*Evening News Round-up: Tuesday 18 February 2025* *Headlines* *Prayer Session Turns Tragic: Floods Claim Lives of Four Children During Church Prayer Session, Search for Missing Infant Continues* *Kazembe-Kazembe Makes Serious Threats to Those Opposing Mnangagwa’s 2030 Term Extension Bid* *Police Withdraw Summons Against HSTV Journalist Who Interviewed Geza* *African Leaders Approve Creation Of $20 bln Financial Stability Fund* *South African Scientists Were Testing A Promising HIV Vaccine. Then Came Trump’s Aid Cuts* *Israel Partially Withdrawing Troops From Lebanon As Deadline Expires* *Russia Hardens Demands As It Holds First Talks With US & Without Ukraine* *DeepSeek 'Shared User Data' With TikTok Owner ByteDance* *Ancelotti Dismisses Guardiola’s “1pc Chance” Claim Ahead of Champions League Clash* Join our *Ad-free* News Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VacXkvFJJhzd2UoZYF1F *Stories in Detail:* *Prayer Session Turns Tragic: Floods Claim Lives of Four Children During Church Prayer Session, Search for Missing Infant Continues* A tragic incident in Gokwe South has left four children dead after floods swept away an Apostolic Church sect congregation that had taken shelter under a bridge. The disaster occurred in the early hours of Friday near Tare Bridge along the Gokwe-Siabuwa road. According to the police, about 20 church members were holding a prayer session near the bridge when heavy rains upstream triggered a surge of floodwaters. The sudden rush of water overwhelmed the worshippers, who struggled to escape. Midlands Provincial Community Relations Liaison Officer, Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko, confirmed the heartbreaking incident. “A wave of floods came and swept them away. They woke up to try and rescue themselves, but unfortunately, they failed to retrieve four children aged between 9 months and 4 years.” The deceased children have been identified as: ●Beauty Mavhiringani (9 months) – Village Kamba ●Devine Muvhiringani (4 years) – Village Kamba ●Pamela Natare (1 year 9 months) – Village Tsive ●Effort Shava (3 years) – Village Mudzimiri All the villages fall under Chief Nemangwe in Gokwe South. The bodies of the four children were discovered along the riverbank. However, search efforts are still ongoing for another infant, aged one year and nine months, who remains unaccounted for. “A search is still going on to locate the outstanding body of a one-year-nine-months infant,” Inspector Mahoko added. The retrieved bodies have since been taken to Gokwe South District Hospital Mortuary. *iharare* *Kazembe-Kazembe Makes Serious Threats to Those Opposing Mnangagwa’s 2030 Term Extension Bid* In a startling revelation that underscores deepening divisions within Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu PF, Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe has accused party members of engaging in a dangerous competition to insult President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The remarks highlight the escalating internal strife within the party, as factions vie for power and influence ahead of key political events. Speaking at a recent party gathering, Kazembe Kazembe expressed concern over the growing trend of public disparagement directed at the president. “People are now competing to insult the president, Emmerson Mnangagwa,” Kazembe stated. “This is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately. Such behavior undermines the unity of the party and disrespects the office of the president.” The war of words within Zanu PF has intensified in recent months, with factions aligned to different party heavyweights openly criticizing one another. Observers note that the infighting is largely driven by succession politics, as various groups position themselves for influence in the post-Mnangagwa era. The president, who has been at the helm since the ouster of the late Robert Mugabe in 2017, has faced increasing scrutiny over his leadership style and the country’s economic challenges. Sources within the party reveal that the factional battles have become increasingly personal, with some members resorting to public attacks on Mnangagwa’s policies and leadership. This has sparked fears of a potential split within the party, which has dominated Zimbabwean politics since independence in 1980. Political analyst Tendai Moyo commented on the situation, stating, “The open criticism of Mnangagwa by his own party members is unprecedented. It reflects the deep-seated frustrations within Zanu PF and the growing desperation among factions to secure their positions ahead of the next election cycle.” The infighting has also raised concerns about the stability of the government, with some fearing that the public airing of grievances could weaken the party’s grip on power. Opposition parties have seized on the divisions, calling for unity and reform within the ruling party. As the war of words continues, Kazembe Kazembe has called for discipline and loyalty among party members. “We must remain united and focused on the goals of the party,” he urged. “Insulting the president will only serve to divide us further and weaken our collective resolve.” Despite these calls for unity, the factional battles show no signs of abating, with analysts predicting further turmoil within Zanu PF in the coming months. As the party grapples with internal discord, the future of Zimbabwe’s political landscape remains uncertain. For now, all eyes are on President Mnangagwa and his ability to navigate the growing tensions within his party. Whether he can restore unity or the divisions will deepen further remains to be seen. *Police Withdraw Summons Against HSTV Journalist Who Interviewed