News 09:00

BULLETIN 21 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# RISE Mzansi calls for year-round road safety campaigns
# The EFF condemns a 3.4-million-rand fraud scandal at Samro
# And Trump signs an executive order to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement again

# RISE Mzansi has expressed alarm over the one-thousand-502 deaths from one-thousand-234 crashes during the 2024/25 festive season, with pedestrians accounting for 41-percent of fatalities. RISE Mzanzi’s Makashule Gana says the party urges ongoing education campaigns, 24/7 traffic law enforcement, and monthly crash statistics. He emphasises a need for personal responsibility and continuous efforts to meet the goal of halving road fatalities by 2030:

# The EFF says it condemns the ongoing corruption at the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, following revelations of 3.4-million-rand in fraudulent claims facilitated by former employees. The organisation is mandated by law to claim and collect royalties and licence fees on the musicians’ behalf from broadcasters and performers. An investigation found that former employees colluded with publishers to fraudulently claim funds without ownership proof. The EFF says this latest scandal demonstrates SAMRO’s continued betrayal of the creative industry and the artists who rely on it for fair compensation.

# ActionSA in Gauteng says it is concerned about reports of an illegal scheme run and controlled by School Governing Bodies in low-income and no-fee-paying schools. These SGBs and school management have reportedly imposed a mandatory donation fee, typically ranging from 100 to 200-rand, on parents in poor communities. ActionSA’s, John Moodey, says failure to pay this fee results in children being denied access to schoolbooks, many of which are provided free of charge by the provincial government:

# President Donald Trump has for the second time, signed an executive order to begin the process of pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This comes after global temperatures in 2024 rose more than 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time in a calendar year. The US will now join Iran, Yemen, and Libya as the only countries to currently stand outside the agreement. Trump described the agreement as an unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Accord rip-off:

# Golf: World number one Scottie Scheffler says he is still unsure whether he will be able to make his season debut at next week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. The American cut his hand on broken glass while preparing Christmas dinner, for which he required surgery. He has missed the season-opening Sentry tournament in Hawaii and the American Express that concluded Sunday in California. Scheffler says his recovery is progressing well, but he won’t rush his return back to the Tour.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-57-cents and the euro at 19-rand-31-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-787-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-726-dollars-2-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-24-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….