News 12:00

BULLETIN 29 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South African journalists call for the protection of media personnel in Gaza
# The DA demands Cyril Ramaphosa must fire Paul Mashatile following damning allegations
# And Tennis: Djokovic and Swiatek retain their world number one rankings following the Australian Open 

# South African journalists have reiterated their plea for the safety and protection of media personnel in Gaza. The Committee to Protect says 83 journalists and media workers have been confirmed dead in the war in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon since the seventh of October last year. Yesterday evening, journalists, took part in vigils in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Makhanda. News24′s politics and opinion editor, Qaanitah Hunter, emphasised the importance of the safety and freedom of journalists to report in Gaza:

# The DA is calling on president Cyril Ramaphosa to fire deputy president Paul Mashatile and direct the Special Investigating Unit to launch a probe into the damning allegations against him. During Mashatile’s tenure as Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, his department paid 134-million-rand to a company owned by ANC donor Edwin Sodi, for a housing project in Diepsloot that did not deliver a single house. DA leader, John Steenhuisen, says this was one part out of a total of 828-million-rand the departement paid to Sodi:

# The City of Johannesburg’s Emergency Management Services has condemned the attack on three firefighters in Eldorado Park extension three last night. EMS spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, says the firefighters were responding to a fire when they met a group of community members who were protesting about service delivery. He says they started stoning the fire engine, injuring three firefighters who were rushed to hospital:

# Tennis: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has retained the number one ranking despite a rare defeat in the Australian Open semifinals. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev missed the opportunity to move past world number two Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz after his defeat in the final in Melbourne and remains third. He is followed by Australian Open champion Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Russia’s Andrey Rublev. In the women’s rankings, despite her third-round exit at Melbourne Park, Poland’s Iga Swiatek holds on to the number one spot, ahead of champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, and American Coco Gauff.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-77-cents and the euro at 20-rand-34-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-86-cents and Bitcoin trades at 41-thousand-948-dollars-6-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-32-dollars-5-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-14-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, has begun its maiden voyage from Miami, Florida, as it embarks on a seven-day island-hopping voyage in the Caribbean. Spanning across 20 decks, the Icon of the Seas has a maximum capacity of seven-thousand-600 passengers and two-thousand-350 crew members. It boasts six waterslides, seven swimming pools, an ice skating rink, a theatre, and over 40 dining establishments, bars, and lounges. The cruise ship is five times larger than the Titanic.

Stay tuned for more news………….