News 12:00

BULLETIN 23 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The jet fuel price increase drives a sharp rise in South African airfares
# A police official is killed and another wounded in a shooting incident in the Eastern Cape
# And Cricket South Africa is searching for alternative UK broadcast partners to air the series between the Proteas and England

# South African airfares have surged as jet fuel prices increased following the Middle Eastern conflict. FlySafair says fuel costs rose by up to 70-percent in a week, making up over half of flight expenses. This has led to the airline introducing a temporary surcharge. A return trip between Johannesburg and Cape Town now exceeds four-thousand-rand, nearly double recent prices. The airline says some routes added over 800-rand per ticket, significantly increasing travel costs.

# Eastern Cape police have launched a manhunt following the murder of a senior police official in New Brighton, Mthatha. A female official was shot and wounded during the incident. Police spokesperson, Nobuntu Gantana, says according to preliminary investigations, a white VW Polo was seen parked a short distance from the scene about two hours before the attack:

# Agricultural organisation, TLU SA, has welcomed the arrival of two-million doses of foot-and-mouth-disease vaccine from Dollvet in Turkey. This is the first tranche of the six-million doses order placed through Dollvet’s local agents, Dunevax. Since February, South Africa has received a total of four-million doses of FMD vaccines. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl has urged government to include the private sector in the procurement and distribution of the vaccines:

Moving abroad:

# The European Commission is allocating over 454-billion-rand in humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable people in West and Central Africa. The funds will support those affected by current conflicts and food crises, forcibly displaced people, host communities, and hard-to-reach populations. This is in countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Chad. The European Union says the primary driver of the humanitarian crises is conflict, further intensified by the adverse effects of climate change and a multitude of local factors related to governance and resources.

On to sports news:

# Cricket South Africa is reportedly struggling to secure a UK television rights deal for the series against England in South Africa from December to January. The series will include three Tests and three one-day internationals. This will be England’s first Test series in South Africa in seven years. According to The Guardian, Sky Sports has declined an offer to renew a long-term contract that expired last year. TNT Sports is interested in purchasing the television rights, but costs are a problem.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-53-cents against the rand and the euro at 19-rand-35-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-30-cents and Bitcoin trades at 78-thousand-25-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-719-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-87-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….