News 14:00

BULLETIN 12 August 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# TLU SA launches a campaign against amendments to the Firearms Control Act
# Cricket: Conrad backs his young team for the Namibian visit
# And South Korea targets a moon landing by 2030

# Agricultural organisation, TLU SA, launched a national campaign against proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act. The organisation’s Caria van der Merwe says the changes could have far-reaching consequences for farmers, rural communities, and lawful firearm owners. The campaign aims to ensure the agricultural community’s concerns are heard before further decisions are made. Van der Merwe says public support will strengthen TLU SA’s submissions during the legislative process and defend lawful firearm ownership:

# The Benchmarks Foundation says proposed changes to South Africa’s mining laws may fail to target the masterminds behind illegal mining syndicates. The General Mining Laws Amendment Bill proposes making illicit mining and related activities criminal offences, with fines of up to 100-million-rand and prison terms of up to 30 years. Foundation researcher David van Wyk says authorities should focus on identifying those financing and benefiting from syndicates, rather than targeting only miners operating underground.

Meanwhile, union federation SAFTU says thousands of abandoned, derelict and inadequately secured mines have become death traps, environmental hazards and breeding grounds for organised criminal syndicates. A rockfall at a mine at Nkaneng near Rustenburg in North West killed 14 illegal miners yesterday, most of them from Lesotho. SAFTU’s Asive Dyani says this tragedy once again demonstrates the terrible human price of failing to confront the crisis comprehensively:

# Cricket: Proteas coach Shukri Conrad believes the young team he is sending to Windhoek later this month will step up against their closest neighbours. The team playing a T20 tri-series against Namibia and Zimbabwe, followed by a one-day series against Namibia, doesn’t include any of the regular Proteas. Allrounders Duan Jansen, Marco’s twin, and Corbin Bosch’s brother, Eathan, are set to make their debuts for South Africa. Other exciting young talents include Dewald Brevis, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dré Pretorius and Jordan Hermann.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-14-cents and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-26-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-418-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 91-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

# And finally: South Korea has unveiled an ambitious technology strategy centred on seven projects ranging from nuclear ‌energy and quantum computing to space and biotechnology. The country also seeks to secure new growth engines beyond semiconductors and artificial intelligence. At the launch of the initiative named Seven Major Seed, president Lee Jae-myung stated it brings together certain goals. These include commercial deployment of indigenous small modular reactors by 2035, a moon landing by 2030, development of a domestic 100-qubit quantum computer by 2029 and commercialisation of brain-computer interface products by 2035.

Stay tuned for more news………….