News 12:00

BULLETIN 11 December 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A senior economist at FNB says the manufacturing sector remains under pressure
# The National Council of Provinces passes a bill allocating more funds for South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel
# And golf: Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the third time

# A senior economist from FNB, Thanda Sithole, says the manufacturing sector remains under pressure, constrained by weak domestic demand and a challenging global environment. Manufacturing production did increase by 0.8-percent year on year in October, reversing the 0.8-percent drop recorded for September, and breaking a two-month streak of underwhelming output. Sithole says this is despite reduced energy constraints and modest input costs:

# The National Council of Provinces has passed the Special Appropriation Bill with opposition from the MK Party and the Freedom Front Plus. The bill proposes funding to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of 40-million-rand for the department’s legal proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice. It also proposes 38.2-million-rand for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for its sub-programme expenditure relating to proceedings in the ICJ. South Africa brought a case before the ICJ in December last year, accusing Israel of genocide.

# Syrian rebel fighters say they have found around 40 bodies showing signs of torture in the mortuary of a military hospital in the capital of Damascus following the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad. The bodies were wrapped in blood-stained white shrouds and piled up inside a refrigerated room at Harasta Hospital. Human rights groups say more than 100-thousand people have disappeared since Assad ordered a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011. A Syrian organisation says it was likely the bodies were detainees from the notorious Saydnaya prison.

# Golf: World number one Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Tour Player of the Year, joining Tiger Woods as the only player to win the honour in three consecutive years. The American received 91-percent of the vote. Scheffler has captured 13 career PGA Tour triumphs, seven of them this year. He became the first player to defend his title at The Players Championship as well as taking his second Masters crown in three seasons. The 28-year-old also won an Olympic gold in Paris.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-84-cents and the euro at 18-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-870-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-691-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-21-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Western Cape Education Department has reiterated calls for matrics attending celebrations, including rage events and smaller parties, to do so responsibly. Education MEC David Maynier acknowledged the excitement but urged students to celebrate safely. He confirmed the marking of 2024 matric exams is underway and expressed anticipation for celebrating results with matriculants when they are released early next year:

Stay tuned for more news………….