News 09:00

BULLETIN 22 August 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola says South Africa is strengthening its ties with Canada
# Bill Clinton says Trump creates chaos
# And tennis: Nadal has not decided on his retirement

# Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, and Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, have stressed the importance of strengthening ties between the two countries. Joly recently visited South Africa where the ministers discussed health cooperation, particularly focusing on global governance and continental agenda issues. Lamola says a key topic of discussion was a Canadian proposal for G7 and G20 coordination during the respective presidencies of the two countries in 2025 and 2026:

# The South African Child Gauge 2024, launched by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, has revealed that one in 25 babies dies before their fifth birthday. The report highlights how children face hunger, neglect, abuse, and developmental challenges. Rising poverty and austerity measures are stalling progress, threatening child development. The report says key interventions include improving maternal and child healthcare, nutrition, and early learning opportunities. The report calls for urgent action to prioritise early childhood development in South Africa.

# The Freedom Front Plus in Gauteng says residents of the Mogale City Municipality must brace themselves for the implementation of new power tariffs. The party’s, Danie Toerien, says residential power consumers with conventional power meters will have to pay between 23 and 27-percent more per month, depending on their consumption. He says the new rate structure is extremely complicated, with seasonal rates, as well as rates based on consumption:

# Former US president Bill Clinton says Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this presidential race with the vision, the experience, the temperament, and the will. He delivered his 12th consecutive Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago. Clinton says Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump creates chaos, and then he sort of curates it, as if it were precious art:

# Tennis: Spanish great Rafael Nadal says he hasn’t decided yet when he will retire, and won’t be rushed into making that decision. The 38-year-old winner or 22 Grand Slam tournaments currently prepares to represent Team Europe in next month’s Laver Cup competition in Berlin. He will team up with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev of Germany, Daniil Medvedev of Russia, Norwegian Casper Ruud, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. Nadal says he will call it quits as soon as he feels he isn’t competitive enough anymore.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-88-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-40-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-585-dollars-72-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-500-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-96-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….