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BULLETIN 19 November 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Annual consumer inflation has climbed to 3.6-percent in October
# Cricket: Uncertainty over Indian captain Gill’s fitness for the second Test against the Proteas
# And a Gustav Klimt portrait becomes the most expensive modern art work ever sold by Sotheby’s

# Statistics South Africa says inflation rose for the second month in a row, reaching 3.6-percent in October, the highest in over a year. Food inflation eased to 3.9-percent, with slower increases in prices of vegetables, fruit, beverages, sugar and meat, although some basics like cereals, fish, oils and dairy became more expensive. Stats SA’s Patrick Kelly says North West had the highest provincial inflation at 4.3-percent, while the Eastern Cape was the lowest at 3.1-percent:

# A new report by AfriForum claims discriminatory state policies and rising intimidation against minorities have worsened in South Africa this year. The civil rights organisation claims Afrikaners and other minorities are facing exclusion, property attacks, and threats, while critics of the government are being targeted. AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl says they will share the report with G20 embassies and at the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues:

Meanwhile, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says dismissing redress is dishonest denialism. He delivered a sharp rebuke to Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann, accusing him of pushing a malicious and treasonous agenda against transformation. Mashaba argues that redress is a constitutional imperative rooted in apartheid’s structural injustices. While rejecting the ANC’s elite-driven black economic empowerment model, Mashaba insists South Africa still needs effective, non-racial empowerment policies. He calls for a model focused on real opportunity, poverty reduction, and skills development.

# Cricket: Injured Indian captain Shubman Gill travelled with his team to Guwahati, but it’s not yet sure whether he would be fit to play in the second Test against South Africa, starting on Saturday. He suffered a neck injury early in the first encounter in Kolkata which the Proteas won by 30 runs. Gill spent a day a hospital afterwards and is reportedly responding well to treatment. A decision on his participation will be taken later. Vice-captain Rishabh Pant will lead the hosts if Gill can’t play.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-17-cents and the euro at 19-rand-88-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-52-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-554-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-114-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-76-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, made history by becoming the most valuable work of modern art ever sold by Sotheby’s, for a whopping 4.06-billion-rand. The early 20th century artwork sparked a 19-minute bidding battle at the auctioneers’ offices in New York. The 1.8-metre tall painting shows the daughter of a member of one of Vienna’s wealthiest families, dressed in Chinese-inspired clothing before a blue tapestry of Asian-inspired motifs. The bidding war proceeded in increments of 80-million-rand and ultimately went to a phone bidder.

Stay tuned for more news………….