News 13:00

BULLETIN 2 August 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Action Society urges Parliament to oversee the police watchdog amid concerns of political misuse
# Minister George attributes drop in rhino poaching to dehorning efforts
# And Olympic Games: A Chinese tennis player stuns the world number one to reach the final

# Action Society has warned that the newly signed Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act still allows for political misuse. The group advocates for IPID to become a Chapter Nine institution to ensure true independence. They argue the act permits the minister of Police to discipline IPID’s executive director. Action Society spokesperson Juanita du Preez urges Parliamentary oversight to improve IPID’s independence and prevent political interference:

# Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, says she is awaiting a full report on the alleged military training of 95 Libyans in Mpumalanga. The Libyans who have since been detained, claim they were training as security guards. Speaking at the ANC national executive council’s meeting, the minister told eNCA that a report will follow once investigations are complete:

# Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Dion George says a significant drop in rhino poaching during May and June is attributed to the dehorning efforts in KwaZulu-Natal. National losses were 21 and 22 rhinos respectively, compared to 42 and 34 in the same months last year. George says the department is currently in the process of finalising the consultative process for the publication of the revised Biodiversity Management Plan for Black and White Rhinos for implementation.

# The firm at the centre of the global IT outage last month, is being sued by some of its shareholders. Lawyers claim cyber security company CrowdStrike defrauded investors by concealing flaws with its software testing. It comes after a software update sent out by the firm caused more than eight million computers to crash on 19 July. The meltdown hit thousands of businesses worldwide, disrupting airports, banks, hospitals and broadcasters. The lawsuit, which was filed in Austin, Texas, alleges the firm’s assurances about its technology were materially false and misleading.

# Olympic Games: Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen will go for gold tomorrow after stunning world number one, Iga Swiatek, in the semifinal in Paris. The 22-year-old, currently seventh in the world rankings, beat the Polish player in straight sets after also eliminating former world number one Angelique Kerber of Germany in the quarterfinals. Zheng will play Donna Vekic of Croatia, who beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the other semifinal.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-20-cents and the euro at 19-rand-71-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-19-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-374-dollars-40-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-463-dollars-83-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….