News 14:00

BULLETIN 7 May 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A retired Hawks officer testifies Senota ordered secrecy around a drug consignment stored in his office
# The US Secretary of State says his meeting with Pope Leo is not to smooth things over
# And soccer: Fed Square in Melbourne won’t show the World Cup matches this year

# Retired Hawks officer Jakobus Prinsloo has told the Madlanga commission suspended KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Lesetja Senona ordered secrecy around a drug consignment stored in his office. He responded to commissioner Sandile Khumalo’s question. Prinsloo testified concerns about security were raised after a break-in, but the drugs remained in the office. He admitted no additional security measures were introduced despite fears the storage area was unsafe:

# Union federation SAFTU has expressed outrage at the latest fuel price increases, plunging millions of workers and poor households deeper into crisis. Petrol prices have increased by three-rand-27-cents per litre while diesel has gone up by five-rand-27-cents. SAFTU’s spokesperson, Asive Dyani, says government must remove the general fuel levy on petrol and diesel, and implement a temporary fuel price stabilisation intervention to cushion workers from extreme global oil volatility:

# The DA in Gauteng has welcomed progress made in clearing cancer biopsy backlogs at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital’s laboratory. The DA’s Jack Bloom says thousands of delayed specimens were processed through private laboratories, and support from other state labs as patients had waited for months for urgent results. He warns that staffing shortages remain a challenge, but new training and digital pathology improve cancer diagnosis and treatment turnaround times.

Moving abroad:

# US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has denied today’s meeting with Pope Leo is an attempt to reset diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Relations between the pontiff and president Donald Trump have deteriorated, with Trump launching personal attacks, branding Leo weak and terrible. The first American pope in history has been critical of the US-Israeli war against Iran. Rubio says it’s normal for the US to engage with the Vatican:

# Soccer: Fed Square in Melbourne, Australia, won’t be converted in a spectator hub for this year’s World Cup after some poor spectator behaviour in the past. This will be the first time in over 20 years no matches will be shown on the big screen. Fans celebrated wildly when Australia qualified for the round of 16 in Qatar in 2022, leading to injuries. The authorities say the decision was due to the conduct of a small minority, while the local governing body asked them to reconsider.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-29-cents and the euro at 19-rand-18-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-865-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-730-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-27-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….