News 12:00

BULLETIN 9 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# OUTA refuses to retract its N-S-FAS report despite legal threats
# Egg and chicken prices remain notably higher than in previous months
# And Cricket: Cape Town is ready for a thrilling end to the SA20 season

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says it will not retract its report on leaked voice recordings implicating Higher Education, Science and Innovation minister, Blade Nzimande, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s chairperson, Ernest Khosa, in corruption, despite legal threats. Khosa demanded a retraction, but OUTA says it’s its duty to report evidence to law enforcement. It says it’s ready to engage with Khosa under specific terms. OUTA’s Stefanie Fick anticipates a vigorous defence against potential legal claims:

# Egg and chicken prices remain notably higher than in previous months due to various factors. Statistics SA reports a continuous increase in poultry and egg prices, with meat inflation rising to 3.9-percent in December. The price index for milk, eggs, and cheese surged by 14.5-percent over 12 months. Egg prices have spiked by around 40-percent compared to a year ago. Outbreaks of avian flu in 2020 and 2023 led to significant shortages and price hikes.

# Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has accused the US and other western countries of prolonging the war in Ukraine. In a two-hour-long interview with controversial former Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, in Moscow, Putin emphasised that his country has a right to protect itself from threats to its national security. He claims that if America stops supplying weapons to Ukraine, the war will be over within weeks. This comes as yesterday the US Senate voted to advance the 1.8-trillion-rand foreign aid package, which provides assistance for Ukraine and Israel.

# Cricket: The City of Cape Town says it is ready to host the SA20 final at Newlands tomorrow. Defending champions the Sunrisers Eastern Cape will take on Durban’s Super Giants. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says in front of around 17-thousand spectators, the final will draw to a close a 34-game tournament that has featured world-class cricket action in six different cities:

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand and the euro at 20-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-99-cents and Bitcoin trades at 46-thousand-481-dollars-42-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-32-dollars-75-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-74-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The likes of Oprah Winfrey, Victoria Beckham, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Serena Williams are among 40 women on British Vogue’s latest cover. The cover is in celebration of the magazine’s outgoing editor Edward Enninful. He made history as the first man and the first black person to lead the century-old glossy publication. Enninful says he selected the 40 women as they have reached beyond fashion and culture to change the fabric of society in the 2020s, in ways small and large and always positive.

Stay tuned for more news………….