News 12:00

BULLETIN 17 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Good news as inflation cools to 5.3-percent in March 
# The George Municipality initiates clean-up efforts following heavy rain 
# And golf: Rory McIlroy rejects reports of him making a big-money move to LIV

# There is some good news about inflation today. Following a two-month upswing, inflation softened to 5.3-percent in March from 5.6-percent in February. Statistics SA says categories with the highest annual price changes in March were miscellaneous goods and services, education, health, and housing and utilities. Education fees are surveyed once a year in March. Overall, education was 6.3-percent more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2023. This is the highest since 2020 when the rate was 6.4-percent. Food inflation is at a three-and-a-half-year low.

# The George Municipality in the Southern Cape’s Community Services Department has embarked on a thorough clean-up operation in affected areas following last week’s heavy rainfall. The Wilderness, Kleinkrantz, and the areas west of the Touw River up to Leentjiesklip were the most affected. Mayor Leon van Wyk says about 50 truckloads of waste and debris have been collected, reflecting the aftermath of the much-needed rainfall that has filled the dams in the area:

# A report shows the number of anti-semitic incidents in the United States have reached a record high last year, exacerbated by the start of the Israel-Hamas war on the seventh of October. Jewish organisation Anti-Defamation League counted a total of eight-thousand-873 anti-semitic incidents in the country in 2023, a 140-percent increase from 2022. Over five-thousand of them were reported after 7 October. Reuters reports the organisation’s CEO, Jonathan Goldblatt, as saying Jewish Americans are targeted at school, at work, in public and even at home.

# Golf: Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy has rejected reports that he is on the verge of joining LIV Golf. London financial paper City AM reported at the weekend that the Northern Irishman had been offered 16.3-billion-rand to join the Saudi Arabian-backed circuit. McIlroy, who has been one of LIV Golf’s most vocal critics since the breakaway tour was launched in 2022, says he will play on the PGA Tour for the rest of his career:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-94-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-63-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-466-dollars-86-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-389-dollars-95-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

# And finally: SANParks, in collaboration with the Northern Cape’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism, has unveiled the Twee Rivieren bird hide in the Kgalagadi transfrontier park. SANParks’ head of communications, JP Louw, says the lookout centre aims to enrich visitor experiences and is testament to ongoing tourism infrastructure investments. He also highlights that the new bird hide’s walkway is wheelchair-friendly, aligning with SANParks’ commitment to accessibility and user-friendliness for all visitors:

Stay tuned for more news………….