ALEX BLOG

By Siyabonga Sishi

MOOI RIVER, Feb 12 (Reuters) - South Africa's beef exports fell 26% in 2025, despite growing global demand, partly due to China's ban on ‌the African country's red meat products as it battles its worst foot-and-mouth ‌disease outbreak in recent memory.

The country has faced resurgent foot-and-mouth infections since early 2025 when the disease spread ​to seven of its nine provinces.

Beef shipments to China fell 69% to 1,687 metric tons last year following the ban imposed in May, according to statistics from industry body Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

China was South Africa's third biggest external market ‌in 2024 after the United ⁠Arab Emirates and Jordan.

When the highly contagious viral disease broke out on James Kean's dairy farm in Mooi River late January, his ⁠normal seasonal farm expenses had increased by 1 million rand ($62,985.38) as he fought to keep infections out.

Kean says some of his peers have spent three years' worth of veterinary products in ​just one ​month.

Milk production on his farm declined to ​about 23,000 litres a day from ‌about 26,000 litres within days of the outbreak, as infected cows eat less and are less productive.

"The cost to the economy is enormous. The (national) livestock population could halve in two years, in which case food prices are going to rise as well," Kean told Reuters during a visit to his farm.

Kean complains that the government has failed to ‌contain the disease, a concern shared by many ​farmers.

The government plans to vaccinate 80% of South Africa's ​national herd, which is estimated ​at 12 million cattle.

On February 6, it rolled out South Africa's first ‌foot-and-mouth vaccine in 20 years as ​it seeks to ease ​shortages of the inoculation doses.

The country is currently importing most of its foot-and-mouth vaccines from Botswana, Turkiye and Argentina.

"We are hit now by one of the ​worst outbreaks at a time ‌when we don't have the capacity to produce the vaccines that are required," ​agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo told Reuters.

($1 = 15.8767 rand)

(Reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; Writing ​by Nelson Banya; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Israeli PresidentIsaac Herzogwas due to end a contentious four-day visit to Australia on Thursday that brought comfort to Sydney's Jewish community traumatized by a recentantisemitic mass shooting, but also attracted large-scale demonstrations protesting the civilian toll of the Gaza war.

Australia Israel

Herzog has been dogged by protesters who label him a war criminal as he visited Sydney, the national capital Canberra and Melbourne in the first Australian visit by anIsraeli head of statein six years.

"We came here to be with you, to look you in the eye, to embrace, to remember and weep together and we wept," Herzog told a Jewish community gathering in Melbourne on Thursday under tight police security hours before he was due to depart Australia.

"Indeed, we wept a great deal this week and still I must tell you that we return to Israel feeling empowered because we have seen firsthand the beauty and resilience of this community and its significance in the eyes of all Australians of goodwill," he added.

Herzog and the Australian government agree he was invited to support a community reeling from a Dec. 14 attack, allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group, on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead.

Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler, who accompanied Herzog during his Australian travels, appealed to protesters to consider the grieving Jewish community.

"The community in Sydney is feeling extremely uplifted and seen following his visits," Leibler told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"They (protesters) are entitled to their objection. I guess what I would ask is … for the broader community to perhaps consider exercising just a little bit of regard as to the trauma that the Jewish community is experiencing following the attack on Bondi," Leibler said.

Herzog's critics take issue with another stated purpose of his visit. Herzog told The Associated Press in a statement last week his visit would "reinvigorate" bilateral relations and "dispel many of the lies and misinformation spread about Israel over the last two years."

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"Now that means his visit is not a visit to mourn, but it's a visit that is political, that is in fact propaganda," Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti told Seven Network television. "So his view seems to be different from the Australian government's view as to the purposes of his visit."

Sidoti was one of three experts appointed by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council to an inquiry thatreportedin September last year that Herzog, Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuand former Israeli Defense MinisterYoav Gallanthad incited the commission of genocide in Gaza.

Bilateralrelations have been strainedover the plight of Palestinian civilians since theIsrael-Hamas warbegan in 2023, particularly since Australia decided torecognize a Palestinian statesix months ago.

Herzog said on Thursday his discussions with Australian political leaders and "opinion shapers" this week had been "conducted with candor, open-mindedness and a great deal of mutual respect."

"I found serious partners who are willing to hold serious conversations and address the vile rhetoric, the misinformation, the shameful antisemitism head on," Herzog said.

