News 08:00

BULLETIN 8 May 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Constitutional Court will today hear the case of unregistered parties who want the elections postponed
# There are still 39 workers missing following the George building collapse
# And Stormy Daniels testifies about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump

# The Constitutional Court will today hear an application by three unregistered political parties, citing unfair exclusion by the Electoral Commission from participating in the 29 May elections. Ace Magashule’s African Congress for Transformation, mining union Amcu’s Labour Party, and the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats want alterations to the IEC’s elections timetable, including postponing the elections. The parties claim that technical faults in the online registration system of the IEC barred them from registering on time. The IEC is opposing the application.

# The George Municipality has confirmed that the number of workers retrieved from the rubble of the building collapse has risen to 36. Seven people have died while 39 workers are still unaccounted for at present. Seventy-five construction workers were present on the site at the time of the collapse on Monday afternoon. The municipality says a multi-disciplinary rescue team of more than 200 emergency services are hard at work to save as many people as possible.

# ActionSA Gauteng chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, and chairperson of the party’s Youth Forum, Hluphi Gafane, were victims of a hijacking and kidnapping yesterday evening. It is believed that the two were travelling in a Toyota Hilux when they were attacked in Olievenhoutbosch, Centurion. ActionSA chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says after a search by police they were found at about 10.45 pm in the Benoni area:

# Former adult-film star, Stormy Daniels, testified in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York yesterday, where she described her alleged sexual encounter in 2006 with the former US president. Daniels told jurors that she had gone to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room under the belief that they would be getting dinner after meeting there. She claims they had a consensual sexual encounter. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from an alleged attempt to conceal payment to Daniels aimed to keep her quiet.

# Soccer: Borussia Dortmund are through to their first Champions League final since 2013, after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their semifinal clash. Mats Hummels’ second-half header earned Dortmund a one-nil win, completing a two-nil victory on aggregate. The German club will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final in London on the first of next month. Dortmund manager, Edin Terzic, described his team’s performance as outstanding:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-54-cents and the euro at 19-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-714-dollars-83-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-315-dollars-95-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-77-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….