News 07:00

BULLETIN 23 January 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola says South Africa’s G20 presidency was marked by its bridge-building role
# ActionSA launches an investigation into minister Willie Aucamp’s lion controversy
# And Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has received a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations

# Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola says South Africa’s G20 Presidency successfully navigated geopolitical tensions among members to secure a consensus on key priorities. The South African delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, briefed the media on the implementation of South Africa’s 2025 G20 Presidency under the theme, From Declaration to Implementation. Lamola says the country’s G20 presidency was marked by its bridge-building role:

Meanwhile, minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, says South Africa will host the World Economic Forum on Africa Davos Spring meeting in 2027. Tau said in Switzerland, Africa’s strategic importance in the global economy continues to rise, with Spring Davos positioning the continent as a key player in investment, trade, and long-term growth:

# ActionSA is seeking full disclosure from the newly appointed minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, amid allegations of potential conflicts of interest. The party claims Aucamp may have acted to benefit his private business interests by halting a task team investigating the captive lion industry, which was set to phase out the sector. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley says the minister hasn’t confirmed if his businesses will be managed by someone else:

# MTN has maintained its position as South Africa’s top mobile network for 2025, achieving a Network Quality Score of 9.96. According to MyBroadband Insights, the report, based on 1.3-million speed tests nationwide, found Cell C second, Vodacom third, followed by Telkom and Rain. MTN led in download and upload speeds, latency, and performance across major metros, attributed to continued LTE and 5G infrastructure investments, keeping it ahead of competitors in overall network quality.

# Cricket: The Proteas have been dealt a major blow with Tony de Zorzi and Donovan Ferreira ruled out of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, due to injury. De Zorzi has not progressed as expected in his rehabilitation from a right hamstring muscle tear. Ferreira sustained a fracture of his left clavicle while playing for the Joburg Super Kings in the SA20. The duo has been replaced by Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs. South Africa will kickstart their World Cup campaign against Canada on February 9.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-11-cents and the euro at 18-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-501-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-940-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Vampire horror film Sinners has earned a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Directing for Ryan Coogler. Michael B Jordan is nominated for Best Actor, while his other cast members, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo, have also been recognised. Thriller One Battle After Another has received 13 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. Emma Stone has become the youngest woman to accumulate seven Oscar nominations after being recognised for Bugonia, which is also up for Best Picture. Winners will be announced on March 15.

Stay tuned for more news………….