News 12:00

BULLETIN 5 August 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The ANC’s national executive committee says the country’s economy is in a state of emergency
# The Lungu family’s lawyer claims there is no proof the late Zambian president wanted te be buried in his home country
# And a record number of countries will attend the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb

# The ANC’s national executive committee has characterised the country’s economy as being in a state of emergency that requires drastic action. Economic growth slowed in the first quarter as the gross domestic product increased marginally by 0.1-percent. In his closing remarks following the NEC’s four-day meeting in Gauteng, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa said urgent actions are needed to give effect to the strategic priorities contained in the Medium Term Development Plan:

# The GOOD Party is concerned by the ongoing crisis of illegal mining in South Africa, and the state’s failure to address its root causes and criminal masterminds. Since last Friday, over 500 illegal miners were brought to the surface and arrested at the Sheba Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga, as part of Operation Vala Umgodi. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says government cannot continue with a reactive and misdirected approach that criminalises the desperate while kingpins remain untouched:

# The legal counsel for the late former Zambian president Edgar Lungu’s family has argued there’s no evidence he wished to be buried in Zambia. Advocate Casper Welgemoed told the High Court in Pretoria any such claims are hearsay and should be dismissed. The Zambian government and the Lungu family are in a legal battle over his final resting place after he died in Pretoria in June. The state wants him repatriated while the family prefers a private burial in South Africa. Judgment is expected this week.

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner will return to action in the Cincinnati Open for the first time since winning Wimbledon last month. He will be the top-seed  in the tournament which starts later this week. The Italian withdrew from the Canadian Open after beating world number two, Carlos Alcaraz, in London. The Spaniard will join him in the US, as well as local player Taylor Fritz and Germany’s Alexander Zverev. The tournament has undergone a major transformation, expanding to a two-week event comprising of 96 players.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-97-cents and the euro at 20-rand-75-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 114-thousand-198-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-374-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-59-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A record number of countries and regions will attend the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima tomorrow, including Russia’s ally, Belarus, and first-timers Taiwan and representatives of Palestine. The United States dropped the bomb on the Japanese city on 6 August 1945, killing some 140-thousand people. Three days later a second device was used on Nagasaki, with some 74-thousand people losing their lives. Representatives from 120 countries and regions are expected to attend the ceremony. These however don’t include prominent nuclear states like Russia, China, and Pakistan.

Stay tuned for more news………….