News 18:00

BULLETIN 13 May 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile invites Donald Trump to witness South Africa’s unity amid genocide claims
# French actor Gerard Depardieu is handed a suspended sentence for sexual assault
# And rugby: Irish and Leinster captain Caelan Doris is out for six months after shoulder surgery

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile has expressed hope that US president Donald Trump will accept president Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to visit South Africa, aiming to dispel allegations of a genocide against white Afrikaners. The US administration granted refugee status to 49 Afrikaners, citing racial persecution. Speaking on the sidelines of the African Travel Indaba in Durban, Mashatile emphasised the nation’s commitment to unity:

# The DA has accused Higher Education minister Nobuhle Nkabane of politicising institutions meant to promote skills development. This follows a leaked list of Sector Education and Training Authority board appointments, including ANC-linked individuals, including Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister Gwede Mantashe’s son, Buyambo Mantashe, and former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, appointed as board chairpersons. The DA’s Karabo Khakhau warns against turning public institutions into cadre deployment hubs:

# Cape Town has reached an all-time high in employment, with over 1.8-million people now working, an increase of 86-thousand jobs in one year. According to Statistics SA’s January to March Labour Force Survey, the city also boasts the lowest expanded unemployment rate in South Africa. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis attributes the success to targeted investments and infrastructure plans expected to create 130-thousand more jobs. In addition he says Cape Town’s labour force participation rate now stands at 74.6-percent.

# A Paris court has handed French cinema icon Gerard Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. The court also ordered that Depardieu, who was not present for the verdict, be registered as a sex offender, marking a spectacular fall from grace for the 76-year-old who has dominated French cinema for half-a-century. Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo movement.

# Rugby: Ireland and Leinster captain Caelan Doris will be out of action for up to six months following shoulder surgery. The 27-year-old sustained the injury in Leinster’s 37-34 Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton on 3 May. The back-row was last week left out of the British and Irish Lions’ squad for the upcoming tour of Australia by head coach Andy Farrell. Doris had previously been a frontrunner for the Lions captaincy, which was given to England and Saracens lock Maro Itoje.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-42-cents and the euro at 20-rand-52-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-37-cents and Bitcoin trades at 103-thousand-367-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-238-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-75-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….