News 11:00

BULLETIN 4 September 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Amnesty International South Africa is calling on voters to vote for human rights and accountability
# Two workers are rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, over a week after the catastrophic floods
# And tennis: Auger-Aliassime is knocked out of the US Open as Monfils plays his final Grand Slam match

# Amnesty International South Africa says with high levels of dissatisfaction with service delivery and visible failures in many municipalities, the November local government elections are a critical moment of accountability. According to the Auditor General’s report, only 39 out of 257 municipalities achieved a clean audit in the last audit. Amnesty International SA says voters need to vote for human rights and accountability. It says voters must send a strong message to elected officials that corruption and poor service delivery will no longer be tolerated.

# Union federation COSATU has urged the Foschini Group to earnestly consider the impact of store closures on its staff. The company plans to close about 280 stores in Africa through 2029, as the retailer hones in on online sales, which are outpacing the performance of its physical operations. COSATU’s Nonzuzo Dlamini says these planned closures come at a time when artificial intelligence and automation are driving retrenchments. She says workers are often left without adequate compensation:

# A 44-year-old member of the Mpumalanga Police’s Flying Squad has been arrested during an early-morning operation at the Secunda police station today. He is linked to the hijacking of diesel trucks. Spokesperson Mavela Masondo says the involvement of the official came to light during the investigation following the arrest of four other suspects. He says he will make his first court appearance on Monday:

Moving abroad:

# Rescuers have pulled two workers alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, more than a week after they became trapped by the devastating flash flood at the border with Tibet. Sanjaya Shah and Kabir Maharjan have injuries to their hands and legs. At least 39 others are expected to be rescued from the tunnel. About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels.

# Tennis: Frenchman Gael Monfils played the final match of his Grand Slam career, falling to American Learner Tien in the US Open second round. Russia’s Karen Khachanov knocked out world number four, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. In the women’s draw, second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan continued her bid for the world number one ranking with victory over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach the third round. American Coco Gauff battled past Spain’s Paula Badosa while Japan’s Naomi Osaka defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-99-cents and the euro at 18-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-86-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-465-dollars-38-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-84-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….