News 12:00

BULLETIN 20 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Gauteng Health Department clarifies the death toll in the Vanderbijlpark learner transport crash
# Tshwane’s mayor says the majority of outstanding bills are from national and provincial government entities
# And tennis: Australian Open defending champion Madison Keys battles into the second round

# The Gauteng Health Department has clarified that the learner death toll from yesterday’s Vanderbijlpark crash is 12 and not 14 as being reported. An overloaded learner transport vehicle collided with a truck while the driver tried to overtake. A case of culpable homicide has been opened. Gauteng Health MEC, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, says while moments of crisis can often lead to speculation, the spread of unconfirmed figures and misinformation is causing unnecessary harm:

# Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya says if residents are expected to pay their bills, there is nothing that stops the government from doing the same. The majority of outstanding bills are from national and provincial government entities. Last week, the metro disconnected the power supply to the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development’s head office as part of its drive to recover funds. Moya says Tshwane relies on revenue to fulfil its service delivery mandate:

# Qatar Airways is significantly expanding its services to South Africa with increased weekly flights to Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban to meet growing demand for business and leisure travel. Weekly fights will increase from 35 to 42, providing greater flexibility for passengers connecting to the airline’s extensive international network. Flights between Johannesburg and Doha increases from 18 to 21, effective 18 February; between Cape Town and Doha from 12 to 14, from 17 February; and between Durban and Doha from five to seven from 5 March.

# Australia’s lower house of Parliament has passed laws to enable a national gun buyback and tighten background checks for gun licences. This is in response to last month’s Bondi Beach attack that left 15 people dead during a Jewish festival. The buyback scheme will target surplus and newly restricted firearms. The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill was also passed. Home Affairs minister, Tony Burke, says the government is committed to tackling antisemitism:

# Tennis: Defending women’s singles champion Madison Keys survived an early scare in the first round of the Australian Open. The American battled past Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova. Former US Open champion American Sloane Stephens was knocked out in the first round by the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova. Janice Tjen of Indonesia knocked out 22nd-seeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez. In the men’s draw, fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy advanced when Raphael Collignon of Belgium retired in the fourth set.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-38-cents and the euro at 19-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-980-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-723-dollars-85-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….