News 13:00

BULLETIN 18 December 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A joint festive season plan is unveiled to tackle food safety and illicit trade
# South Africans face a mixed fuel price outlook for January
# And cricket: The Proteas women’s captain is reprimanded for showing dissent in the England Test

# The government has unveiled a joint festive season plan to address food safety and combat illicit trade. The plan involves intensified inspections at ports of entry, door-to-door compliance checks, and operations targeting warehouses, supermarkets, and food handlers. Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa told the media authorities will intensify inspections to stop unsafe goods and target high-risk activities:

# The Central Energy Fund forecasts a three-cents-per-litre rise in 95 unleaded petrol and a similar drop for diesel prices next month. Brent crude oil is currently trading around one-thousand-306-rand a barrel, down nearly five-percent year-on-year. However, concerns linger over potential supply disruptions from sanctions on Russian exports and possible US actions against Iran. Meanwhile, Automobile Association spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela advises motorists to plan budgets carefully for December and January travel:

# Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks says they have made a desperate call to president Cyril Ramaphosa to impose a moratorium on farm evictions and forced removals in the Western Cape. He says there are one-thousand-500 court applications for farm evictions in the Paarl and Wellington areas. Hendricks adds this will likely affect over two-thousand people living on farms in the Drakenstein municipal area:

# Cricket: Proteas Women’s captain, Laura Wolvaardt, has been reprimanded for breaching the International Cricket Council code of conduct during the Test against England in Bloemfontein. She was found guilty of showing disapproval after being given out leg before wicket in South Africa’s first innings. The ICC added one demerit point to her record after her first offence in 24 months. Wolvaardt admitted to the charge and accepted the sanction, avoiding a formal hearing.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-6-cents and the euro at 18-rand-95-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-44-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-648-dollars-9-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-42-cents a barrel.

# And finally: WhatsApp has introduced new calling features for both desktop and mobile that will make connecting with family and friends easier than ever before. More than two billion calls are made every single day using the app. The new features enable users to select specific call participants for a group chat as well as new fun effects for video calls, including puppy ears, going underwater, or a karaoke microphone. Call features have been improved and both desktop and mobile now provide for more reliable calls, with higher resolution video quality.

Stay tuned for more news………….