Police said a planned visit on Thursday to the ruins of Melbourne'sAdass Israel Synagogue, which was torched in late 2024, had been cancelled due to security concerns. Australiaaccused Iranof directing that arson attack and expelled Iranian AmbassadorAhmad Sadeghiin August.

Anti-Herzog graffiti left overnight at a Melbourne University campus was removed early Thursday.

"The university stands firmly against antisemitism. Racism, hatred and violence have no place in our society or our nation. We became aware of the offensive graffiti on the edge of our Parkville (suburban) campus this morning and immediately sent cleaners who swiftly removed it," a university statement said.

On his first day in Australia on Monday,Herzog laid a wreath at Bondi Beach. He also met survivors and bereaved families.

Headdressed the mediaat the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, describing his visit as an opportunity to reset bilateral relations on a "new beginning and a better future."

PARIS (AP) — As a French teetotaler, Justine Bobin knows how challenging it can be to not drink in a country where wine, beer and other boozy beverages still lubricate many social interactions, even if France is less hooked on alcohol than it used to be.

"People are convinced that you can't have fun if you don't drink alcohol in France," she says.

Which is one of the reasons that Bobin trekked up to Paris this week, to check out the growing array of zero- and low-alcohol drinks — predominantly red, white, rosé and sparkling wines from around Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Those products rubbed shoulders with established producers and distillers of all things alcoholic at a major international trade show for the wine and spirits industries.

With slogans championing "no alcohol, no regrets, no consequences" and encouraging consumers to "drink different," producers of so-called no/low beverages are aiming to profit fromchanging tastes and habits, in particular those of young adults more mindful ofalcohol's harms.

In the United States,fewer Americansare reporting that they drink alcohol. In other major international markets, a growing no/low industry is chipping away atbooze's hegemony.

France's government is offering to pay wine-makers who agree to rip up their vineyards, to reduce the output of vintages no longer in demand. Dutch drinks giant Heineken this week said it will cut up to 6,000 jobs from its global workforce by 2028, after its beer sales fell last year. But the firm's portfolio of no/low drinks saw double-digit growth in 18 of its markets.

Bobin, who is Muslim, saidzero-alcohol drinkscan help teetotalers and drinkers of alcohol spend time together. She tasted a variety of non-alcoholic adult beverages at the Wine Paris show, looking for some to sell at her delicatessen shop in France's wine-making Burgundy region.

"It allows us to share a moment with people even without drinking alcohol. So they can drink if they want, but we can still share a drink, toast with them," she said. "It offers an alternative for everyone and brings people together. It's more of a product for inclusion, I think, for people who don't drink alcohol, and that's great."

Alcohol consumption in France has plummeted in the last half-century, with many adults dropping the habit of wine with most meals and young people, in particular, generally drinking less and differently than their parents.

Katja Bernegger, who produces alcohol-free wines in Austria, said no/low drinking isn't a passing fad.

"People are more mindful of their body," she said. "If you drink today, you probably have a headache tomorrow, and they don't want it because you need to function, you have kids, you have a job."

Bernegger and her partner, a winemaker, started venturing into no-alcohol wines when she was pregnant. She stopped drinking but missed the flavors of wine.

"You are standing there with your orange juice or Coke. You are out of it. You have to explain why you don't drink," she said.

"So you are simply having just half of the fun in life. And that's the reason why we need some sophisticated non-alcoholic options."

AP journalist Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

By Siyabonga Sishi

MOOI RIVER, Feb 12 (Reuters) - South Africa's beef exports fell 26% in 2025, despite growing global demand, partly due to China's ban on ‌the African country's red meat products as it battles its worst foot-and-mouth ‌disease outbreak in recent memory.

The country has faced resurgent foot-and-mouth infections since early 2025 when the disease spread ​to seven of its nine provinces.

Beef shipments to China fell 69% to 1,687 metric tons last year following the ban imposed in May, according to statistics from industry body Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

China was South Africa's third biggest external market ‌in 2024 after the United ⁠Arab Emirates and Jordan.

When the highly contagious viral disease broke out on James Kean's dairy farm in Mooi River late January, his ⁠normal seasonal farm expenses had increased by 1 million rand ($62,985.38) as he fought to keep infections out.

Kean says some of his peers have spent three years' worth of veterinary products in ​just one ​month.

Milk production on his farm declined to ​about 23,000 litres a day from ‌about 26,000 litres within days of the outbreak, as infected cows eat less and are less productive.

"The cost to the economy is enormous. The (national) livestock population could halve in two years, in which case food prices are going to rise as well," Kean told Reuters during a visit to his farm.

