News 11:00

BULLETIN 17 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Police condemn the recent surge in political violence and killings
# Trump claims the US election system is dangerously exposed to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference
# And motorsport: Norris is on the back foot with his 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix

# The South African Police Service has condemned the recent surge in politically motivated killings ahead of November’s local government elections. Over 15 politically motivated assassinations have been recorded so far this year. Among those killed are two MK Party members, a DA by-election candidate, an ANC ward councillor, and the EFF’s Tshwane secretary. National police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, says political violence significantly undermines democratic legitimacy:

# United Africans Transformation says no president should be permitted to suspend Parliament’s constitutional work simply because the accountability process has become politically inconvenient. The Western Cape High Court this week heard arguments in president Cyril Ramaphosa’s interdict application, in which he is seeking to halt the commencement of the impeachment process against him. Judgment has been reserved. UAT says the court needs to preserve the constitutional balance between the judiciary and Parliament by allowing the Section 89 committee to continue its work.

# Social security agency SASSA has dismissed four officials from its Limpopo division after they were found guilty of being involved in a 33-million-rand social grant fraud scheme. An internal investigation found they had manipulated the social grants system while working with syndicates outside the agency. SASSA says the officials appealed the internal disciplinary finding, but their appeals were unsuccessful due to the seriousness of the misconduct and the need to protect public resources. It adds it maintains a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption.

Moving abroad: 

# US president Donald Trump says his administration is declassifying intelligence that he claims reveals shocking vulnerabilities in the country’s election infrastructure, including hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference. He has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won, was rigged against him. Trump says the Department of Homeland Security has uncovered approximately 278-thousand non-citizens in state voter rolls. He says disclosing this information is aimed at earning confidence by confronting vulnerabilities:

# Motorsport: Reigning Formula One world champion, Lando Norris, will take a ten-place grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix after exceeding the permitted number of power unit allocations. His McLaren will be fitted with a new power unit, his fourth this season, which is one more than is permitted without penalty. Norris will start Sunday’s race no higher than 11th, but says the upgrades they introduced will hopefully make a difference:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-46-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-18-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-862-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-995-dollars-43-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….