News 17:00

BULLETIN 24 February 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA exposes the Human Settlements ministry’s 16-million-rand travel splurge
# A former surgeon goes on trial in France for raping or sexually assaulting hundreds of patients
# And tennis: The Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva improves to ninth in the world rankings

# ActionSA has revealed that former Human Settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and her team spent 16-million-rand on travel. In a parliamentary response, Kubayi said 5.3-million-rand was spent on five international trips, with 11-million-rand used for local engagements. The expenses include nearly 200-thousand-rand for one night in Beijing and over 200-thousand for accommodation at the World Economic Forum. ActionSA’s Matthew George claims the costs are unjustifiable while millions of South Africans remain homeless:

# The DA in Gauteng says the provincial Health Department’s deficit has surged to 7.3-billion-rand, a significant rise from 4.8-billion-rand in three months. The DA’s Jack Bloom says this eleven-percent budget shortfall has led to the freezing of posts, delays in payments to suppliers, and shortages of critical medical supplies. He calls for urgent change in the department’s leadership:

# The families of the South African engineers, Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, have gathered 15-thousand signatures demanding their release from prison in Equatorial Guinea. The petition will be handed to International Relations minister Ronald Lamola and key parliamentary figures, urging urgent diplomatic action. Despite a United Nations ruling declaring their detention unlawful, the two remain behind bars. Their families call for South African and UK government intervention, as well as clemency from Equatorial Guinea’s president.

# A former surgeon is going on trial in France today charged with raping or sexually assaulting hundreds of patients, most of them children. Joel le Scouarnec is already in jail after a court in 2020 found the 74-year-old guilty of abusing four children. He now faces allegations that he also assaulted or raped 299 patients, many while waking up from anaesthetic or during post-op checkups, between 1989 and 2014. In total, 256 of the victims were under 15, with the youngest aged one and the oldest aged 70.

# Tennis: Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva improved five places to ninth in the world rankings after winning the Dubai Championships this weekend. Italian Jasmin Paolini dropped two places to sixth. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is still world number one, followed by Iga Swiatek of Poland and three Americans – Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Australian Open champion Madison Keys. Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan is seventh, China’s Qinwen Zheng eighth and another American, Emma Navarro, completes the top ten.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-33-cents and the euro at 19-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-763-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-949-dollars-9-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….