News 11:00

BULLETIN 21 January 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government was reportedly unaware of Iran’s participation in the now-infamous naval drill
# Another train derailment rocks Spain
# And tennis: Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka are through to the Australian Open’s third round

# President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation reportedly learnt about Iran’s participation in the BRICS naval drill in False Bay through the media earlier this month. According to News24, a decision to invite Iran to participate in the Will for Peace naval exercise with South Africa, Russia and China dates back to early November. Defence minister Angie Motshekga has ordered an investigation to determine why Ramaphosa’s instruction for the withdrawal of Iran from the naval exercise was not adhered to.

# ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says party members should be channelling their energy into the upcoming local government elections, rather than obsessing about the succession debate. His name, along with that of billionaire Patrice Motsepe and deputy president Paul Mashatile, have been bandied about to be the next ANC leader. Speaking to the SABC, Mbalula said the issue of his contesting or not contesting will be discussed next year:

# Build One South Africa calls for a nationwide inquiry into the learner transport system following the death of 12 learners this week while being transported to school in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng. The party wants the inquiry to review driver training, vehicle safety, overcrowding, and enforcement of regulations. BOSA warns against expanding the system without urgent reforms. Spokesperson Roger Solomons says unsafe transport is putting learners’ lives at risk. He urges  government to act immediately:

Moving abroad:

# A train driver has been killed and 37 people were injured when a commuter train derailed near Barcelona in Spain. According to the Civil Protection of Catalonia’s regional government, the derailment was caused when a retaining wall fell onto the tracks following heavy rains. About 400-thousand commuters are expected to be without train services today. This incident comes just two days after a rail crash in which two high-speed trains collided near Adamuz in the southern Córdoba province, killing 42 people.

# Tennis: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz beat German Yannick Hanfmann in straight sets to make the Australian Open’s third round, as he bids to complete a career Grand Slam. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev battled past France’s Quentin Halys. In the women’s draw, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka recorded her 25th victory in Grand Slams as world number one with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan. Britain’s Emma Raducanu suffered defeat to Austria’s Anastasia Potapova, with American Coco Gauff winning in straight sets against Serbia’s Olga Danilovic.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-35-cents and the euro at 19-rand-16-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-632-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-836-dollars-73-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-47-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….