News 06:00

BULLETIN 26 August 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Hawks make significant inroads in apprehending suspects in high-profile cases
# The ANC rejects reports of stripping its KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee of its powers
# And motorsport: Lando Norris wins the Dutch Grand Prix

# Head of the Hawks Godfrey Lebeya says officers have made significant inroads in apprehending individuals involved in high-profile cases, ensuring accountability and justice for the victims. Lebeya outlined milestones achieved during the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. He says the arrests targeted people involved in serious corruption, fraud, money laundering, police killings, and cash-in-transit robberies. A total of 673 suspects have already appeared before the courts:

# The government has announced plans to gazette an updated Integrated Resource Plan for electricity by the end of the year. It also plans to finalise the first Integrated Energy Plan by mid-2025. Electricity and Energy deputy minister Samantha Graham announced these timelines during a parliamentary meeting. She says the final Integrated Resource Plan 2024 will undergo extensive public and stakeholder consultations before its approval, emphasising improved public engagement for the Integrated Energy Plan.

# The ANC has dismissed claims made in a Sunday Times article that its national working committee has stripped the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee of its powers. The working committee, comprising some of ANC’s top seven officials, including president Cyril Ramaphosa, has been on a fact-finding mission to determine why the party lost its majority in KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC says it has a standardised practice of issuing written memoranda to its structures on decisions made and supplementing such memoranda with press statements.

# The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has called on judges to urgently rule on his request for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and others. Karim Khan applied for warrants against those involved in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza. According to Khan, the leaders bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. He also asks the court’s judges to dismiss legal challenges filed by several governments and other parties.

# Motorsport: McLaren’s Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix, his second career Formula One victory, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. He is the first McLaren driver to have multiple wins in a season since Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in 2012. His teammate Oscar Piastri finished fourth and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth. Norris, who has cut Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ Championship to 70 points with nine races to go, says the race was enjoyable:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-74-cents and the euro at 19-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-44-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-261-dollars-5-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-514-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, and the vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand Zebulon Vilakazi, will officially open the new wing extension of the Wits Roy McAlpine Burns Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Diepkloof, Soweto, today. The department’s spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says annually, over 700 patients – both adults and children – with severe burns are admitted at the unit for critical care:

Stay tuned for more news………….