News 13:00

BULLETIN 18 September 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Gauteng government condemns political posturing over the Ekurhuleni killings
# Cricket: Allan Donald has high praise for a brilliant young Lions bowler
# And a Ukrainian granny disables a Russian drone

# The Gauteng government has accused the DA of exploiting the killings of women in Ekurhuleni for political gain. Earlier this week, the party offered to add 500-thousand-rand to the police’s 400-thousand-rand cash reward for information that could assist the investigation into the murders of nine women. Provincial government spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga says the DA’s cash reward amounts to political opportunism:

Meanwhile, teachers’ union SADTU says violence against women is not only a gross violation of human rights, but also devastates families and undermines the very foundation of society. SADTU spokesperson Nomusa Cembi says they condemn in the strongest terms all acts of brutality. She adds government must strengthen and enforce laws protecting women, ensuring perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice:

Moving abroad:

# The White House has dismissed a report by United Nations human rights experts who found reasonable grounds that the US committed war crimes in strikes in Iran in February. Missiles hit a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd, killing 177 people. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly says the only party in this conflict that has committed war crimes is the Iranian regime, which has murdered thousands of its own people, executed acts of terrorism, and launched indiscriminate attacks against its neighbours.

# Cricket: Former Proteas ace bowler Allan Donald has high praise for young Lions seamer JJ Basson, who recently delivered the best figures by a South African bowler on first-class debut. The 18-year-old took 11 Boland wickets in their CSA four-day match in Johannesburg. Donald, who is one of the Lions’ coaches, says Basson bowled with the maturity of a much older player with a wealth of experience. The young bowler is missing the Lions’ current match against the Knights in Bloemfontein while writing his preliminary matric exams.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-24-cents and the euro at 18-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-71-cents and Bitcoin trades at 78-thousand-108-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-386-dollars-87-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 103-dollars-90-cents a barrel.

# And finally: An elderly Ukrainian woman has disabled a high-tech Russian drone with her bare hands. Footage from the Zaporizhzhia region shows the grandmother calmly approaching the grounded kamikaze drone, which was lying in wait for a target. She disabled the device by ripping out its fibre-optic control cable, completely severing the pilot’s signal. While the video has gone viral, emergency services urge civilians not to copy her actions, warning grounded drones often carry active, highly sensitive explosives.

Stay tuned for more news………….