News 12:00

BULLETIN 22 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa says South Africa and Indonesia are committed to strengthening bilateral relations
# Six men are appearing in court for the murder of Kaizer Chiefs star Luke Fleurs
# And US chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies at the age of 29

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasised the importance of strengthening and broadening bilateral relations with Indonesia, both on the political and economic fronts. He arrived in the country this morning as part of a three-nation visit to Southeast Asia. Indonesia is South Africa’s third-largest trading partner in the region. Ramaphosa met Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto and says the two countries will foster strategic partnerships in areas such as trade, diplomacy, and multilateral collaboration:

# Six men accused of murdering Kaizer Chiefs defender Luke Fleurs are appearing in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Gauteng today. The 24-year-old was shot dead during a hijacking at a Roodepoort petrol station in April last year. The six are facing charges of murder, aggravated robbery, and the illegal possession of firearms. Police believe the accused are part of a Gauteng car-hijacking syndicate. Investigations to arrest more suspects are continuing.

# The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s Fire Services says the fire in the area around Drakenstein Prison on the R301 between Paarl and Franschhoek has been fully contained. The fire, which started on Monday afternoon, was fuelled by strong winds and dense vegetation. The municipality’s Jo-Anne Otto says as the wind settled late yesterday evening, firefighting crews were able to create a firebreak ahead of the fire lines, allowing the fire to burn itself out:

# Rugby: Ireland’s scrum coach, John Fogarty, says they are not worried about the team’s form before next weekend’s Test against the All Blacks in Chicago in the US. Ireland last played a Test during the Six Nations, although most of their players were involved in the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia. The All Blacks just came off a competitive Rugby Championship against winners South Africa, Australia and Argentina. Fogarty says a Test against the Kiwis is the perfect challenge to sharpen Ireland’s focus.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-44-cents and the euro at 20-rand-22-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-321-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-107-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 61-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

# And finally: US chess grandmaster and online commentator Daniel Naroditsky has died aged 29. The popular player’s family announced his unexpected death in a statement released by his club. Naroditsky gained international attention in 2007 when he won the under-12 boys world youth championship in Turkey. In 2010, at the age of 14, he became one of the youngest ever published chess authors when he wrote a book covering practical skills and technical maneuverings. In 2013 Naroditsky became a grandmaster, the international chess federation’s highest-ranked chess competitor, while he was still a teenager.

Stay tuned for more news………….