News 17:00

BULLETIN 5 February 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA expects the Department of Home Affairs’ recent success to feature prominently in SONA
# An education activist welcomes the approval of NSFAS funding to over 600-thousand students
# And cricket: The T20 World Cup starts with three matches tomorrow

# The DA says it expects the Department of Home Affairs’ recent success to feature prominently in president Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address next Thursday. The party’s Adrian Roos says the department is able to point to measurable progress in reforming service delivery and supporting economic growth. He says Ramaphosa must reflect on advances in clearing long-standing visa and permit backlogs, cutting down illegal border crossing attempts and expanding visa schemes:

# Senior SAPS Forensic Services officer Rachel Matjeng has denied claims that businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala paid for cosmetic surgery. Speaking at the Madlanga Commission, Matjeng said she asked him to help source Ozempic for weight loss after struggling to obtain it at pharmacies. The matter arose during cross-examination by Parliament’s ad hoc committee member Darleen James, which Matlala denied. She stressed the request was personal, supported by a valid prescription:

# Education activist Hendrick Makaneta has welcomed the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s approval of more than 600-thousand students for funding for this academic year. The scheme has disbursed 4.27-billion-rand to universities and TVET colleges. Makaneta says it is concerning that more than 21-thousand documents from applicants remain outstanding, which means funding to these students will be delayed:

# A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people during Friday prayers in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. Images show victims lying on the carpeted mosque floor surrounded by shards of glass, debris and panicked worshippers. The number of wounded brought to hospitals have since risen to 169. Police officials say the attacker was stopped at the gate of the mosque before detonating the bomb. Bombings are rare in the heavily-guarded capital, although Pakistan has been hit by militancy in the past few years.

# Cricket: The T20 World Cup starts with a bang tomorrow, with no less than three matches on offer. Pakistan and the Netherlands will first take to the field in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, followed by the encounter between Scotland and the West Indies in the Indian city of Kolkata. India and America wil then do battle in Wankhede. South Africa’s first group match is against Canada in Ahmedabad, India, on Monday, to be followed by encounters with Afghanistan, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-12-cents and the euro at 19-rand-1-cent. One British pound costs 21-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-593-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-917-dollars-88-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-22-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….