News 08:00

BULLETIN 31 July 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The governor of the Reserve Bank says greylisting is posing a risk to financial stability
# Judges Matter believes Hlophe will recuse himself from certain Judicial Service Commission interviews
# And the acting director of the American Secret Service is ashamed of a security lapse

# South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago says the greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force continues to pose a risk to the country’s economic outlook and financial stability. South Africa was placed on the greylist a year ago, due to the government’s failure to enforce international standards and regulations on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. Kganyago says eight of the 22 action items identified by the task force have been largely addressed by government:

# Judges Matter says impeached judge John Hlophe will likely have to recuse himself from the Judicial Service Commission hearings for the Western Cape judge president position in October. This as his former deputy Patricia Goliath is one of the candidates. She filed a complaint with the JSC against Hlophe in 2020, accusing him of racism, using abusive language against her, and assaulting a colleague. In response, Hlophe accused Goliath of racism. Judges Matter says Hlophe has a history with all the judge’s president candidates.

# The EFF in Tshwane has welcomed the suspension of the principal of Pretoria High School for Girls amid racism allegations that rocked the school last week. Twelve pupils were suspended after claims of a WhatsApp group created by, and consisting only of, white learners where alleged racial microaggressions were channelled about black pupils. The EFF says the suspension of the principal is a significant step towards addressing the systemic racism and injustices that have plagued the school for far too long.

# Acting director of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe Junior, says he is ashamed of the security lapse before the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump. One man was shot dead and two others injured when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire on Trump, wounding his ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Rowe told a congressional hearing that one of the failures was that they could not deploy a counter-unmanned aerial system ahead of the rally due to connectivity issues:

# Olympic Games: British duo Andy Murray and Dan Evans are through to the tennis quarterfinals of the men’s doubles in Paris. They fended off two match points to defeat Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7, 11-9. Murray will call time on his illustrious career at the end of the Games. Meanwhile, Spanish pair Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are also through to the quarterfinals after beating the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof, 6-4, 6-7, 10-2.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-27-cents and the euro at 19-rand-80-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-49-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-58-dollars-26-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-417-dollars-39-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….