Kean complains that the government has failed to ‌contain the disease, a concern shared by many ​farmers.

The government plans to vaccinate 80% of South Africa's ​national herd, which is estimated ​at 12 million cattle.

On February 6, it rolled out South Africa's first ‌foot-and-mouth vaccine in 20 years as ​it seeks to ease ​shortages of the inoculation doses.

The country is currently importing most of its foot-and-mouth vaccines from Botswana, Turkiye and Argentina.

"We are hit now by one of the ​worst outbreaks at a time ‌when we don't have the capacity to produce the vaccines that are required," ​agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo told Reuters.

($1 = 15.8767 rand)

(Reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; Writing ​by Nelson Banya; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

By Melanie Burton and Alasdair Pal

Israel's President Isaac Herzog visits Australia

MELBOURNE, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Pro-Palestine protesters rallied in Melbourne on Thursday on the final day of Israeli President Isaac Herzog's trip to Australia, following protests in the capital Canberra and ‌violent clashes between protesters and police in Sydney.

Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime ‌Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the December 14 shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15.

The visit has attracted ​the ire of some people in Australia, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza.

Protesters cite a United Nations Commission of Inquiry that last year concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Herzog incited these acts - accusations that Israel called scandalous.

In Melbourne's central business district, a large crowd gathered outside one ‌of the city's main railway stations on Thursday ⁠evening. Many protesters wore keffiyeh scarves and waved Palestinian flags.

Neville Steer, 69, travelled about one hour from the suburb of McCrae to join the rally that police expect to draw around 5,000 ⁠protestors.

"My concern is for the people in Palestine and particularly in Gaza, the impact that Israel's having on the whole population," he said.

Elijah Fokkens, 20, said it was hard to sit by and do nothing after seeing the destruction of Gaza by Israel's government on social ​media.

He ​said he was "protesting Herzog being as destructive and as implicit as he ​is in this genocide. I think it's really ‌important to show up and demand our government do better".

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Graffiti that appeared on a Melbourne University campus on Thursday calling for the death of Herzog has been referred to the police, the university said.

There is no indication the graffiti was connected to the planned protests.

PRESIDENT SAYS AUSTRALIA ANTISEMITISM FRIGHTENING

Herzog, who has also visited Sydney and Canberra on the four-day trip, said on Thursday there was "frightening" antisemitism in Australia.

"There is antisemitism. It is frightening and worrying, but there's also a silent majority of Australians who seek ‌peace, who respect the Jewish community, and of course, want a ​dialogue with Israel," he said in an interview with television network Channel Seven.

The ​accusation Herzog was involved in genocide in Gaza - a ​common claim by protesters - was a "lie", he added.

Herzog later spoke at a Jewish community event in ‌Melbourne's south, where he said it was "obscure and odd" ​that such a heavy police presence ​was needed outside the venue.

"I say to all those protesters outside, go protest in front of the Iranian embassy or whichever embassy they have," he said.

Police and protesters also clashed in Sydney on Monday evening, with 27 arrested ​after demonstrations against Herzog's visit turned violent.

Both ‌sides accused each other of assault, with police eventually using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the ​crowd in the city's central business district.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Alasdair Pal in Sydney; ​additional reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)

BREVARD COUNTY, FL — An over 400-pound juvenile male manatee, dubbed "Melby" by some local officials, is on the mend at SeaWorld Orlando after being trapped in a storm drain and rescued by multiple agencies.

Local fire rescue units and wildlife authorities converged on Monday, Feb. 9, in Melbourne Beach to rescue the sea cow that was found stuck inside a "baffle box," an underground structure designed to remove sediment, trash, and debris from stormwater. Melbourne Beach is a coastal town about 75 miles southeast of Orlando, Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it was a quick call from the public to a wildlife hotline anda fast responsefrom local, state, and federal agencies that kept Melby's life from just going "down the drain." Now, Melby is recovering — and hungry.

"He showed some interest in food during his first night, which is an encouraging sign," Kristen Turner, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,told Florida Today, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Tuesday, Feb. 10. "His condition continues to be evaluated."

It was not immediately known how or when the manatee —a native, threatened Florida specieswhich lives in many of the state's waterways — wandered into the storm drain. Manatees are typically drawn to warmer waters during the winter.

