News 17:00

BULLETIN 20 January 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Festive season road deaths rise by 5.3-percent
# Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s corruption case is postponed for disclosure discussions
# And tennis: Ben Shelton ends French veteran Gaël Monfils’ run at the Australian Open

# South Africa recorded a 5.3-percent increase in road fatalities with one-thousand-502 deaths resulting from one-thousand-234 fatal crashes during the 2024/’25 festive season. Transport minister Barbara Creecy reported that six provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Limpopo, the Northern Cape and North West – recorded increased fatalities while Gauteng, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga recorded decreases. She also highlights a spike in pedestrian fatalities:

# The High Court in Pretoria has postponed the corruption and money laundering case against former speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. This delay seeks to allow discussions between the state and her legal team regarding her request for further disclosures containing correspondence and the investigation diary. Investigating Directorate Against Corruption spokesperson Henry Mamothame confirmed that her 50-thousand-rand bail was extended until the next court appearance:

# The DA is calling for an overhaul of industrial policies following ArcelorMittal South Africa’s announcement of three-thousand-500 job cuts and a potential 100-thousand more across related sectors. The party argues the current policies are worsening unemployment and urges the government to focus on creating jobs, boosting investment, and cutting unnecessary regulations. The DA’s Toby Chance criticised the use of bailouts, citing stronger leadership is needed to drive economic growth:

# European and Asian stock markets rose and bitcoin soared to a new high as Donald Trump prepares to re-enter office as president of the world’s biggest economy. Bitcoin hit a record above 109-thousand-dollar as Trump, who has signalled plans to deregulate the cryptocurrency sector, prepares to be sworn in as US president. Ahead of the inauguration, sentiment has been boosted by positive talks between Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping that soothed worries about the incoming US leader’s second term.

# Tennis: American Ben Shelton ground down French veteran Gaël Monfils to set up an Australian Open quarter-final against Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who ended American teenage qualifier Learner Tien’s fairytale run. Twenty-two-year-old Shelton went toe-to-toe with the Frenchman, 16 years his senior, until an exhausted Monfils pulled the plug in the fourth set. Shelton won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 1-love, with each of the first three sets lasting almost an hour.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-84-cents and the euro at 19-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 106-thousand-988-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-708-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-99-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….