli military, the US, Egypt and the World Health Organization (WHO). The news provided a moment of relief for the parents, whose children who had been unable to access lifesaving care after more than eight months of Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

“It was a tough time for us in northern Gaza, nine months of exhaustion, displacement,” Samira Al-Saeedi, whose six-year-old daughter Jouri was evacuated, told CNN earlier this week. “People started stealing just to eat… Sick children cannot withstand famine.”

CNN footage from Nasser Hospital on Tuesday showed another evacuee – five-year-old blood cancer patient Yasmin – squirming in pain, her emaciated limbs sprawled on a teal mattress. “She is suffering and moving between hospitals receiving blood treatments… Every day she feels more pain than the day before,” said her mother Umm Ubaida. “She is extremely tired. She can’t wait any longer.” The evacuations come with the southern Rafah crossing, a key transit point, still closed despite negotiations on its re-opening.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the evacuation on Friday. He appealed for increased medical passage “via all possible routes including Rafah and Karem Shalom, to Egypt, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and from there to other countries when needed.” But as Israel’s siege persists – and the risk of famine grows – Palestinian officials have warned that the operation was “a drop in the ocean” compared to hundreds more severely ill children who are still trapped in the ravaged enclave.

More than 25,000 sick people require urgent treatment abroad, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Among those are 980 children with cancer – including 250 patients who could face “certain death” – the ministry reported on Friday. Israel’s military campaign has depleted the medical system and drained food supplies. (CNN)…[+]

LIMA  –  At least eight people have been injured after a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of southern Peru overnight Friday at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGC).

The quake hit 8 kilometers (5 miles) west of Atiquipa, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) south of the capital Lima. Some residents of Atiquipa said on social media they felt a very strong and long quake that caused their beds to shake.

CCTV footage from the nearby town of Caraveli shows a residential street as the tremor shakes violently and people come out of their houses. The quake was felt as far as the capital. Video posted to social media shows lamps swaying inside houses in Lima.

Eight people have been injured in the incident, according to authorities. Of those, five received medical attention in two hospitals in the Ica region and three were treated for minor injuries at a hospital in the neighboring Arequipa region, both in southwestern Peru, the ministry of health said Friday morning.

No deaths have been registered following the quake, according to Prime Minister, Gustavo Adrianzen. “We are just finishing analyzing the preliminary reports which tell us that there are no deaths, and we are monitoring the impact on infrastructures,” Adrianzen told radio RPP, according to Andina, the Peruvian news agency.

The Peruvian Presidency said on X that the government is monitoring the situation and evaluating any possible damage. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) initially issued an alert warning of “possible” tsunami waves reaching up to 1 to 3 meters along some coastal areas in Peru. But it later dropped the alert, saying there was no tsunami warning, advisory or threat.

“There is no longer a tsunami threat from this earthquake,” the PTWC said. Peru, and most of the South American Pacific Coast, are on border of two tectonic plates: the South American plate, which includes most of the continent, and the Nazca plate, which extends across the Pacific along most of the coast. (CNN)…[+]