Geza* The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has withdrawn the summons against Heart and Soul TV (HSTV) journalist Blessed Mhlanga. Three people armed with pistols reportedly visited Mhlanga’s offices in Harare on 17 February 2025 looking for him. In a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on 17 February 2025, Mhlanga said: It’s not a laughing matter at all. Three persons armed with pistols came to my office this morning looking for me. They did not say why they needed me. Then minutes later, I got a call inviting me to Law and Order. I will be presenting myself to the police with my lawyers 2mrw (tomorrow). According to MISA Zimbabwe, Mhlanga’s lawyer Chris Mhike, said he contacted the police over the matter and was told the summons had been withdrawn. Earlier this month, Mhlanga was summoned to Harare Central Police Station by the ZRP Law and Order Section. Concerned about the police’s intentions, Mhlanga attended the station accompanied by Mhike, MISA Zimbabwe’s External Legal Counsel. It was later revealed that the police wanted to discuss the status of a six-year-old case involving former Deputy Finance Minister Terrence Mukupe. The summons followed Mhlanga’s interview with ZANU PF Central Committee member and war veteran Blessed Geza, who had been making critical remarks about President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In the interview, Geza accused Mnangagwa of corruption, nepotism, tribalism, and failing to address the country’s economic challenges, while calling for his resignation. On Saturday, HStv posted a statement on X quoting Geza as saying that he was safe, not arrested, nor in hiding. *African Leaders Approve Creation Of $20 bln Financial Stability Fund* African leaders have approved the establishment of a $20 billion continental financial stability fund, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said, a move designed to stave off potential debt crises on the continent before they take hold. The facility, known as The African Financial Stability Mechanism (AFSM), will get its own credit rating to allow it to borrow on international capital markets, the AfDB, which will host the mechanism, said in a statement seen by Reuters on Tuesday. African leaders had called for the creation of the fund in February 2022 and mandated the AfDB to carry out preparations to set it up. The AfDB now intends to move quickly in drafting a formal agreement and securing ratification by states, it said in the statement following an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital over the weekend. As well as soaring external commercial repayments and the risk of default, many economies in the region are also grappling with pressure for higher spending, sluggish government revenues, and the effects of climate change. Creation of the facility was also partly motivated by the fact that Africa lacks its own regional financial cushion, unlike Europe and Asia, which have arrangements of this kind. "If implemented as designed, the AFSM can save African sovereigns approximately $20 billion in debt servicing costs by 2035," Kevin Urama, an AfDB vice president and its chief economist, told Reuters. Membership will be voluntary and open to any African Union member country willing to participate. "Provision has (also) been made for at least 20% of non-African members provided the African states retain the majority of membership," the AfDB said. African nations face a range of debt pressures, the AfDB says. Some such as Kenya and Gabon have issued international Eurobonds in recent years and investors have at times questioned their ability to repay. These concerns led to a steep currency depreciation in Kenya in 2023, and a rating downgrade for Gabon by Fitch last week. The AFSM will lend money at "concessional" rates, the head of the AfDB told Reuters last month, and beneficiaries will commit to defined macroeconomic and fiscal reforms. "The core of AFSM's mandate is not to support the provision of bailouts to African states but to prevent them," said the AfDB. *Reuters* *South African Scientists Were Testing A Promising HIV Vaccine. Then Came Trump’s Aid Cuts* South African lab technician Nozipho Mlotshwa was waiting for the test results for a potential HIV vaccine, which has eluded scientists for decades, when the order came from USAID to stop work. The first round of vaccines she and her colleagues made in Johannesburg had produced an immune response in rabbits, which was promising but not conclusive - so they tweaked the formula and sent off four new versions for pre-clinical tests. "This was very exciting. We were getting quite good results," Mlotshwa, 32, told Reuters in the lab in the Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit at the city's University of the Witwatersrand. Now the animal blood samples containing their results are sitting untouched in a freezer. A trial of an earlier, separate vaccine candidate, which was about to be tested on humans in South Africa as well as Kenya and Uganda, is also on ice. Both trials are among the casualties of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). They are part of a wider South African-led HIV vaccine development scheme known as BRILLIANT and funded entirely by a $45 million grant from USAID. It is unclear if or when the project could resume. