News 12:00

BULLETIN 12 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Masemola says police are adding more resources to prevent extortion and other crimes
# Cosatu welcomes the imminent signing of the Bela Bill
# And, rugby: Phillip Snyman is officially appointed as the Blitzboks’ head coach

# National Police commissioner Fannie Masemola says they are pumping more resources into the economic infrastructure task teams in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape to combat extortion and other crimes. The four provinces account for 73-percent of extortion cases in the country. Briefing the media on countrywide operations for the past month, Masemola says criminal groupings involved in some of these cases have been identified:

# Cosatu welcomes the imminent signing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment into law. President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to sign the bill at the Union Buildings in Pretoria tomorrow, despite objections from some political parties and organisations. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says the Bela Bill contains common sense and long overdue progressive provisions that will help to ensure the rights of learners to dignity and protection:

# Chicken prices are expected to rise by just over one-percent this year, easing from recent double-digit increases. According to Absa’s AgriTrends Report, a stronger rand and higher global production, particularly from Brazil, are the key factors. The bank’s Marlene Louw says the outbreak of diseases like avian flu has caused a global shortage of chicken, which put upward pressure on prices. Chicken accounts for roughly two-thirds of meat consumed in South Africa, with about 20-percent of local consumption served through imports.

# United Nations secretary-general António Guterres says what is happening in Gaza is unacceptable, and dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop immediately. An Israeli airstrike on a central Gaza school being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians killed 18 people. Among those killed were six staff members of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. The school was sheltering around 12-thousand displaced people, mainly women and children. Unrwa says this is the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident.

# Rugby: SA Rugby has officially appointed former Springbok Sevens captain Phillip Snyman as head coach of the Blitzboks until the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. He took charge of the team on an interim basis for the last six months. Under his guidance, the Blitzboks won the bronze medal at the Games in Paris. SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer says the way Snyman turned around the fortunes of the Blitzboks in a short time speaks volumes about his abilities as a coach.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-94-cents and the euro at 19-rand-76-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-41-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-230-dollars-70-cent. Gold sells at two-thousand-517-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-47-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….