News 11:00

BULLETIN 12 January 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Independent Examinations Board achieves a 98.31-percent pass rate in the matric exams
# The DA condemns minister Lamola for the defence of the ‘Will for Peace’ military exercises
# And tennis: Daniil Medvedev believes he will be hard to beat at the Australian Open this year

# The Independent Examinations Board has achieved an overall pass rate of 98.31-percent in the 2025 matric examinations. This is slightly lower than the 98.47-percent pass rate achieved in 2024. The class of 2025 attained a bachelor’s pass rate of 89.12-percent. A total of 17-thousand-413 IEB learners wrote the exams, with 161 achieving distinctions in all of their seven subjects. IEB CEO, Confidence Dikgole, says in a context of sustained growth and changing learning environments, the consistency of these results is reassuring.

# The DA has condemned International Relations and Cooperation minister, Ronald Lamola, for his public defence of South Africa hosting sanctioned Iranian and Russian naval vessels during the BRICS Exercise “Will for Peace”. The naval exercises with China, Russia and Iran began off the coast of Cape Town this weekend. The DA’s Ryan Smith says by allowing DIRCO to proceed unchecked in these military exercises, Lamola has effectively exposed the country to serious diplomatic and economic risk:

# The GOOD Party says the City of Cape Town’s recent warnings about low dam levels serve as a stark reminder of the city’s history of financial mismanagement and failed infrastructure projects under DA rule. GOOD’s Roscoe Palm says while residents are once again urged to conserve water, the city continues to evade accountability for its poor planning and questionable financial decisions:

# Tennis: Three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev says in his current form, he believes he will be hard to beat at Melbourne Park this year. The Russian defeated American Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 7-6, to win the Brisbane International yesterday for his 22nd tour-level crown. Medvedev, who split with long-time coach Gilles Cervara, says he is the underdog in Melbourne with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz overwhelming favourites:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-41-cents and the euro at 19-rand-16-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-810-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-581-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-6-cents a barrel.

# And finally: One Battle After Another and Adolescence dominated the 83rd annual Golden Globes Awards. One Battle After Another nabbed the award for best motion picture, comedy or musical, and three others, including best supporting actress for Teyana Taylor. Smash hit Netflix drama Adolescence also won four awards, including best limited series and best supporting actor for Owen Cooper. Timothée Chalamet won best actor in a musical or comedy for Marty Supreme. In the TV categories, The Pitt was named best drama series.

Stay tuned for more news………….