News 14:00

BULLETIN 26 August 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Masemola urges a united front against crime at the Interpol conference
# Minister Gwarube says South Africa needs to expand its access to quality foundational learning
# And cricket: Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announces the end of his IPL career

# National police commissioner Fannie Masemola says Africa’s growth and resilience are being targeted by those who profit from instability. Speaking at the 27th Interpol African Regional Conference in Cape Town, Masemola stressed the need for stronger institutions, intelligence sharing, and harmonised legal frameworks. He called the gathering a historic moment, urging bold and collaborative action to secure Africa’s future while combating global criminal networks:

# Basic Education minister, Siviwe Gwarube says South Africa needs to expand access to quality foundational learning and the most urgent education challenge is the crisis in early literacy and numeracy. Gwarube was speaking during the announcement of new members of the National Education and Training Council in Pretoria. She says too many children in South Africa reach Grade 4 unable to read with meaning or to apply basic mathematical concepts:

Moving abroad:

# Israeli security forces seized roughly eight-million-rand of what it calls terror funds during a raid in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces targeted a currency exchange in Ramallah, leaving dozens of Palestinians wounded. A statement from a police spokesperson says Israeli border police and the military raided a money exchange business in the heart of Ramallah that was used to transfer funds to Hamas. Nine wanted suspects accused of involvement in terror activity were arrested.

# Cricket: Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced the end of his Indian Premier League career but says he may be available for other franchise competitions. The 38-year-old says he will immediately start exploring other possibilities. Ashwin played the first of his 221 IPL matches for Chennai Super Kings and represented Rising Pune Supergiants, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Kings Eleven Punjab before returing to CSK. His 187 IPL wickets are the fifth-highest in the league. Ashwin retired from international cricket last year.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-75-cents and the euro at 20-rand-56-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-145-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-375-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-52-cents a barrel. 

# And finally: France has returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be a Malagasy king beheaded by French troops during a 19th century massacre. The skull presumed to be that of King Toera and two others from the Sakalava ethnic group were handed over at a ceremony at the French Culture Ministry. French troops beheaded King Toera in 1897. His skull was taken to France as a trophy and later placed in Paris’s national history museum alongside hundreds of other remains from the Indian Ocean island.

Stay tuned for more news………….