News 06:00

BULLETIN 1 October 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Solidarity warns South Africa could be removed from AGOA
# More than one-million tourists visited South Africa in August
# And rugby: The 2027 World Cup starts a year from today

# Solidarity warns that South Africa could be removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act before Christmas. This comes as the White House is reviewing the list of participating countries, with an announcement expected by November. South Africa accounts for 54-percent of all AGOA-related exports to the US, making it the scheme’s largest beneficiary. Solidarity’s Theuns du Buisson says they are concerned that ending South Africa’s participation in AGOA could now form part of the US’s escalating actions against the country:

# South Africa welcomed more than one million international tourists in August, up 7.4-percent compared with the same month last year. Tourism minister Patricia de Lille says the increase shows strong demand for South Africa and should be used to create more jobs, investment and opportunities. Ministry spokesperson Aldrin Sampear says the US, United Kingdom and Germany were the biggest overseas markets in August:

# The Madlanga commission will hold in-camera hearings over the next two weeks, hearing evidence that can’t be aired publicly because of ongoing investigations and confidential material. Public hearings will resume on 9 November, after the local government elections on 4 November. The commission’s Jeremy Michaels says a two-day seminar will be held this month to prepare for the final report, due to be submitted to president Cyril Ramaphosa on 25 January:

# The Motor Industry Staff Association says the arrest of a security officer guarding National Prosecuting Authority offices in Durban raises serious concerns about private security vetting. The suspect, who faces 15 counts of rape, was allegedly linked through DNA to attacks in Durban and Pietermaritzburg between 2014 and last year. MISA’s Phakamile Hlubi-Majola also calls for urgent action to clear the police’s DNA backlog, which stood at about 300-thousand entries in July.

# Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the security services to prepare for additional potential threats. This comes after an Israel-bound Flydubai flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia yesterday after one pilot stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane. Passengers and crew subdued the assailant, who was arrested. A replacement Flydubai flight carrying most of the stranded passengers landed in Tel Aviv yesterday evening. Israeli Defence minister, Israel Katz says the incident was an “attempted jihadist terror attack”.

# Rugby: The next World Cup starts in Australia a year from today. The tournament will be the biggest ever, with 24 countries competing in six pools, a first-ever round of 16 and a Super Sunday of five group matches on 17 October. Seven host cities will be used – Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Townsville and Newcastle. Spectators from 135 countries have already bought 750-thousand tickets. World Rugby CEO Brett Robinson says the tournament in his home country is going to be a party like nothing on Earth.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-41-cents and the euro at 18-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-774-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-155-dollars-39-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 101-dollars-58-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….