News 15:00

BULLETIN 31 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A cross-party team is formed to address clauses in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act
# The Road Freight Association says the mini budget does not address challenges at ports
# And cricket: The Proteas beat Bangladesh by an innings and 273 runs to complete a 2-0 series victory

# A cross-party team has been formed to tackle concerns about two controversial clauses in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act. This decision was made during a meeting of the government of national unity’s clearing house mechanism yesterday. The team includes deputy Justice minister Andries Nel and the FF Plus’ Corné Mulder, GOOD Party’s Brett Herron, the DA’s Hellen Zille, and ANC’s Mdumiseni Ntuli. They have two weeks to resolve the issues and report back, focusing on a solution that benefits all citizens and prioritises cooperation over party political interests.

# The Road Freight Association says there was no mention in Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s medium term budget policy statement of any immediate action to deal with the equipment at ports. Association CEO, Gavin Kelly says this equipment almost singularly cripple operations and there was also no mention of key infrastructure to ensure rail moves bulk commodities:

# Bosnian police arrested eight people suspected of being part of a human trafficking ring that smuggled at least one-thousand-400 illegal migrants to Italy. The migrants come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Eritrea and China. The eight suspects were arrested in several towns across northern Bosnia during an operation carried out in cooperation with Europol and Croatian, Slovenian and Italian police.

# Cricket: South Africa annihilated Bangladesh in the second Test in Chattogram to win the series 2-0. The hosts were forced to follow on on the third morning after a first-innings deficit of 416 runs after the Proteas declared on 575 for six yesterday. The wickets again started falling almost immediately and the whole team was back in the pavillion for just 143, handing the Proteas victory with an innings and 273 runs. Keshav Maharaj took five wickets after Kagiso Rabada did the same in Bangladesh’s first innings.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-68-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-96-cents and Bitcoin trades at 72-thousand-244-dollars-52-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-779-dollars-36-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

# And finally: President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans to embrace Diwali values, such as truth, love, peace, and non-violence, to build a better society. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says Ramaphosa describes the festival of lights as a representation of good triumphing over evil. Magwenya encourages everyone to work together to address social inequalities and challenges for a more united nation:

Stay tuned for more news………….