News 14:00

BULLETIN 3 February 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Freedom Front Plus says the ANC must realise Donald Trump’s warnings about South Africa are not empty words
# South Africa joins the Hague Group to support Palestinians
# And cricket: The SA20 has reached the play-off stage

# The Freedom Front Plus says president Donald Trump’s strong words about government abuses such as expropriation in South Africa and America’s immediate suspension of financial aid of hundreds of millions of rand to the country, should be taken very seriously. The FF Plus’ Corné Mulder says the ANC can assume in advance that these are not empty words. He says the party will cooperate with such an investigation:

Meanwhile, ActionSA says it has noted with concern, what it calls, the reckless remarks made by Trump threatening punitive measures against South Africa for what he claims to be widespread land confiscations and human rights violations. ActionSA president Herman Mashaba says there can be no disputing the fact that the failures of the South African government are well documented and continue to manifest in much human suffering in the country:

# South Africa is among nine countries forming The Hague Group to support Palestinian rights. Representatives from South Africa, Malaysia, Namibia, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Senegal, Honduras, and Belize will coordinate legal, diplomatic, and economic measures against Israel’s alleged violations of international law. International Relations and Cooperation minister, Ronald Lamola, has described the formation as a turning point in global justice efforts. The group aims to prevent arms transfers and enforce legal actions through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to hold violators accountable.

# Fast-moving floodwaters in northeastern Australia have forced many to flee. Storms have already dumped more than a metre of rain in parts of Queensland within two days. Aerial footage show rural communities surrounded by floodwaters, with roads cut off. The authorities told the two-thousand-100 people in Townsville to evacuate. The popular coastal tourist destination lies near the Great Barrier Reef. A woman in her 60s was killed when the rescue boat she was in flipped over in the rural town of Ingham, about 100 kilometres from Townsville.

# Cricket: Only four matches remain in this year’s SA20. Tomorrow, the two teams at the top of the log, MI Cape Town and neighbours Paarl Royals, will face off in Gqeberha in the first qualifier. The winner will go straight through to Saturday’s final at the Wanderers and the loser will get another chance to reach the final in Thursday’s second qualifier in Centurion. The opponent will be the winner of Wednesday’s eliminator between Joburg Super Kings and defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape, also in Centurion.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-93-cents and the euro at 19-rand-38-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-321-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-795-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-58-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….