'It took a village to free the sea cow'

Florida Todayreported that multiple agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Brevard County Fire Rescue, the University of Florida, andJack's Wrecker Service, responded to the beachside community at about 5 p.m. local time on Monday, Feb. 9.

Instructors from the Brevard County Fire Rescue and theUniversity of Florida's Veterinary Emergency Treatment Serviceshad been called in to assist with the rescue as they were wrapping up their animal rescue training, the fire department said.

"The large mammal was stuck inside a storm drain after seeking warmth from the recent cold temps," Brevard County Fire Rescue said ina statementon Facebook. "It took a village to free the sea cow."

Rescue workers continued their efforts for several hours as the nighttime chill descended on the area. Heavy equipment was brought in to slice into the roadway and remove the drain lid as lights glared.

Just after 9 p.m., the manatee was pulled from the underground baffle box after utility workers dug through several feet of concrete to reach the trapped mammal. A tow truck lifted the manatee out of the drain.

"During the initial onsite health assessment, responders noted the manatee was underweight and had multiple open wounds on the underside near the tail and flippers," Turner said in an email. "The manatee was alert and moving at the time of rescue but had been exposed to shallow, cold water and likely had been inside the culvert for an extended period of time."

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'Thrilling and nearly unbelievable!':About 1,000 manatees piled together in a Florida park, setting a breathtaking record

Melby showing 'positive signs of recovery'

Melby measures about seven feet in length and weighs about 410 pounds, according to theFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He was then transported to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation.

"Our team was then ready to receive this over 400-pound manatee for expert care and rehabilitation," SeaWorld Orlando said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Feb. 11. "This gentle giant is showing positive signs of recovery here at (SeaWorld Orlando) like moving independently, breathing on his own, and showing interest in food! We're optimistic about his future and grateful to play a critical part in his journey!"

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission noted they could not definitively say whether the cold drove Melby down the drain, but that it was the most likely reason.

"While rare, manatees are naturally curious may enter culverts and similar structures, and these situations often go unnoticed," Turner said. "In many cases, animals are not found alive. This rescue had a positive outcome because someone immediately called the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline, allowing responders to act quickly."

Manatees remain a threatened species

Spanning around 10 feet in length and weighing 1,000 pounds on average,manateesare the gentle giants of the water. In some cases, the "sea cow" can grow up to 13 feet long and weigh 3,500 pounds, according to theFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Thesedocile marine mammalsare categorized intothree distinct species based on location, National Geographic reports. The North American East Coast, including Florida, is home to the West Indian manatee. The Amazonian manatee is found in the Amazon River, while the African manatee lives along the west coast and rivers of Africa.

For years, manatee populations have been negatively impacted by many factors, including habitat loss, poor fishing practices, boat collisions, and pollution. They are still at risk even today.

"Abundance of the subspecies has increased over the last 30 years, which prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to downlist the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened in 2017," according to theMarine Mammal Commission.

In 2021,manatee deaths in Floridareached a record high withover 1,100 deathsdocumented, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Unusual Mortality Event, or UME,was from starvation due to seagrass loss.

The UME was closed in March 2025 after theFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reporteda decrease in deaths, with 565 recorded in 2024 and 555 in 2023.

"The elevated manatee mortality numbers associated with this UME decreased three years ago and researchers have not documented a manatee death from starvation linked to a lack of forage for two years,"according to the agency.

Contributing: Olivia Munson, USA TODAY; J.D. Gallop and Malcolm Denemark, Florida Today

This article originally appeared on Florida Today:Manatee showing 'positive signs of recovery' after Florida rescue

Prosecutors in Utah have filed a first-degree felony rape charge against Brigham Young University standout wide receiver Parker Kingston, officials said Wednesday.

Kingston, 21, is being held without bail in St. George, a city near Arizona, Washington County prosecutors said. His initial appearance in court is scheduled for Friday.

The investigation began last February, prosecutors said in a news release. A woman who was 20 years old at the time told officers at a St. George hospital that Kingston assaulted her on February 23, 2025, prosecutors said. Police gathered digital and forensic evidence and interviewed the parties involved and other witnesses, prosecutors said.

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It was not clear if Kingston had an attorney. He didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment. A phone message left for his family was not immediately returned.

BYU said in a statement that it takes any allegation very seriously, and will cooperate with law enforcement. It said it would not be able to comment further due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students.

Kingston had a team-leading 67 receptions and 928 yards with five TD catches last season. He also rushed for 199 yards on 25 carries with a score, and returned 17 punts for 230 yards and a TD.

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