News 08:00

BULLETIN 19 December 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa signs a critical Nuclear Safety Bill
# Motorists are urged to budget for fuel price increases in January
# And cricket: The Proteas get the chance to strike back

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has assented to the National Nuclear Regulator Amendment Bill. This provides for nuclear safety oversight ranging from the decontamination of defence facilities to airline pilot safety. The law gives the National Nuclear Regulator additional functions. The president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says it also provides for the decontamination, decommissioning, and closing of national defence force facilities, equipment, machinery and scrap for civilian use:

#  The Automobile Association is advising motorists to carefully plan their travel budgets now to ensure they have adequate funds to cover their fuel price and toll expenses this festive season. The AA’s spokesperson, Eleanor Mavimbela, says according to Central Energy Fund data, the price of 95 unleaded petrol is anticipated to increase by around three-cents per litre in January, while 93 unleaded petrol is projected to increase by 11-cents per litre:

# Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero says they are committed to ensuring that all residents have water by Christmas Day, as it is vital for both residents and visitors. Water supply is steadily recovering following the planned Rand Water maintenance that disrupted services for 86-hours. Morero says the metro is currently grappling with significant water losses, estimated at 40-percent of total supply. He says these losses stem from illegal connections, bypassed meters, and infrastructure leaks:

France’s highest court has upheld former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction for corruption and influence peddling. He was found guilty of trying to bribe a judge and of peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about a probe into his 2007 campaign finances. Sarkozy appealed against his 2021 conviction, for which he had been given a three-year prison sentence. Two of the years were suspended. The court has ordered him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former head of state.

# Cricket: The Proteas get the chance to bounce back in the second of three one-day matches against Pakistan at Newlands in Cape Town this afternoon. This follows after the visitors won the thrilling first encounter in Paarl on Tuesday, chasing down the target of 240. Protea wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen rued their missed chances after the team was restricted to 239 for nine, saying they were 20 to 30 runs short. The final ODI will be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-27-cents and the euro at 18-rand-96-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand and Bitcoin trades at 100-thousand-980-dollars-3-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-611-dollars-45-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-6-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….