News 13:00

BULLETIN 5 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA in Gauteng wants government to enforce a moratorium for the closure of all spaza shops
# A tiny New Hampshire community kicks off US voting with a tie between Trump and Harris
# And roadrunning: Sydney joins six prestigious marathons on the World Marathon Majors list

# ActionSA is dismayed at the continued deaths of children in Gauteng, despite the promise made by premier Panyaza Lesufi to deploy food inspectors to monitor townships’ spaza shops. In the latest incident, a ten-year-old girl died in Alexandra after allegedly eating snacks bought from a local spaza shop. ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni says government must enforce an urgent moratorium for the closure of all spaza shops in Gauteng, pending a provincial audit:

Union Giwusa is also concerned about these deaths. The girl from Alexandra’s death followed those of six children in Naledi, Soweto, last month. Giwusa’s spokesperson, Koketso Phasha, says this is the result of poverty and the high cost of living:

# Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched election day with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close White House race. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three votes in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off election day hours before the rest of the country’s polling stations open. Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty.

# Roadrunning: Sydney’s marathon was elevated to the World Marathon Majors to join six others at the pinnacle of global distance racing. The others are London, New York, Boston, Tokyo, Berlin and Chicago. Sydney’s elevation followed a three-year programme to enhance the event. The CEO of World Marathon Majors, Dawna Stone, says Sydney’s race operations and event experience had been deeply impressive. The Cape Town marathon is currently being evaluated for inclusion in the majors by 2026.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-46-cents and the euro at 19-rand-2-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-938-dollars-20-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-744-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-19-cents a barrel.

# And finally: About 13-million children in South Africa live in poverty, despite an estimated 700-billion-rand-a-year investment made by the government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations. This is according to a study by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The study estimates the direct cost of child poverty at about nine-percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product. The fund says the higher direct and indirect costs of child poverty are indicative of the country’s higher rate of poverty and inequality, and its relatively smaller economy.

Stay tuned for more news………….