News 09:00

BULLETIN 23 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The chairperson of the SAA board says the airline won’t be privatised
# The diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg and his wife have been arrested
# And the Israeli military says it has killed the next possible Hezbollah leader

# South African Airways board chairperson Derek Hanekom says there are no plans to privatise the airline. In March, an expected partnership with the Takatso Consortium, which would have given the airline a three-billion-rand boost, collapsed. Hanekom told Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts that even though SAA is now debt-free, serious investment is needed to support the airline’s long-term plans:

# Controversial diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg and his wife, Dezzi, were reportedly arrested by the Hawks last night at the Benoni Country Club’s Tonino restaurant in Gauteng. The news was broken by Liebenberg’s Die Waarheid Media. Members of the Hawks also confirmed the arrest to Netwerk24. According to reports, at this stage, it is unclear what charges they were arrested for, but are expected to appear in court soon. Liebenberg has, in recent years, donated over three-million-rand to help cover former president Jacob Zuma’s legal costs. 

# Cosatu in Gauteng has welcomed the call by Finance MEC Lebogang Maile for increased health inspections of spaza shops in the province. Earlier this month, six children from Soweto died after allegedly consuming poisoned snacks from a local spaza shop. Cosatu’s, Amos Monyela, says they are dismayed by the long periods it takes to finalise investigations, as it is imperative to determine the source of alleged contamination in the shortest time possible:

# The Israel Defence Force says it killed Hashem Safieddine, a possible successor to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an attack in Beirut, Lebanon, about three weeks ago. Safieddine was killed when the Israeli Air Force attacked the underground intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah. The IDF says more than 25 Hezbollah members were at the headquarters during the attack, including the head of the militant group’s intelligence branch Ali Hussein Hazima, who was also killed. Hezbollah has not confirmed the IDF’s claim.

# Soccer: Vinicius Junior scored a hat-trick as defending champions Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to beat Borussia Dortmund five-two in the Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu. Captain Lucas Vazquez and Antonio Rudiger were also on the score sheet for the Spanish champions. Arsenal edged past Shakhtar Donetsk one-nil at the Emirates courtesy of an own goal by goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk. Aston Villa made it three wins from three as goals from John McGinn and Jhon Duran gave them a two-nil home victory over Bologna.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-54-cents and the euro at 18-rand-96-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-79-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-104-dollars-18-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-750-dollars-2-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-88-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….