News 09:00

BULLETIN 12 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Paul Mashatile calls on Chinese businesses to increase their investments
# Minister Motsoaledi defends the Cuba-South Africa medical programme
# And the US Police find evidence against Luigi Mangione

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile has encouraged Chinese-funded enterprises in South Africa to increase their investments in crucial sectors of the economy. Total bilateral trade increased from 614-billion-rand in 2022 to 692-billion-rand in 2023, while China’s 146-billion-rand deficits remained the highest among any of the country’s trading partners. Speaking at the South Africa-China Economic Trade and Association event in Johannesburg yesterday, Mashatile said China as one of the world’s greatest economies, provides a massive market for South African goods and services:

# Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has denied that the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro medical collaboration programme is wasteful and has inefficiencies. The programme trains South African students to become healthcare practitioners in Cuba and South Africa. Since its establishment, the programme has been criticised for being impractical and too expensive. In a written reply to a parliamentary question, Motsoaledi said funding students for the programme is costing his department around 23-million-rand annually.  He adds that governance structures are in place to protect the interests of students and the country.

# The DA in Gauteng says the provincial Department of Roads and Logistics has not been implementing the bus subsidy system correctly for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. The party’s, Evert Du Plessis, says the subsidies were not properly processed, and the companies contracted to the department to provide transport for residents were paid every month without due process being followed. He says the result of not following the prescribed formula means that the department paid over ten-million-rand to bus companies which constitute irregular expenditure:

# New York authorities say they have concrete evidence linking Luigi Mangione to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan a week ago. Police say the 3D-printed gun that Mangione had when he was arrested this week in Pennsylvania, matches three shell casings found at the crime scene. They also found a positive match between the fingerprints of Mangione and those discovered at the scene of the crime. New York Chief Detective Joseph Kenny says the motive for the murder is still unknown.

# Soccer: Manchester City suffered a two-nil defeat to Juventus and are now in danger of an early Champions League elimination. This latest defeat means City have managed just one win in their last ten games, losing seven games during that run. Meanwhile, Arsenal beat Monaco three-nil to close in on qualification for the last 16. There were also wins for Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and AC Milan. City’s, Ilkay Gundogan, says at the moment they are not getting the basics right:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-66-cents and the euro at 18-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-56-cents and Bitcoin trades at 100-thousand-911-dollars-4-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-711-dollars-8-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….