News 13:00

BULLETIN 20 January 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF welcomes the US’s intention to relax the sanctions against Cuba
# The police are on the hunt for the Stilfontein underground kingpin
# And Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok is among the winners at the Western Cape Sport Awards

# The EFF has welcomed United States president Joe Biden’s intention to remove Cuba from the unjust designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The EFF says the decision, announced two days ago, reflects the undeniable truth that the sanctions imposed on Cuba have always been a politically motivated attack. It says since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States has relentlessly pursued an economic embargo and sanctions against Cuba, with the goal of destabilising its communist government.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Swaziland has congratulated Cuba on this historic victory. Spokesperson Simphiwe Dlamini says the party is making the further call for the US government to lift the unilateral, illegal and unjust blockade in its entirety, along with all its elements. He says the remaining elements of the blockade are still relics of the cold war:

# North West police have launched a manhunt for a fugitive kingpin linked to underground crimes at mines in Stilfontein, James Neo Tshoaeli, alias “Tiger”. According to police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, maximum resources have been mobilised, vowing accountability for officials who enabled Tiger’s escape from custody. She says the suspect, who is accused of assault, torture, and hoarding underground, is considered extremely dangerous:

# China has executed a man who killed 35 people in a car rampage in the southern city of Zhuhai in November, in the country’s deadliest mass attack in years. Sixty-two-year old Fan Weiqiu deliberately drove a small SUV through crowds of people exercising outside a sports complex, also injuring 45 in China’s worst such crime since 2014. He was sentenced to death last month, with the court saying his motives were extremely vile and the nature of the crime extremely egregious.

# On to sports news: Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Ricardo Mackenzie, has congratulated all the nominees and winners of the Provincial Sport Awards. The ceremony was held in Paarl. Some of the winners included Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok, who received the Ministerial Commendation award. Mackenzie says cyclist Alan Hatherly was crowned sportsman of the year and pool world champion Tasneem Solomons sportswoman of the year:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-74-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-560-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-704-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….