News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 January 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# COPE calling for more decisive action from Ramaphosa on the escalating conflict in the DRC 
# Parliament committee welcomes probe into the SA Bureau of Standards 
# And,  a judge blocks Trump’s federal funding freeze on all public loans and grants

# The Congress of the People says the tragic loss of South African National Defence Force soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, demands a clear and comprehensive strategy from president Cyril Ramaphosa to protect the lives of military personnel. This comes as 13 SANDF soldiers have been killed in clashes with Rwandan-backed M23 rebels. COPE’s, Teboho Loate, says although Ramaphosa has called for a ceasefire in response to the escalating conflict in the DRC, more decisive action is required from him:

# The GOOD Party says there is no rational basis to subject the Expropriation Act to the government of national unity statement of intent when it was adopted under a different mandate. This comes as the DA says it has invoked clause 19 of the statement of intent to formally dispute the ANC’s handling of the Act. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says clause 19 does not contain an invoking mechanism, therefore the DA’s move is non-sensical:

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Trade, Industry, and Competition has welcomed minister Parks Tau’s decision to launch an investigation into the South African Bureau of Standards. This follows allegations of maladministration, governance failures, recruitment irregularities, and disciplinary matters at the bureau. Committee chairperson, Mzwandile Masina, says these allegations affect SABS’ reputation, its ability to fulfil its mandate due to instability at the institution, and could have an economic impact on businesses that have received quality assurance from it.

# A US federal judge has temporarily blocked president Donald Trump’s plans to freeze all federal grants and loans. This comes after the acting head of the White House budget office had instructed agencies to temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance. White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, says the temporary pause in federal funding was to make sure that organisations are not conflicting with Trump’s executive actions and orders:

# Soccer: Pep Guardiola says Manchester City will embrace the challenge of today’s must-win Champions League clash against Club Brugge and is confident they will make the knockout stages. The Premier League champions must beat last season’s Belgian league winners at the Etihad to progress to the play-off stage, involving teams ranked from ninth to 24th in the league phase. The top eight teams automatically qualify for the round of 16, which takes place in March.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-64-cents and the euro at 19-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-21-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-106-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-764-dollars-19-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-27-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….