News 08:00

BULLETIN 22 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The National Financial Aid Scheme says it’s making progress
# Divers have found more bodies after the Sicily yacht wreck
# And motorsport: MotoGP kicks off in Thailand in 2025 and 2026

# The National Financial Aid Scheme says progress is being made in disbursing funds to students at universities and TVET Colleges. The scheme briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on High Education yesterday. The scheme received 94-thousand-469 appeals and 63-percent were resolved, while 35-thousand-226 appeals remain unresolved. The scheme’s administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, says the biggest challenge is making sure that payments are done on time for students’ accommodation:

# AfriForum says municipal debt is severely impacting the water supply, with unpaid bills and financial mismanagement straining water boards and threatening access to clean water. The civil rights organisation argues that traditional municipal solutions are insufficient and require increased private sector and community involvement. AfriForum’s Lambert de Klerk advocates for public-private partnerships as a more effective way to ensure sustainable and reliable water services: 

# The bodies of five of the six missing passengers of the Bayesian superyacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily earlier in the week, have been found. The Italian Coastguard has not formally identified the bodies. The UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah Lynch, and the Morgan Stanley International chairperson, Jonathan Bloomer, are some of the people who have been missing since the vessel went down after being struck by a tornado over the water. Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived.

# Motorsport: The 2025 and 2026 MotoGP seasons will begin in Thailand, marking the first time in over 25 years the championship starts in Southeast Asia. The Buriram circuit is due to host the season-opening race on 2 March next year, moving up from its current slot in late October. It first staged a MotoGP event in 2018 but did not host races in 2020 or 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The season has traditionally kicked off in Qatar in recent times, although last year Portugal held the opening race.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-88-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-41-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-341-dollars-14-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-501-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

# And finally president Cyril Ramaphosa has described South Africa’s beloved mathematics and science teacher, William Smith, as an education and cultural icon. The 85-year-old died in Australia after a short battle with cancer. He was awarded the Order of the Baobab in Silver by Ramaphosa in 2019, for his excellent contribution to the teaching and demystification of mathematics and science. Ramaphosa says Smith’s passion for his curriculum and for the success of those he taught in classrooms, at matric camps, and on television benefited millions of young South Africans.

Stay tuned for more news………….