News 12:00

BULLETIN 13 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa mourns the high death toll in the Limpopo bus crash
# All 20 surviving Israeli hostages are released from Gaza
# And cricket: The Proteas bowl Pakistan out for 378 after Senuran Muthusamy took six wickets

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has offered his deep condolences to Zimbabwe and Malawi who have lost compatriots in a bus crash near Makhado in Limpopo yesterday afternoon. The president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says a reported 42 travellers died in the incident on the N1 while they were en route to their home countries from Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. He says this incident is a tragedy for South Africa and its sister states:

# The United Democratic Movement says it is deeply disturbed by the growing wave of kidnappings that continues to grip the country. From January to March alone this year, four-thousand-571 kidnapping cases were reported, an increase of 6.8-percent compared to the same period in 2024. UDM secretary general, Zandile Phiri, says government must strengthen anti-kidnapping and crime-intelligence task teams in every province, with specialised capacity to respond to express and ransom abductions:

Moving abroad:

# Hamas has handed over the 20 surviving Israeli hostages under a ceasefire agreement, as US president Donald Trump and other world leaders gear up for a summit on Gaza. In Tel Aviv, a huge crowd which gathered to support hostage families, erupted in joy, tears and song as news broke of the first releases, though the pain for the loss of those who had not survived was palpable. Israel will in return free nearly two-thousand Palestinian detainees held in its jails.

# Cricket: Senuran Muthusamy was the Proteas’ big hero on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan in Lahore. He took a total of six wickets in the hosts’ first innings to help bowl them out for 378. Pakistan resumed on 313 for five, and Muthusamy took three wickets in a single over to reign them in. The two-match series is the Proteas’ first of the new World Test Championship cycle after beating Australia in the final of the previous cycle in June.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-31-cents and the euro at 20-rand-10-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 115-thousand-290-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-75-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-33-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The South African Communist Party says the decision to bestow Maria Corina Machado the Nobel Peace Prize has discredited this prize by turning it into an instrument for the imperialist agenda of regime change and coups. The 58-year-old Venezuelan opposition leader was recognised for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy. The SACP’s Pius Vilakati says Machado is a documented devotee of apartheid Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

Stay tuned for more news………….