News 16:00

BULLETIN 8 July 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Archbishop Thabo Makgoba calls for a six-week inquiry into the police leadership crisis
# Huthi rebels launch attacks on ships in the Red Sea again
# And tennis: Jasmine Paolini sacks her coach after losing in Wimbledon’s second round

# The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, has called for an urgent preliminary inquiry into the ongoing crisis in the leadership of the South African Police Service. He urges president Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a panel of judges, law enforcement experts and investigators of high integrity to assess the allegations of political interference by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and report back within six weeks. Makgoba says the public is losing confidence in the police amid serious allegations and internal conflict.

# BOSA is meanwhile calling on Ramaphosa to swiftly appoint a credible, empowered and respected ambassador to Washington. US president Donald Trump yesterday announced that a 30-percent tariff on all South African exports to the US is set to be imposed from the first of next month. BOSA’s spokesperson, Roger Solomons says punitive tariffs of this scale would cripple key export sectors including automotive, agriculture, steel, and mining:

# A damaged cargo ship is under attack in the Red Sea, after Yemen’s Huthi rebels ended a months-long lull in their harassment campaign of the vital but volatile waterway. The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, Eternity, first came under attack yesterday, shortly after the Iran-backed Huthis claimed responsibility for an earlier assault on another cargo ship, the Magic Seas. The Huthis have not claimed responsibility for the latest attack. Yesterday, they said they used unmanned boats, missiles and drones against the Magic Seas in their first attack on a cargo vessel this year.

#  Tennis: Word number four, Jasmine Paolini, has sacked her coach, Marc Lopez, after her early exit from Wimbledon. The 29-year-old Italian lost to Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia in the second round after reaching the final last year. Paolini and the Spaniard started working together in April. Lopez, a former doubles world number three, used to be part of his famous compatriot Rafael Nadal’s coaching team. Under his guidance, Paolini won the Italian Open as well as the French Open’s doubles title together with compatriot Sara Errani.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-77-cents and the euro at 20-rand-83-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-13-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-722-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-327-dollars-50-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-18-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The City of Cape Town’s first Advanced Water Reclamation Plant was recognised at the prestigious 13th Annual Architizer A+Awards. It was named Jury Winner in the Factories and Warehouses category. Selected from over five-thousand entries spanning 80 countries, the Cape Flats AWRP is now officially recognised as one of the best-designed buildings in the world in its category. Mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, says this is a remarkable achievement for South African architecture:

Stay tuned for more news………….