News 09:00

BULLETIN 17 April 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA welcomes the proposed changes to grant eligibility criteria
# Dali Mpofu says he is not concerned about the Legal Practice Council’s inquiry
# And the medical gas supply is restored at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

# ActionSA has welcomed the proposed changes to the eligibility criteria for Social Relief of Distress grant applicants. The Department of Social Development is proposing changes to its Social Assistance Act, which includes removing the questions about income in the application of the SRD grant. ActionSA’s, Emma More, says many deserving individuals are unfairly excluded from accessing this grant due to some form of financial support, including from family members and friends:

# Advocate Dali Mpofu, who is set to face a disciplinary inquiry for misconduct before the Legal Practice Council, says the charges against him are politically motivated. He is facing seven charges of breaching the code of conduct for legal practitioners, including bringing the profession into disrepute. Some of the charges relate to his conduct with Chief Justice Mandisa Maya and Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo. Mpofu told the SABC that he was not worried about these charges:

# The Gauteng Department of Health says the medical gas supply at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital is now back to normal. This follows a planned medical gas shutdown on Wednesday, as part of the ongoing remedial work project of reconstructing the damaged areas since the devastating fire incident in April 2021. The department’s spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says the medical gas supply pipeline has been successfully rerouted into a new line:

# Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing an Israeli hostage alive, in which he appeals to the Israeli government and US president Donald Trump to secure his release. Israeli media identified him as Rom Braslavski from Jerusalem, who was abducted by Hamas-led militants from the Nova music festival during their attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. In the nearly seven-minute video, the hostage, appearing to speak under duress, lifts his shirt to reveal scratch marks on his skin. He also refers to a lack of food and water.

# Tennis: Defending champion Casper Ruud is through to the Barcelona Open quarterfinals after battling past Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic, 7-5, 7-5. The Norwegian second seed is seeking to become the fourth man this century to successfully defend the Barcelona title. Ruud will next face Holger Rune in Friday’s quarterfinals, after the Dane beat Argentina’s Sebastian Baez, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Third-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated American Sebastian Korda, 7-6, 6-4, to set up a quarterfinal clash against Frenchman Arthur Fils.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-84-cents and the euro at 21-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-89-cents and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-11-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-340-dollars-27-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-86-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….