News 08:00

BULLETIN 21 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Western Cape High Court will today hear the MK Party and UAT’s  impeachment appeal
# Several countries condemn Israel’s controversial settlement plans
# And tennis: Carlos Alcaraz will make his return at the US Open

# The Western Cape High Court will today hear an urgent application by the MK Party and United Africans Transformation for leave to appeal the interim interdict ordering Parliament’s Impeachment Committee to halt its hearings. It follows the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an earlier appeal by the African Transformation Movement and other parties. The interdict is pending president Cyril Ramaphosa’s review of the Section 89 Independent Panel report. UAT leader Wonder Mahlatsi says the High Court erred in its ruling:

# Minister of Public Works Dean Macpherson says stronger accountability must be part of a wider effort to reduce construction deaths, alongside better municipal enforcement, professional oversight, and information sharing between regulators. He released findings into four recent building and structural incidents in Redcliffe in Verulam, eThekwini; Doornkop in Soweto; Ormonde in Johannesburg; and the Magnolia Development in Sea Point, Cape Town, which claimed 17 lives and left 24 people injured. Macpherson says construction professionals whose negligence contributed to deaths should face criminal charges:

# Statistics South Africa says civil debt summonses fell by 0.8-percent between April and June compared with the same period last year. However, debt judgements increased by 9.9-percent. Stats SA’s Vhonani Kwinda says the figures suggest that although fewer new debt summonses were issued, more debt cases resulted in court judgements and the amounts involved were significantly higher:

# The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Norway and the Netherlands have condemned as “unacceptable” the Israeli government’s decision to publish tenders to build a settlement that could kill off any two-state solution. The E1 settlement project would cut the occupied West Bank off from East Jerusalem, which Palestinians consider the capital of their future state. In a joint statement, the countries say this decision is even more concerning given the grave instability in the West Bank, with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians.

# Tennis: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who has not played competitively in four months, will make his return at the US Open. The 23-year-old Spaniard injured his right wrist at the Barcelona Open in April, resulting in him missing the defence of his French Open title and Wimbledon. Alcaraz was due to return at the Cincinnati Open this month before withdrawing from that event. The seven-time Grand Slam champion will be chasing his third US Open title, with the singles event beginning on August 30th in New York.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-8-cents and the euro at 18-rand-80-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-94-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 74-thousand-603-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-531-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 94-dollars-82-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….