News 16:00

BULLETIN 6 October 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The ANC sets ten priority interventions to reignite economic growth and create jobs
# Rugby: Former England star Lewis Moody is diagnosed with motor neuron disease
# And three scientists win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for unravelling how the immune system protects the human body

# The ANC has outlined ten priority interventions to boost economic growth and create jobs. Speaking at the closing of the special national executive committee meeting in Boksburg, president Cyril Ramaphosa said the measures focus on expanding electricity infrastructure, reviving the chrome and manganese industries, driving local economic development, and scaling up public employment and skills programmes. Ramaphosa added the plan also includes strengthening provincial economies and promoting exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area:

# GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille says Unite for Change represents more than a political merger. She describes it as a new inclusive direction ahead of the next year’s local government elections. Bringing together GOOD, Build One South Africa and RISE Mzansi, De Lille says the move tackles opposition fragmentation. She urged citizens, especially the youth, to join the quest for a better South Africa:

Moving abroad:

# Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised his US counterpart, Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, as negotiators from Hamas, Israel and the United States converged on Egypt to discuss a hostage-prisoner exchange and ceasefire. Sisi was delivering an address to mark the 1973 war between Israel and Egypt that led to the end of Israel’s occupation of the Sinai peninsula. The Yom Kippur War paved the way for the Camp David Accords in 1979, which saw Egypt become the first Arab country to establish formal ties with Israel.

# Rugby: England’s 2003 World Cup-winner Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. The 47-year-old, who toured with the British and Irish Lions in 2005, discovered he had MND after noticing some weakness in his shoulder while training in the gym. Players including Joost van der Westhuizen, Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow have died from the disease in recent years. Moody told the BBC the diagnosis has come as a huge shock, but he is focused on staying positive:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-25-cents and the euro at 20-rand-15-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-18-cents and Bitcoin trades at 124-thousand-551-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-930-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-1-cent a barrel.

# And finally: The 2025 Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to a Japanese and two American scientists for unravelling how the immune system protects the human body from thousands of different microbes. Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi will share the prize for identifying regulatory T cells, acting as the immune system’s security guards and preventing immune cells from attacking a person’s own body. Their findings have led to the development of medical treatments to potentially cure auto-immune diseases, provide more effective cancer treatments, and reduce complications after transplants.

Stay tuned for more news………….