News 18:00

BULLETIN 30 May 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Police warn the public against a WhatsApp scam using fake police letters
# Rugby: The Stormers will get the ball rolling in the URC quarter-finals tonight
# And, Spanish police arrest a man for secretly filming women for an online seduction technique course

# The South African Police Service is warning the public about a scam involving fake letters and calls pretending to be from the police. Circulating via WhatsApp, these messages use real officers’ names and logos to demand payments for false criminal cases. The police stresses it does not communicate through WhatsApp or video calls. Police spokesperson Amanda van Wyk has called on victims to report incidents, and to never share personal details or make payments:

# Statistics South Africa reports a 14.8-percent year-on-year drop in liquidations for April. Liquidations of close corporations fell by 12 cases, while company liquidations declined by seven. Stats SA’s Onica Mushwana says over the three months ending April, liquidations decreased by 6.9-percent, and a six-percent drop was recorded for the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year:

# Israel is blocking all but a trickle of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, says the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with almost no ready-to-eat food entering what its spokesperson described as the hungriest place on earth. Spokesperson Jens Laerke said only 600 of 900 aid trucks had been authorised to get to Israel’s border with Gaza. He said it is mostly flour that get distributed, but it still has to be cooked. Laerke stressed 100-percent of the population of Gaza is now at risk of famine.

# Rugby: The Stormers kick off this weekend’s quarter-final action in the United Rugby Championship tonight in Scotland against Glasgow Warriors. Kick-off is at 8:30pm. Tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 the Bulls are at home in Pretoria against another Scottish side, Edinburgh. The team that top the log, Leinster, take on Scarlets at 4pm. The Sharks round off the weekend’s action in Durban against Munster. Kick-off is at 6:30pm.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-98-cents and the euro at 20-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-284-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-285-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Police arrested a man in Barcelona accused of secretly filming his conversations with women in the street and using the footage to promote an online seduction technique course. Officers allegedly found 239 secretly recorded videos on the suspect’s social media profile in which women shared personal details, such as their nationality, occupation or daily routine. The footage often showed the women’s faces clearly and was used as promotional material on the suspect’s website, where users could pay 60-thousand-rand to enroll for an online “seduction techniques” course and access the secret recordings.

Stay tuned for more news………….