News 11:00

BULLETIN 19 September 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cosatu urges the Reserve Bank to lower the interest rate
# The UN chief warns of a dramatic escalation of conflict in the Middle East
# And tennis: Coco Gauff splits with her coach Brad Gilbert

# Union federation Cosatu is urging the South African Reserve Bank to cut interest rates when the Monetary Policy Committee meets today. With inflation down to 4.4-percent and positive economic indicators, the federation believes a rate cut is necessary to stimulate the economy and provide much-needed relief. Cosatu’s Zanele Sabela argues workers enduring continued financial hardship need relief to help fight widespread poverty: 

# The EFF says it condemns minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, for his refusal to fulfil his constitutional duty to Parliament. The party claims that the minister has only attended two out of 16 meetings this year, even staying for less than ten minutes on one occasion. The EFF says Tau, whose department presides over 18 struggling entities has failed to account for his role in stabilising the entities. It has called on president Cyril Ramaphosa to hold the minister accountable.

# PRASA and Transnet are waiting for results following a train derailment at Dal Josafat Station near Paarl, which left 25 people injured. The train was traveling from Cape Town to Wellington when the incident occurred, suspending services. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport, Donald Selamolela, called it a setback in restoring Prasa, awaiting the investigative report on the derailment’s cause:

# The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for an end to the escalation in violence in the Middle East, saying all parties must exercise maximum restraint. This comes as explosions involving pagers and walkie-talkies, belonging to the militant group Hezbollah, killed over 30 people and injured more than three-thousand across Lebanon in the past two days. Israel has been blamed for the attacks. Guterres says it is unacceptable that innocent civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire:

# Tennis: American world number six Coco Gauff has ended her 14-month partnership with coach Brad Gilbert. The 20-year-old hired Gilbert last year to work alongside Spanish coach Pere Riba. She went on a fantastic run shortly after that including winning the US Open, where she became the youngest American woman to win her home major since Serena Williams 25 years earlier. Riba left shortly after Gauff won the US Open and has been coaching Olympic gold-medal champion Zheng Qinwen.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-46-cents and the euro at 19-rand-48-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-14-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-63-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-578-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-14-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….