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "It feels like you're building something and you could really make a huge difference," Nigel Garrett, Chief Scientific Officer at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, a partner in the project, said. "And then it's wiped away." The project is one of many research efforts worldwide to be hit by Trump's actions since taking office last month. Others include halting efforts to protect food crops from pests and diseases and blocking publication of a paper on the mpox outbreak. HIV's ability to mutate quickly has confounded efforts to create a vaccine ever since it was first identified in 1983. The researchers in Johannesburg are using the mRNA technology that created some COVID-19 vaccines. Several other mRNA-based HIV vaccine candidates worldwide have reached clinical trials. BRILLIANT is unique in being Africa-led, aiming to develop capacity for producing vaccines in Africa. For the past year the Johannesburg team had been working with genetic sequences from two South African patients who have HIV but whose bodies produce a rare type of antibody that neutralizes the virus. They are trying to simulate that immune response. "We were gaining momentum," said Patrick Arbuthnot, director of the research unit, adding: "an HIV vaccine is the holy grail of the field". Trump in January ordered a 90-day pause in all foreign development assistance pending assessment of its consistency with his "America First" foreign policy. Separately, he has targeted South Africa with an executive order to cut all funding to the country, citing disapproval of its land reform policy and its genocide case against U.S. ally Israel. The U.S. foreign aid freeze has affected programmes across the globe, stranding shipments of life-saving medical supplies, including HIV drugs, and leaving disaster response teams unable to deploy. Waivers for "life-saving humanitarian assistance" have been hampered. Because South Africa has the world's largest population of people living with HIV, at more than 8 million, it is a hub for research on the virus. "Most of the landmark and groundbreaking studies have been conducted in this country. But these have been good for the whole world," said Ntobeko Ntusi, CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, which is spearheading the HIV vaccine search. Ntusi said he did not expect funding for projects like BRILLIANT to resume, given the executive order on aid to South Africa. The council gets about a third of its funding from U.S. federal sources, for research that is mostly on HIV and tuberculosis but covers other areas including maternal and infant mortality and antimicrobial resistance, he said. Garrett said the shot that was ready for testing on humans was a mix of two vaccine substances developed in the United States and the Netherlands which have shown promise but never been tested together. They are now sitting in storage. "We had a huge opportunity, good funding. It's difficult for other funders to fill that gap," he said. *Israel Partially Withdrawing Troops From Lebanon As Deadline Expires* Israel is pulling its forces out of southern Lebanon as the deadline for their withdrawal under a fragile ceasefire deal has passed. The Israeli military continued a pullback on Tuesday morning for the second day. However, while the majority of its forces will meet the revised deadline agreed under the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, Israel has said it will remain in five strategic locations, warning it is ready to resume hostilities. Lebanon’s army, which under the deal should deploy across the south of the country as Israeli forces vacate, reported on Tuesday morning that it was present in about a dozen villages and border areas. Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani confirmed that five hilltop locations will be maintained to provide vantage points and protection for communities in northern Israel. He claimed the “temporary measure” was approved by the United States-led body monitoring the ceasefire. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had raised concerns that a complete withdrawal would not be achieved by the deadline, saying “the Israeli enemy cannot be trusted”. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for his office said Lebanon would consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation, and that Beirut has the right to use all means to ensure a full withdrawal. Lebanon is also set to ask the United Nations Security Council to force Israel to comply fully with the ceasefire agreement. However, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the five locations would be maintained to guard against any ceasefire violations by Hezbollah. He added that the army has erected new posts on the Israeli side of the border and sent reinforcements. “We are determined to provide full security to every northern community,” Katz said. Hezbollah and Israel agreed on the ceasefire in November, following months of cross-border hostilities and war, as the Iran-linked Lebanese group reacted to Israel’s war in Gaza with rocket attacks on northern Israel, which were reciprocated by fire from the Israeli side. Israel then launched a ground incursion and bombardments that killed more than 4,000 people across Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Under the deal, brokered by the United States and France, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south of the country alongside UN peacekeepers, as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period. Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30km (18.6 miles) from the border, and dismantle its remaining military infrastructure there. The initial deadline for the Israeli withdrawal in late January was extended to February 18. However, on Monday, Israel’s military announced that it would maintain the five locations along the border to “continue to defend our residents and to make sure there’s no immediate threat”. The refusal by Israel to withdraw all of its forces confers more uncertainty over the fragile ceasefire deal. Israel has been engaged in sporadic attacks that it says target Hezbollah forces, in violation of the terms of the ceasefire. The Lebanese group has denied accusations against it. