News 12:00

BULLETIN 17 August 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa says Sadec economies must be integrated to build a dynamic regional market
# Four people including a police constable are arrested for extortion in Cape Town
# And American actress Hayden Panettiere has died at the age of 36

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa’s membership of the Southern African Development Community is about job creation and improving citizen’s quality of life. The country is hosting the 46th Sadec summit in Durban this week. In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa says no country in the region can on its own build an integrated power system, develop cross-border corridors, manage shared water resources or withstand the full force of climate change. He says Sadec countries need to link their economies through corridors of goods, services and industry.

# Activists and Citizens Forum says the National Prosecuting Authority needs to be strengthened to be able to deal with the cases arising from the Madlanga commission. The commission’s second interim report recommended criminal proceedings against Shadrack Sibiya, Witness G, Fannie Nkosi and Brown Mogotsi. The forum’s Dennis Bloem says National Director of Public Prosecutions Andy Mothibi should recruit experienced advocates with specialised skills to handle the complex cases:

# Four suspects aged between 23 and 53 were arrested for extortion in Bellville, Cape Town. Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa says they are three family members from Nyanga, one of whom is a police constable, and a Somalian businessman who allegedly collected money on behalf of the extortion ring. She says the suspects allegedly extorted money from over 50 Somali and Ethiopian businessmen in Khayamandi and other areas of Stellenbosch:

# Tennis:  Poland’s Iga Swiatek got her Cincinnati Open title defence off to a winning start, beating Colombia’s Emiliana Arango to make the third round. World number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Australian Talia Gibson, while American Coco Gauff saw off Russian Liudmila Samsonova. In the men’s draw, Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria stunned American Ben Shelton to secure the first top-ten victory of his career. Fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and American Taylor Fritz are also through to the third round.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-15-cents and the euro at 18-rand-76-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-354-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-401-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-59-cents a barrel.

# And finally: American actress Hayden Panettiere, popularly known for her roles on Heroes, Nashville and in Scream 4, has died at the age of 36. At just four years old, she was cast in the popular US soap opera One Life to Live. Panettiere went on to play a self-healing cheerleader in Heroes, which was followed by Nashville, in which she played a young country music star. The circumstances surrounding her death are unknown. Her father, Skip Panettiere, described her as an incredible light and a force of nature.

Stay tuned for more news………….