News 18:00

BULLETIN 31 July 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Pretoria Girls High grade 12 learner is suspended over alleged racist remarks in a viral video
# The FF Plus demands answers on Libyan military training amid South Africa’s grey listing
# And, Olympic Games: Canada loses its appeal over a points deduction after a soccer drone scandal

# The Gauteng Department of Education has confirmed the suspension of a grade 12 learner from Pretoria High School for Girls following the emergence of a video with suspected racial undertones that went viral. This follows the suspension of 12 other learners for alleged racial comments in a Whatsapp group, as well as the principal. The department’s Steve Mabona says they are committed to ensuring a safe, inclusive environment for all learners: 

# The Freedom Front Plus warns of a national security threat after 95 Libyan nationals were arrested for alleged military training at a private camp in White River, Mpumalanga. They criticise the government’s inaction, especially after South Africa was grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force for failing to address money laundering and terrorism. Party leader Pieter Groenewald urges immediate action to prevent the country from becoming a terrorist training hub: 

# AgriSA warns the new revised pricing strategy for raw water use charges, set to take effect in 2026, could strain the agricultural sector. The strategy, aimed at promoting water-use efficiency and reflecting water’s scarcity value, could lead to higher costs for agriculture, which uses 63-percent of the country’s water. AgriSA raises concerns about high non-revenue water rates, deteriorating water quality, and the removal of caps on infrastructure cost increases. It urges careful monitoring to prevent negative impacts on farmers and food prices.  

# Olympic Games: The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed Team Canada’s appeal against the points deduction its soccer team received over the use of a drone to spy on competitor New Zealand before last week’s group match. Canada was docked six points, and world governing body Fifa banned officials Bev Priestman, Jasmine Mander and Joseph Lombardi from any soccer-related activity for a year. Canada’s soccer body was also fined 4.1-million-rand. The court will give reasons for its decision at a later stage.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-460-dollars-64-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-428-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-40-cents a barrel.

# And finally, South Africa takes a new breakthrough step in Artificial Intelligence technology today. Immersive Fox, a revolutionary AI-driven “text-to-video” technology, offers the creation of digital clones of real people, perfect for educators, CEOs, and marketers. These AI actors are prompted by adding words, or scripts, and can deliver content in over 50 languages on screen, providing a powerful tool for personalised training and marketing. With this cutting-edge technology, creating high-quality videos will be faster and more efficient, marking a significant step forward in an already lightning fast digital environment.

Stay tuned for more news………….