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project recorded 330 air raids and shellings carried out by Israel between November 27 and January 10, and 260 property destructions. Authorities estimate reconstruction costs could reach more than $10bn, while some 100,000 people remain internally displaced, according to UN figures. The authorities in Lebanon on Monday rejected any extension of the withdrawal period and urged the sponsors of the deal to pressure Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will do what it has to in order to “enforce” the ceasefire, declaring that “Hezbollah must be disarmed”. *Aljazeera* *Russia Hardens Demands As It Holds First Talks With US & Without Ukraine* The United States and Russia said on Tuesday they had agreed to press ahead with efforts to end the war in Ukraine after holding talks in the Saudi capital at which Kyiv was not represented. The 4-1/2-hour meeting in Riyadh marked a crucial moment - the first time that U.S. and Russian officials have sat down together to discuss ways to halt the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Ukraine says it will not accept any deal imposed on it without its consent. Even before the talks took place, the new administration of President Donald Trump was accused by some European politicians of handing free concessions to Moscow last week by ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine and saying it was an illusion for Kyiv to believe it could win back the 20% of its territory now under Russian control. U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz told reporters in Riyadh that the war must come to a permanent end, and this would involve negotiations over territory. "Just a practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there's going to be discussion of security guarantees," he said. Addressing Ukrainian and European concerns, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no one was being sidelined, the European Union needed to be involved at some point, and any solution must be acceptable to all parties. But even while the meeting in the Saudi capital was under way, Russia hardened its demands. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow it was "not enough" for NATO not to admit Ukraine as a member. She said the alliance must go further by disavowing a promise it made at a summit in Bucharest in 2008 that Kyiv would join at a future, unspecified date. "Otherwise, this problem will continue to poison the atmosphere on the European continent," she said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has consistently demanded NATO membership as the only way to guarantee Kyiv's sovereignty and independence from its nuclear-armed neighbour. Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for assurances of independence and sovereignty within its existing borders from Russia, the U.S. and Britain. As European countries discuss the possibility of contributing peacekeepers to back any Ukraine peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in Riyadh that Moscow would not accept the deployment of NATO troops there, whatever flag they were operating under. "Of course, this is unacceptable to us," he said. The comments by Lavrov and Zakharova signalled that Russia will keep pressing for further concessions in the negotiations, whose opening encounter saw Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov - two veterans who have spent a combined 34 years in their current roles - negotiate with three Trump administration officials in their first month on the job. Both sides said no date had been set for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which both men say they want. But the fast-moving diplomacy, beginning with a Putin-Trump phone call only six days earlier, has triggered alarm in Ukraine and European capitals that the two leaders could cut a quick deal that ignores their security interests, rewards Moscow for its invasion and leaves Putin free to threaten Ukraine or other countries in the future. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the two sides agreed to appoint "respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides". Russian negotiator Ushakov told reporters after more than four hours of talks: "It was a very serious conversation on all the questions we wanted to touch upon." Rubio said he had come away convinced that the Russian side was "willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how quickly and through what mechanism can an end be brought to this war". Lavrov said there was "high interest" in lifting economic barriers between the two countries, after the U.S. and other Western countries imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow over the war. Rubio was non-committal when asked whether these might be lifted. "There are other parties that have sanctions. The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point, because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed," he said. *DeepSeek 'Shared User Data' With TikTok Owner ByteDance* South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with the owner of TikTok in China. "We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance," the South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency. The country had already removed DeepSeek from app stores over the weekend over data protection concerns. The Chinese app caused shockwaves in the AI world in January, wiping billions off global stock markets over claims its new model was trained at a much lower cost than US