News 06:00

BULLETIN 19 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The First group of South African men lured to Russia under false pretences is back home
# Milk SA assures the public that dairy products are safe
# And, Pope Leo won’t be joining Donald Trump’s Board of Peace

# Four of the 17 South African men caught up in the Russia-Ukraine war landed at OR Tambo International Airport yesterday afternoon. The men found themselves in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region after being allegedly lured to Russia in July last year, under false pretences, allegedly by MK Party leader Jacob Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. She reportedly played a role in facilitating their travel and recruitment. Zuma-Sambudla has denied being involved. The rest of the group is reportedly in Ukraine’s Donetsk city, waiting for assistance to be repatriated to South Africa.

# Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube has defended the DA’s role in the government of national unity despite interruptions from MK Party members of Parliament. Speaking during day two of the debate on the state of the nation address, Gwarube said the party’s participation reflects its commitment to stability, growth, and service delivery. She also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening education, including a ten-billion-rand investment in early childhood development and continued support for school nutrition programmes:

# Suspended Deputy National Police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has denied instructing that the political killings task team’s 121 dockets be moved to the police head office in Pretoria. Sibiya also presented documents to support his version. He told the Madlanga commission of inquiry that he never gave any orders to withdraw the sensitive case files from KwaZulu-Natal, nor has he ever stored them in his office:

# Milk South Africa has assured consumers that dairy products remain safe despite the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. This comes as president Cyril Ramaphosa declared the disease a national crisis. Milk SA CEO Nico Fouché says while FMD affects cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals, humans are not susceptible to the virus. He emphasised that pasteurised and long-life milk, yoghurt, maas, cheese, and butter are safe for consumption and pose no health risk to the public.

# The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Leo will not participate in president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, after being invited to join last month. The board, which will be chaired indefinitely by Trump, was originally designed to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. However, its objective has since expanded to make the board a global peacekeeping body. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has cited the Vatican’s unique international role and concerns about operating outside the United Nations framework, saying efforts to handle crises should be managed by the UN.

# Paralympics: Ukrainian minister of Sport, Matvii Bidnyi, condemned the International Paralympic Committee for allowing six Russian athletes and four from Belarus to participate under their countries’ flags at next month’s Winter Games in Italy. The athletes regained full membership in September after their countries were banned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Belarus’ help four years ago. Bidnyi says the organisers are allowing killers and their accomplices to participate, calling it disappointing and outrageous.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-5-cents and the euro at 18-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-382-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-976-dollars-1-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….