The roads are bumper to bumper with people trying to get out with their families, says an ex-Capetonian living in Kyiv.

The government is ordering a mine to pay for rehabilitation costs after the discharge of acid mine water into the river system in Mpumalanga last week, while approving the release of water from four dams in a bid to flush the pollution.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana increased excise duties on alcohol and tobacco products by between 4.5% and 6.5%.

The report, titled ‘Children, Social Assistance and Food Security’, lays out a heartbreaking narrative on how the country’s poorest children are starving and how mothers are going without food to shield children from hunger.

"SA should stay out of the conflict in the Ukraine and look at our internal problems," said one user.

At least nine suspected cash-in-transit robbers from SA and Botswana were killed in a gun battle with police in Gaborone after a heist at a mall.

Iran has millions of barrels of oil stored offshore that could flow into a tight global market if a nuclear deal is agreed, with refiners in South Korea likely to be among the first in line to take cargoes.

Ukraine’s border guard said that it was being shelled from five regions, including from Crimea in the south and Belarus to the north, and that Russian forces had crossed into the country.

The SA Human Rights Commission will continue to hear evidence from key witnesses about the unrest and looting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July 2021.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was rushed out of a school event in Christchurch on Thursday after protesters opposed to Covid restrictive measures thronged the venue and chased her car, while daily infection numbers hit record levels.

Blazes are tearing through northeast Argentina, consuming more land than a typical California wildfire season and threatening a key cattle farming region in this major beef exporter.

Hong Kong rolled out vaccine passports on Thursday requiring people aged 12 and above to have at least one Covid-19 jab, and paved the way for mainland China manpower to help bring a worsening outbreak under control.

Russia confirmed it was targeting military facilities across the country, including airfields and anti-aircraft systems. The government in Kyiv called it a “full-scale invasion” and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy imposed martial law.

A "director" of an unregistered college in Mthatha has been jailed after issuing worthless certificates to paying students.

"Really now! People need to find other hobbies instead of toying with people's lives," Marawa said.

US equity futures and stocks slid on the back of the Putin’s escalation. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts tumbled more than 1%, European futures shed over 2% and an Asia-Pacific equity gauge fell to the lowest level this month.

The minister said the department of social development received a huge chunk of the budget, with R44bn set aside for a one year extension of the social relief of distress (SRD) grant until March 2023.

Earlier this month, more than 800 families were hit by floods in Tshwane.

The health department has reduced the time between first and second doses of Pfizer vaccine from 42 days to 21 days.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana delivered his maiden budget speech and spoke of economic reforms, spending cuts and growth prospects.

Vladimir Putin said he’s ordered a “special military operation” to protect the people of the Donbas separatist region, but said Russia will “aim for demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.”

The latest suspect to be arrested is believed to be the one who shot at the police helicopter.

Serial killer and rapist Wellington Kachidza got the least of what he deserved when he was sentenced to life in prison, families of his victims said outside court on Wednesday.

Coronavirus updates.

The university said the students blocked some of the entrance gates to the Bloemfontein campus.

There were 3,118 new Covid-19 cases and 110 deaths recorded in SA in the past 24 hours, the NICD said on Wednesday.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana tabled his 2022/23 budget on Wednesday afternoon. Senior economist at FNB, Siphamandla Mkhwanazi, says it was a positive budget for the consumer.

Ten suspects in the Rosettenville, Johannesburg, shoot-out with police have appeared in court.

The public enterprises department says it hopes to finalise an agreement with private consortium Takatso about the acquisition of a 51% interest in SAA by the end of the February, or March.

Despite spending R94m to fix a road in Braamfischerville, Johannesburg, the route is still in “complete disarray” - and now the city is investigating the contractors paid for work that wasn't done.