News 13:00

BULLETIN 29 February 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The alleged killers of Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes are unmasked
# Popcru in Gauteng welcomes the closure of the national police headquarters 
# And Motorsport: Lewis Hamilton is confident that Mercedes can win another championship

# The Durban Magistrate’s Court has revealed the identities of five accused in the murders of Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes and Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane. The prosecution requested that the accused remove masks to show their faces during their first court appearance. Two additional suspects are detained in Eswatini. AKA and his friend were gunned down outside Wish on Florida Road in Durban in February last year. Magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo postponed the bail hearing to Wednesday: 

# The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union in Gauteng has welcomed the closure of the South African Police Service’s national head office in Pretoria. The Telkom Towers building in the CBD was evacuated following an inspection by the Department of Labour. It was declared unfit for human use. The building was bought and renovated eight years ago for nearly 900-million-rand. Popcru says since 2021 it has raised countless times multiple health and safety deficiencies with the building, but nothing was done.

# The Hamas-run Health ministry says the death toll in Gaza has risen to more than 30-thousand, with 70-percent of the casualties being women and children. The war between Israel and the militant group began nearly five months ago when one-thousand-200 people were killed and over 200 were taken hostage by Hamas in Israel. The ministry says the latest overall toll for Palestinians killed in the war comes after at least 79 people died overnight across the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, a temporary ceasefire is still being negotiated.

# Motorsport: Seven-time Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton, says he is confident that Mercedes can win another championship. The season starts with the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, which will be the 12th and final season of a record-breaking partnership between Hamilton and Mercedes. The Brit says his decision to join Ferrari next year does not reflect doubt about Mercedes’ ability to get back to the top:

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-21-cents and the euro at 20-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-32-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-531-dollars-85-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-35-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-83-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H-5-N-1 has adapted to spread between birds and marine mammals, posing an immediate threat to wildlife conservation. This is according to a study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Scientists collected brain samples from four sea lions, one fur seal and a tern found dead at the most affected sea lion rookery in Argentina. All tested positive for the virus. Author Agustina Rimondi says this confirms that while the virus may have adapted to marine mammals, it still can infect birds.

Stay tuned for more news………….