News 12:00

BULLETIN 6 August 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Julius Malema wants a parliamentary committee to summon prisoners with information on crime syndicates
# The Independent Development Trusts’ suspended CEO offered a journalist a 60-thousand-rand bribe to bury an investigation
# And Lady Gaga secures the most nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards

# EFF leader Julius Malema has called on Parliament’s newly established ad hoc committee, probing corruption and political interference in the Police Service, to summon prisoners who can shed some light on crime syndicates. The committee held its first meeting yesterday where members elected the ANC’s Soviet Lekganyane as chairperson. Malema says the terms of reference should include calling prisoners with the relevant information to appear before the committee:

# An investigation has revealed how suspended Independent Development Trust CEO, Tebogo Malaka, and the entity’s spokesperson, Phasha Makgolane, offered Dail Maverick journalist, Pieter-Louis Myburgh, a 60-thousand-rand bribe to bury an ongoing investigation. The probe involves Malaka’s property dealings and her alleged ties to an IDT contractor. Myburgh says he met Malaka and Makgolane at a restaurant in Stellenbosch last Sunday, where he was offered the bribe:

# The Healthy Living Alliance has begun a series of awareness roadshows in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, calling for mandatory food warning labels. Communications manager Zukiswa Zimela says the aim is to pressure the government to make front-of-pack warning labels mandatory on foods which are high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat. The campaign includes collecting signatures to push for urgent action. Zimela says they are urging the Health Department to finalise long-delayed regulations aimed at protecting consumers, especially children, from misleading food marketing.

# Tennis: American Taylor Fritz has set up a semifinal showdown with compatriot Ben Shelton at the Canadian Open in Toronto. The second seed defeated Andrey Rublev of Russia while Shelton beat Australia’s Alex de Minaur. Top seeded German Alexander Zverev will face Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the other semifinal. In the women’s draw in Montreal, Japan’s Naomi Osaka eased past Elina Svitolina of Ukraine to make the semifinals, where she will face Denmark’s Clara Tauson, who defeated American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-4.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-85-cents and the euro at 20-rand-67-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 114-thousand-73-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-367-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-19-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Lady Gaga leads the list of nominees for the MTV Video Music Awards with 12 nods, including Artist of the Year and Best Album. Other top nominees include Bruno Mars with eleven, Kendrick Lamar with ten, and ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter with eight each. Alex Warren, Ella Langley, and Gigi Perez are some of the nominees for Best New Artist. Two new categories have been added this year: Best Country and Best Pop Artist. The award show will be held at New York’s UBS Arena on September eighth.

Stay tuned for more news………….