News 12:00

BULLETIN 10 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa is confident about South Africa’s case against Israel
# The Student Forum 4 Service Delivery repeats calls on government to scrap NSFAS
# And Tennis: Tennis Australia is criticised over the wildcard distribution for the Grand Slam

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is confident that South Africa has a strong case against Israel, set to be heard at the International Court of Justice tomorrow and Friday. South Africa is accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza. Speaking in Mpumalanga during a visit to the Kingdom Houses of Amandebele yesterday, Ramaphosa, says this is a matter of human and general justice and that the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza should be stopped immediately:

# The Student Forum 4 Service Delivery is calling again for government to scrap the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. This follows allegations of corruption labelled against minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, and the scheme’s board chairperson, Ernest Khosa. The forum says a soft approach is no longer acceptable. The party’s Nhongo Solo says it previously warned all pertinent institutions and stakeholders, including students, about the ongoing mismanagement of funds and corruption within the scheme:

# Ericsson has extended its 10-year partnership with MTN, one of Africa’s major telecommunications providers. With 63 million subscribers already on the platform, Ericsson Mobile Financial Services head Michael Wallis-Brown emphasises Africa’s significance as a key market for growth. He says the extended partnership, coupled with a transition to public cloud deployments, signifies a pivotal moment. It offers customers basic financial services such as withdrawing, transferring, and storing money, along with e-commerce payments, micro-lending, and insurance.

# Tennis: Australian Open chief Craig Tiley has defended the process of wildcard distributions. This comes after Arina Rodionova criticised Tennis Australia, claiming a personal vendetta cost her a wildcard into her home Grand Slam, despite being the country’s top-ranked women’s player. The 34-year-old suffered a straight-sets first-round loss in the Australian Open qualifying yesterday. Tiley says there are a lot of things that go into consideration in granting a player a wildcard, including age, current form, and how many matches they’ve played.

# And finally: A rodent named “Welsh Tidy Mouse” has been sneaking into 75-year-old Rodney Holbrook’s shed in Wales every night since early October. Holbrook noticed items in his shed were mysteriously put away at night. He realised something was happening when the nuts he kept for the birds disappeared from a little box and some items started being put into it. Holbrook set up a camera and got videos of the mouse tidying up. “Welsh Tidy Mouse” might not live there permanently, but he’s back every night and for now left in peace.

Stay tuned for more news………….