News 12:00

BULLETIN 6 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# TLU SA appeals to president Cyril Ramaphosa to withdraw the Expropriation Act for review
# The US secretary of State won’t attend the G20 Summit in protest of South Africa’s Land Expropriation Act
# And Black Sabbath reunites for one last time

# Agricultural organisation TLU SA is appealing to president Cyril Ramaphosa to announce the withdrawal of the Land Expropriation Act for review during his state of the nation address this evening. The organisation’s Bennie van Zyl says the implementation of the law will harm the economy, investor confidence, and the country’s future. He adds the core issue is not the principle of an expropriation law itself, but the vague definition of public interest:

Meanwhile, chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, has announced a 19-year-old isiXhosa praise singer, poet and cultural activist from the Eastern Cape will usher in the president at SONA. Mtsweni-Tsipane says Parliament has also partnered with Brand South Africa, encouraging MPs to wear locally made fashion. She also hopes SONA will boost Cape Town’s economy:

# US secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says he will not attend the G20 Summit in South Africa later this month, in protest of the country’s Land Expropriation Act. In a post on social media platform X, Rubio says South Africa is doing very bad things, expropriating private property while using the G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and sustainability. He says his job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.

# Motorsport: MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin has been ruled out of the remaining pre-season testing in Malaysia and will undergo surgery in Europe after crashing badly on the opening day at the Sepang track. The Spaniard broke his hand and foot after being thrown off his Aprilia machine at the Sepang circuit. He had emerged unscathed from a crash earlier in the day. He now faces a race against time to be fit for the start of his title defence in the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix on 2 March.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-65-cents and the euro at 19-rand-35-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-24-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-208-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-855-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The original members of Black Sabbath will play a concert together for the first time in 20 years. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, will reunite for one last time, to play a fund-raising concert in Birmingham, England, on the fifth of July. All profits from the show will be shared equally between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice. Formed in 1968, Black Sabbath, regarded as the godfather of heavy metal, has sold more than 75-million albums worldwide.

Stay tuned for more news………….