News 12:00

BULLETIN 1 September 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission will go into recess from Thursday
# Rugby: Erasmus is frustrated at the narrative around the Springboks’ scrumming tactics
# And Lionel Richie has checked himself into a hospital as a precautionary measure

# The Madlanga commission, investigating criminality, corruption, and political interference in the criminal justice system, will go into recess from Thursday until 11 September. Public hearings will end tomorrow and resume on 14 September. The seven working-day break is needed to allow two commissioners to honour prior commitments. Spokesperson Jeremy Michaels says staff will continue working during the recess to prepare for the next round of public hearings:

# Union GIWUSA is very concerned over tomorrow’s fuel price increases. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources announced the petrol price will increase by one-rand-34-cent per litre from midnight. GIWUSA president Mametlwe Sebei says even more devastating are the wholesale diesel price increases of two-rand-94-cent and three-rand-15-cents per litre. He says these hikes are a direct attack on the livelihoods of workers and the poor:

Moving abroad:

# The death toll from last week’s flash flooding disaster on the border between Nepal and Tibet has now topped one-thousand. The number of people missing has been revised to three-thousand-916, of whom more than 600 are workers believed to be trapped inside mud-filled hydropower tunnels in Nepal. Over on the Chinese Tibet side, at least 16 people have died, and at least 546 are missing. Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, says the issue of the disasters being experienced is a result of climate change, which needs urgent attention.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says he is frustrated by the narrative being formed around the continued attempts of the All Blacks to influence the referees through the media. New Zealand coach Dave Rennie expressed his grievances about the Boks’ scrum technique after the second Test in Cape Town. He suggested South Africa was walking around opponents in the scrums. Erasmus says he trusts the methods of his scrum coach, Daan Human:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-17-cents and the euro at 18-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-938-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-386-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 94-dollars-43-cents a barrel.

# And finally: American music legend Lionel Richie has reportedly checked himself into a hospital out of an abundance of caution following a performance in St Louis over the weekend. The 77-year-old Grammy winner experienced dizziness and dehydration during his concert. Richie’s hospitalisation comes more than two months after he experienced dizziness onstage during the opening night of his tour with Earth, Wind and Fire in Minnesota in June. He is next scheduled to perform in San Francisco on the 26th of this month.

Stay tuned for more news………….