News 08:00

BULLETIN 25 September 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The government says South Africa is entering a new phase of economic renewal
# Benjamin Netanyahu says targeting Iran was one of the easiest decisions he made
# And swimming: Four South Africans qualify for the World Short Course Championships

# Government says after years of grappling with structural constraints, South Africa is beginning to see the tangible results of reform. It says energy reliability is improving, logistics performance is recovering, infrastructure investment is moving from construction plans to execution, and business confidence is strengthening. The country is nearing 500 consecutive days without load-shedding, while a portfolio of 263 projects valued at almost two-trillion-rand is advancing through various stages of development. Government’s David Jacobs says the challenge ahead is not simply to sustain reform, but to convert reform into momentum.

# Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, is leading the South African delegation to the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in the United Arab Emirates from today. The congress serves as a global forum for member states and justice sector stakeholders to consider shared responses to crime, strengthen criminal justice systems and promote the rule of law. The department’s spokesperson, Palesa Rammitlwa, says the congress is also expected to consider the Abu Dhabi Declaration:

# The City of Tshwane has framed the recovery of outstanding municipal debt as critical to funding basic services at a time when the metro is intensifying its revenue collection drive. The metro secured a High Court judgment this week, ordering the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency to pay more than 231-million-rand owed to Tshwane for water, sanitation and electricity services supplied to the Ekandustria Industrial Park. Tshwane mayor’s spokesperson Samkelo Mogobozi says MEGA has ten days to pay:

# Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed “we’d all be dead” if Israel and the US didn’t attack Iran and devastate its nuclear facilities. Dozens of delegates walked out of the United Nations General Assembly as he stood up to deliver his speech yesterday. Netanyahu says targeting Iran was one of the easiest decisions he has ever had to make as prime minister. He says Israel and America acted together against Tehran to save civilisation:

# Swimming: Decorated Olympian Tatjana Smith announced her return to the sport by winning the 50-metres breaststroke at the South African Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg. She won in 29.50 seconds, which is under the required qualifying mark for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing, China, in December. Michael Houlie and Chris Smith also qualified for Beijing after they both went under the required time in the men’s 50-metre breaststroke. Duné Coetzee also achieved the qualifying time in the women’s 400-metre freestyle.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-42-cents and the euro at 18-rand-66-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-69-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-199-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-277-dollars-26-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 103-dollars-39-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….