Breakfast Edition: 2 October 2015
WATCH & LISTEN: Here's a recap of this morning's top news stories.
ANOTHER US SHOOTING: A 20-year-old gunman went on a shooting rampage at a community college in the US state of Oregon on Thursday, killing 10 people and wounding seven before he died in a shootout with police. A visibly angry President Barack Obama made an impassioned plea for gun control in the wake of the shooting, blasting Congress for its failure to act in the face of "routine" mass killings.
The unidentified man opened fire in a classroom at Umpqua Community College in rural Roseburg, and moved to other rooms methodically gunning down his victims, witnesses said. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said 10 people were killed and seven were injured, several critically. He said the identity of the victims would not be released for 24 to 48 hours. Student Cassandra Welding was in an adjacent room when the shooting broke out.
DEATH-TOLL IN IRAN STAMPEDE DOUBLES: The death toll in the Saudi hajj disaster rose sharply on Thursday as Iran announced 465 of its pilgrims died in last week's stampede and crush, nearly doubling its earlier count and likely further straining relations between the two Mideast rivals. And while Saudi officials previously said the tragedy killed 769 pilgrims, an Associated Press count based on official figures from countries around the world shows at least 999 people perished near Islam's holy city of Mecca. The total figure could be even larger as the AP survey covered only 15 of the more than 180 countries that sent some 2 million pilgrims to the annual pilgrimage, a pillar of Islamic faith. Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Iran all have said the toll may be higher than what the kingdom has presented.
MAN IN COURT FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: Back home in Gauteng, a 39-year old man is expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrates' court on charges of child pornography. Police Brigadier, Vishnu Naidoo, says police responded to a tip-off and seized three laptops, two external hard drives, two cell phones, three SD cards, a mini spy camera, a digital audio player and a PlayStation console.
LATEST IN THE GOLD MINING SECTOR: The Gold wage negotiations will come to a head today when a final feedback session between the Chamber of Mines and four unions will commence at 9 o'clock. The two largest unions have not revealed their final position but the Chamber's Charmaine Russel feels confident.
FUEL PRICE INCREASE EXPECTED: The fuel price announcement for October is expected later today - with a sharp increase predicted for diesel and little change for petrol. Here's economist, Mike Schussler.
WAITING IN LINE CAN BE EASY: These days, there's an app for nearly everything and with a tap you can get someone to do nearly anything you want. A US man was inspired by this and started a company in New York. You phone them, say what you want and they'll sit in line for the new product or service - at a cost, of course.
