News 14:00

BULLETIN 19 February 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Former Prince Andrew is arrested on his 66th birthday
# South Africa celebrates the first stone fruit export shipment to China
# And rugby: Antoine Dupont is embroiled in a storm regarding a salary cap breach

# Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – formerly Prince Andrew – has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. It comes after Thames Valley Police said they were assessing a complaint over his alleged sharing of confidential material with late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, who turns 66 today, has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing. The BBC reports vehicles, believed to be police cars, arrived at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, earlier this morning.

Back home:

# South Africa has marked a major agricultural milestone as the first stone fruit shipment departs for China. Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen and Chinese ambassador to South Africa, Wu Peng, oversaw the dispatch of 20-thousand cartons of plums from Franschhoek. The export follows a new trade deal granting zero-tariff access to China. Government says the breakthrough will boost farmers’ competitiveness and significantly expand South Africa’s share of China’s 3.2-trillion-rand agricultural market.

# Suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has rejected claims that a white BMW linked to murder-accused businessman Katiso Molefe was assigned to his office. Sibiya says SAPS Crime Intelligence head, Dumisani Khumalo, presented false testimony, insisting the vehicle was only allocated to him in August last year. He adds he was in Cape Town on official duty at the time and says the allegations are misleading and unverified:

# The City of Cape Town says improved walling along the N2 is urgently needed to keep residents safe from brazen attacks. This follows an incident along the N2 highway where three suspects pointed a firearm at motorists yesterday afternoon. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says law enforcement officials, along with Traffic Services, responded within minutes, but the suspects fled the scene:

# Rugby: French captain Antoine Dupont is embroiled in a storm regarding a salary cap breach. He and Toulouse team-mate Anthony Jelonch were mentioned in a report by sports newspaper L’Equipe over suspect payments they allegedly received in order to help prevent the team from breaching salary cap regulations. The company 3S-Alyzia reportedly paid Dupont almost 29-million-rand and Jelonch about 3.2-millon-rand since 2017 for imaging rights and promotions, but the newspaper couldn’t find significant evidence of the company using the players for that purpose.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-17-cents and the euro at 19-rand-8-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-863-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-989-dollars-20-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….