News 17:00

BULLETIN 6 October 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa says an economic war room will be established to monitor government performance
# Returning Gaza flotilla activists claim jail mistreatment in Israel
# And cricket: The Proteas are chasing a winning target of 232 against New Zealand in Indore

# ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says the national executive committee has resolved to establish an economic war room in the Presidency to coordinate government performance and publish regular progress scorecards. The war room will hold government departments accountable and expedite policies tackling unemployment, poverty, and high living costs. In his closing remarks of the special NEC meeting in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, Ramaphosa said professionalisation and merit-based appointments will be non-negotiable to ensure effective delivery and accountability:

# GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille says Unite for Change represents more than a political merger. She describes it as a new inclusive direction ahead of next year’s local government elections. Bringing together the GOOD party, Build One South Africa and RISE Mzansi, De Lille says the move tackles opposition fragmentation. She urged citizens, especially the youth to join the quest for a better South Africa:

# A group of Global Sumud Flotilla participants deported by Israel have claimed they were mistreated while they were detained. Twenty-one of the former detainees landed in Madrid yesterday and expressed their fears for their fellow activists still in Israel. They were among some 450 activists arrested last week aboard more than 40 humanitarian aid vessels carrying food, water and medicine. Those detained between Wednesday and Friday were brought to Israel, where many remain in prison. Israel has strongly denied allegations of mistreatment and called the flotilla a provocation.

# Cricket: The Proteas are chasing a winning target of 232 in their Women’s World Cup group match against New Zealand in Indore, India. New Zealand’s captain, legendary batter Sophie Devine, won the toss and elected to bat first, but Marizanne Kapp took their first wicket with the very first ball. Devine scored 85 from 98 balls before becoming one of Nonkululeko Mlaba’s four victims, and the last wicket fell in the 48th over after a suberb fielding display from South Africa.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-25-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-19-cents and Bitcoin trades at 124-thousand-882-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-934-dollars-35-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-99-cent a barrel.

# And finally: 2025’s Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to a Japanese and two American scientists for unravelling how the immune system protects the human body from thousands of different microbes trying to invade it. Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi will share the prize for identifying regulatory T cells, acting as the immune system’s security guards and preventing immune cells from attacking a person’s own body. Their findings have led to the development of medical treatments to potentially cure auto-immune diseases, provide more effective cancer treatments, and reduce complications after transplants.

Stay tuned for more news………….