News 07:00

BULLETIN 26 August 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The date is confirmed for the parliamentary debate on Eskom’s tariff hike
# The Hezbollah leader warns of further attacks against Israel
# And cricket: The West Indies beat South Africa in the second T20

# National Assembly speaker, Thoko Didiza, has set Tuesday the third of September for the debate on Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff hike to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. The DA requested an urgent debate. The DA’s, Kevin Mileham, says the debate will focus on the legality of the power utility being allowed to impose a four-percent increase, that it wants to levy on consumers through its Regulatory Clearing Account next year:

# Head of the Hawks Godfrey Lebeya says an attack on a police official is an act of undermining the authority of the State, and the Hawks will continue to effectively respond to these crimes. Lebea briefed the media about arrests made during the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. He says twenty-one police members were killed in the first quarter, with 16 of those having been while off duty and five while on duty:

# Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero says the city has reached out to the national government to help deal with the scourge of highjacked buildings. This comes after a three-storey abandoned building in Jeppestown, caught fire during the early hours of yesterday morning, leading to the deaths of four people. The cause of the fire is allegedly an illegal connection. Morero says they have reason to believe the building was used as a criminal centre:

# Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned of more attacks against Israel. It comes after Israel launched a wave of strikes into Lebanon that it described as pre-emptive, and Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets in an escalation of tensions. Nasrallah says the delay in its retaliation for the assassination of its military commander Fuad Shukr, was due to the Israeli and US military mobilisation in the region. He adds that they are waiting to see the outcome of ongoing truce talks between Hamas and Israel, to decide on what comes next.

# Cricket: The West Indies beat South Africa by 30 runs to take an unassailable two-nil lead in their three-match T20 series in Trinidad. The hosts, who were asked to bat first, put up a total of 179 for six in their 20 overs, with Shai Hope scoring 41. In reply, Reeza Hendricks scored 44 off 18 balls, but player of the match Romario Shepherd took three wickets for 15 runs, as the Proteas were bowled for 149 in 19.4 overs. The final T20 will be tomorrow.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-70-cents and the euro at 19-rand-82-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-40-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-895-dollars-96-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-514-dollars-95-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-50-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Two NASA astronauts who have been stuck in space for over two months will return to Earth in February 2025 with SpaceX. Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore travelled to the International Space Station on an eight-day mission on 5 June but will now spend around eight months in orbit. The Starliner experienced problems on its way to the ISS, including leaks of helium and thrusters which did not work properly. Engineers at Boeing and Nasa are trying to figure out the technical issues with the craft.

Stay tuned for more news………….