News 13:00

BULLETIN 9 January 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# FlySafair calls for fairness in the overbooking investigation by the National Consumer Commission
# The miracle baby that survived the Van Reenen’s Pass crash, is recovering
# And Tennis: Jessica Pegula, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Felix Auger-Alliassime reach the Adelaide semi-finals

# FlySafair has welcomed the National Consumer Commission’s investigation into overbooking practices, emphasising its compliance with the Consumer Protection Act. The airline highlights overbooking as a global standard to manage no-shows and keep fares affordable. Chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon, says FlySafair’s approach impacts less than one-percent of capacity. He calls for a fair, industry-wide review and reaffirms its commitment to transparency and customer care throughout the process.

# KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma says the family of the miracle baby that survived a horrific accident has been found in Gauteng. Seventeen people died in the crash involving a truck and a minibus taxi on Van Reenen’s Pass. The MEC’s spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya says the family has been located and is currently living in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni. He says the baby was travelling with her grandparents, who died with four other family members:

# Mozambique’s main opposition leader returned home to Maputo today from more than two months in exile. Venancio Mondlane says he is ready to take part in talks over disputed election results that have led to weeks of deadly protests. Mondlane had called on his supporters to meet him on arrival but security forces restricted access to the airport. AFP reports at one of several barriers erected around the area, security forces shot and wounded a man among a group of about 200 people.

# Tennis: Top seeds Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul both powered into the Adelaide International semi-finals. Pegula dispatched fatigued compatriot Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 2-0 through retirement. Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova ousted world number eight and second seed Emma Navarro, 6-4, 6-4. In the men’s draw, Paul defeated Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-4. He will now face Canadian fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who defeated American Marcos Giron 7-6, 6-3. Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic defeated a qualifier and will face American second seed Sebastian Korda, who had a walkover after Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis pulled out.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-88-cents and the euro at 19-rand-47-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-21-cents and Bitcoin trades at 93-thousand-441-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-664-dollars-4-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-75-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Antarctic sea ice rebounded in December after a long period of record lows, giving pause to speculation that Earth’s frozen continent could be undergoing a permanent change. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center says the rate of sea ice loss during the warmer spring months of November and December slowed to well below average. This followed a prolonged period of record to near-record daily lows in 2023 and 2024, the hottest years in the history books for global temperature rises driven by climate change.

Stay tuned for more news………….