News 14:00

BULLETIN 7 February 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The remains of the South African National Defence Force soldiers will be repatriated from the DRC today
# Trump is sued over the cutting of aid to a foreign agency
# And rugby: Gatland insists that tomorrow’s match against Italy is not their biggest in 20 years

# The remains of 14 South African National Defence Force soldiers killed in battle with M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be repatriated today. This follows several delays amid pending administrative processes with the United Nations. SABC News confirms the necessary administrative requirements have been met by South Africa and the repatriation is underway. They will travel through Rwanda and Uganda before flying to South Africa. The UN reports a total of two-thousand bodies have been collected in Goma, with 900 in hospitals.

# Deputy Transport minister, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, has reaffirmed the improvement of rail association PRASA as a key priority. Speaking in Cape Town, Hlengwa emphasised the importance of rail corridors for goods and passenger transport to ease road congestion and reduce fatalities. He expressed hope that the upcoming budget speech will address PRASA’s challenges and support its revitalisation efforts:

# ArcelorMittal South Africa CEO Kobus Verster has denied any one-billion-rand bailout discussions but confirms delaying the long-steel plant closures by a month to engage the government. Verster says the move aims to save three-thousand-500 jobs and maintain operations in Newcastle and Vereeniging, crucial to sectors like rail, agriculture, and mining. He criticised slow government action as the company battles a 5.1-billion-rand annual loss:

# The largest US government workers’ union and an association of foreign service workers have sued the Trump administration to stop its near-shutdown of the US Agency for International Development. Trump paused all US foreign aid on the day of his inauguration and sources told Reuters his administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAID employees out of more than ten-thousand. USAID-head John Atwood says the mass termination of personnel would effectively kill an agency that has helped keep tens of millions of people around the world from dying.

# Rugby: Wales’ coach, Warren Gatland, insists former Test fly-half Dan Biggar is wrong to label tomorrow’s Six Nations match against Italy as their biggest game in 20 years. Wales has lost their last 13 Tests, the worst run in their history. The match against Italy would appear to offer them their best chance of ending the rot. Biggar was speaking in his role as a television pundit after Wales’ 43-0 thrashing by France in Paris last Friday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-42-cents and the euro at 19-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-94-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-325-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-866-dollars-66-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….