rivals such as ChatGPT. Since then, multiple countries have warned that user data may not be properly protected, and in February a US cybersecurity company alleged potential data sharing between DeepSeek and ByteDance. DeepSeek's apparent overnight impact saw it shoot to the top of App Store charts in the UK, US and many other countries around the world - although it now sits far below ChatGPT in UK rankings. In South Korea, it had been downloaded over a million times before being pulled from Apple and Google's App Stores on Saturday evening. Existing users can still access the app and use it on a web browser. The data regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency that despite finding a link between DeepSeek and ByteDance, it was "yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent". Critics of the Chinese state have long argued its National Intelligence Law allows the government to access any data it wants from Chinese companies. However, ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing, is owned by a number of global investors - and others say the same law allows for the protection of private companies and personal data. Fears over user data being sent to China was one of the reasons the US Supreme Court upheld a ban on TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance. The US ban is on hold until 5 April as President Donald Trump attempts to broker a resolution. Cybersecurity company Security Scorecard published a blog on DeepSeek on 10 February which suggested "multiple direct references to ByteDance-owned" services. "These references suggest deep integration with ByteDance's analytics and performance monitoring infrastructure," it said in its review of DeepSeek's Android app. Security Scorecard expressed concern that along with privacy risks, DeepSeek "user behaviour and device metadata [are] likely sent to ByteDance servers". It also found data "being transmitted to domains linked to Chinese state-owned entities". On Monday, South Korea's PIPC said it "found out traffic generated by third-party data transfers and insufficient transparency in DeepSeek's privacy policy". It said DeepSeek was cooperating with the regulator, and acknowledged it had failed to to take into account South Korean privacy laws. But the regulator advised users "exercise caution and avoid entering personal information into the chatbot". South Korea has already followed a number of countries such as Australia and Taiwan in banning DeepSeek from government devices. The BBC has contacted the PIPC, ByteDance and DeepSeek's parent company, High Flyer, for a response. *BBC* *Ancelotti Dismisses Guardiola’s “1pc Chance” Claim Ahead of Champions League Clash* Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola was deliberately underestimating the English side’s hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16. European champions Madrid hold a 3-2 lead on City, who have struggled this season and are fourth in the Premier League, in advance of the playoff round second leg on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu. After thrashing Newcastle 4-0 on Saturday, Guardiola said English champions City have only a 1-percent chance of knocking out the record 15-time European Cup winners. “He does not truly think that, I’ll ask him before the game – do you really think you’ve got a 1-percent chance?” Ancelotti told a news conference on Tuesday. “He really thinks they’ve got more chance than that … we don’t think we have 99-percent chance. “We think we have a small advantage that we have to take advantage of, and try to play the same game we set up in the first leg, which went well.” Guardiola won three LaLiga titles and two Champions League crowns in his time with Real’s archrivals in Spain, Barcelona. This campaign has marked the greatest, and perhaps first, true struggle of his managerial career. “This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.” Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage. Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies. Ancelotti also reiterated his frustration with Spanish refereeing, following some controversial decisions which went against his side in recent LaLiga matches. Ancelotti said he was more comfortable with refereeing in the Champions League. “Statistics speak for themselves, in Europe, there’s less controversy in this sense, there are less VAR interventions,” said Ancelotti. “The VAR only intervenes when it’s necessary, and usually, the Champions League features the best referees from each country, so the quality is very high in this sense.” England international Jude Bellingham was sent off for dissent during Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Osasuna on Saturday in LaLiga, but the resulting suspension is not applicable in the Champions League. Bellingham’s teammate Federico Valverde said he did not want the midfielder to change his ways. “What I want is players who leave their soul out on the pitch, in this case with Jude in the last game, I always want him to be like that,” Valverde told reporters. “Jude is a player who shows character, who always wants to win, who always wants to fight. “This time he got a red card, but I like that he’s giving everything, his spikiness … we have to stay united as a team.” Ancelotti confirmed in his news conference before the game that defender Antonio Rudiger was fit to start for the holders after injury, but Lucas Vazquez would only be ready for the bench. Erling Haaland is set to face Real despite taking a heavy blow in the victory against Newcastle. The striker was grounded for some time in pain after taking a knock during the game, but Guardiola says he expected the striker to be fit. *Aljazeera*