News 11:00

BULLETIN 11 December 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The National Council of Provinces approves a bill for more funds for South Africa’s case against Israel
# The South Korean police raid president Yoon’s office after his attempt to declare martial law
# And golf: Scottie Scheffler is once again the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year

# The National Council of Provinces has passed the Special Appropriation Bill with opposition from the MK Party and the Freedom Front Plus. The bill proposes funding to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of 40-million-rand for the department’s legal proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice. It also proposes 38.2-million-rand for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for its sub-programme expenditure relating to proceedings in the ICJ. South Africa brought a case before the ICJ in December last year, accusing Israel of genocide.

# The DA says the scale of contraband in South African prisons demonstrates that this scourge has reached crisis levels. In the past 12 months alone, nearly one-thousand kilograms of drugs have been confiscated in correctional centres. This is in addition to more than 41-thousand cellphones, eleven-thousand weapons, more than 250 litres of alcohol and 200-thousand-rand in cash. The DA’s Kabelo Kgobisa-Ngcaba says Correctional Services is failing to implement consequence management:

# South Korean police have raided the presidential office as part of a widening investigation into president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law last week. According to reports, the raid was an attempt by law enforcement agencies to establish whether Yoon’s actions, supported by other senior figures in his administration, amounted to insurrection. The crime of insurrection does not carry presidential immunity in South Korea but the death penalty in some cases. Yoon has been barred from leaving the country.

# Golf: World number one Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Tour Player of the Year, joining Tiger Woods as the only player to win the honour in three consecutive years. The American received 91-percent of the vote. Scheffler has captured 13 career PGA Tour triumphs, seven of them this year. He became the first player to defend his title at The Players Championship as well as taking his second Masters crown in three seasons. The 28-year-old also won an Olympic gold in Paris.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-79-cents and the euro at 18-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-736-dollars-89-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-695-dollars-54-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

# And finally, American professional basketball player, Caitlin Clark, is Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year. She is the first Women’s National Basketball Association player to receive this honour. The 22-year-old is a two-time college national player of the year for the University of Iowa, and the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year from the Indiana Fever. This year she broke Hall of Famer Pete Maravich’s mark, making her the top scorer overall in women’s basketball. Clark says she has a lot to be proud of:

Stay tuned for more news………….