News 07:00

BULLETIN 30 July 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa congratulates Tatjana Smith
# Saftu says Paul Mashatile’s call for the privatisation of the SAA is reckless
# And Donald Trump agrees to be interviewed by the FBI regarding his attempted assassination

# Olympic Games: President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated swimming star Tatjana Smith and mountain biker Alan Hatherly for winning medals for South Africa in Paris. Smith won gold in the 100-metre breaststroke, the country’s first gold medal at the Games, while Hatherly won bronze in the men’s mountain biking. Ramaphosa says he is looking forward to more spectacular performances from Team SA. Smith says she learnt a lot from the Tokyo Games in 2021, where she won silver in the same event:

# Union federation Saftu has condemned deputy president Paul Mashatile’s comments that South African Airways should be sold to the private sector. In an interview, he said the government is not in the business of owning airlines, and therefore bringing private players on board to make SAA profitable may be the best. Saftu’s spokesperson, Trevor Shaku, says Mashatile’s comments are reckless, and smack of a person desperate to make himself likeable to the private sector at the expense of the public:

# The Financial Sector Conduct Authority says South Africa is set to publish changes to its financial rules, targeting over-the-counter derivatives and unlisted financial market activity for greater scrutiny. Executive director Olano Makhubela highlighted the lack of transparency in the over-the-counter market, complicating risk management. The authority plans to enhance oversight, improve transparency, and reduce market risk. New regulations include monitoring over-the-counter activity in various areas and introducing a trade repository to track derivatives trades, potentially by year-end.

# The FF Plus is calling for an investigation into a 206-million-rand footbridge project in Ekurhuleni Metro that was never built. FF Plus’ Rudolf Herbst says a report to the Metro’s Transport Committee claimed the bridge between Zonkezizwe and Palmridge was completed, but an oversight visit revealed only a road sign. Herbst says only 14.4-million-rand was accounted for, with 191.6-million-rand unaccounted. He has called on the Metro’s Public Accounts Committee to investigate and provide quarterly updates to ensure transparency and accountability.

# Former US president Donald Trump has agreed to a victim interview with the FBI in the investigation surrounding the attempted assassination of his life in Pennsylvania earlier this month. Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthews Crooks fired eight shots from an assault rifle that hit and injured Trump, killed a rally attendee, and injured several others. The FBI says they want to get the former president’s perspective on what he observed. It adds that investigators believe Crooks carefully planned the shooting and made significant efforts to conceal his activities.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-295-dollars-38-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-380-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A new global study by Mailsuite analysed Google Play Store reviews of nearly one-thousand-500 communication and social media apps in every country at the end of June 2024. In South Africa, Facebook was named the most-loved platform, with usage rising from 56.7-percent in 2022 to 59.6-percent in 2023. TikTok came in second, increasing from 30.6-percent to 34-percent. Instagram usage slightly declined to 26.9-percent. X and LinkedIn also saw drops. Reddit remains unpopular with only four-percent usage.

Stay tuned for more news………….