News 14:00

BULLETIN 24 October 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa urges peace and stability amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East
# BRICS leaders adopts the Kazan summit declaration
# And rugby: Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw are called up to the Bok squad for the outgoing tour

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for peace and stability amid the escalating conflict in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Speaking at the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, he expressed deep concern over the increasing military action in the Middle East and urged the international community, especially the United Nations’ Security Council, to address the growing crisis. Ramaphosa warned that a further escalation of the conflict would have serious global consequences: 

Meanwhile, the BRICS leaders, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, have adopted the Kazan summit declaration, which summarises the outcomes of the meeting. Russian president Vladimir Putin proposed the declaration’s approval. The full declaration is set to address BRICS’ expansion and international issues, including a statement on the Ukrainian crisis that faced no objections. The summit marks a significant milestone as it is the first attended by new full-fledged members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

# Education activist Hendrick Makaneta is calling on Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube to convene a national food safety summit. This follows a spate of food poisoning cases in the country. Gauteng has seen a series of food poisoning incidents, which led to the death of six children in Soweto. The children reported buying snacks from a spaza shop. Makaneta says strengthened food safety protocols to prevent contaminated food from entering school premises are needed:

# The Press Council expelled Independent Media after it refused to comply with rulings, including retracting a column comparing journalist Karyn Maughan to a Nazi propagandist. Despite an order to apologise, the group withdrew from the council. Chairperson Judge Fritz Brand called the defiance unacceptable. Deputy chairperson Amina Frense told Newzroom Afrika the council remains independent and transparent:

# Rugby: Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw have been called up to the Springbok squad for next month’s outgoing tour, following the injury withdrawal of utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels. He suffered an ankle injury in the Bulls’ United Rugby Championship clash against the Scarlets last Saturday. The inclusion of Grobbelaar and Louw increases the squad to 35 players, comprising 19 forwards and 16 backs. Bok coach Rassie Erasmus says he is excited to see the two make their mark against quality opposition in Scotland, England and Wales.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-66-cents and the euro at 19-rand-8-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-863-dollars-33-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-737-dollars-43-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-45-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….