News 15:00

BULLETIN 18 August 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Motorists must brace for fuel price hikes in September
# CemAir urges the Competition Tribunal to block Harith’s acquisition of FlySafair
# And rugby: The All Blacks’ coach regards the series against the Boks as a lot tougher than a World Cup

# Motorists could face higher fuel prices in September, according to mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund. Ninety-three octane petrol’s price is showing an under-recovery of 66-cents per litre, while 95-octane could rise by 77 cents. Diesel users may be hit hardest, with increases of between two-rand-73 and two-rand-90 per litre projected. Experts say the hikes are driven by rising global oil prices and ongoing tensions in the Middle East, despite a relatively stable rand against the US dollar.

# The Madlanga commission has heard suspended police Sergeant Fannie Nkosi arranged a demonstration of cellphone surveillance technology and jamming technology from Czech company, InvaSys. Chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson says WhatsApp exchange evidence involves Nkosi, businessmen Steve Motsumi and Katiso Molefe, and slain taxi boss Mswazi Msibi, purporting to represent the government. Chaskalson and commissioner Sandile Khumalo raised concerns over Nkosi’s alleged use of police documents to facilitate fraud:

# CemAir has asked the Competition Tribunal to prohibit Harith Aviation’s proposed acquisition of Safair Holdings, which owns FlySafair. CemAir argues the deal could create overlapping economic and governance interests involving Lanseria Airport in Gauteng, the Government Employees’ Pension Fund, Airports Company South Africa and South African Airways, potentially affecting competition. It has called for structural safeguards, including independent airport governance, information firewalls and equal access. The Competition Commission supports approval with conditions.

# Rugby: All Blacks coach Dave Rennie regards the coming Test series against the Springboks as a lot tougher than a World Cup. He says in a World Cup the strength of the opponents varies considerably while it will be the same strong opponent against South Africa every time. The two countries could meet in the quarterfinals of next year’s tournament in Australia. Rennie says using all the players in his squad in the warm-up games was good preparation for Saturday’s first Test at Ellis Park.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-22-cents and the euro at 18-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-93-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-286-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-389-dollars-97-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 92-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A study by Stellenbosch University and Artefact South Africa is calling for targeted prevention and support strategies to address cyberbullying among teenagers. Researchers Daniel le Roux and Camryn Twaddle found that 63.9-percent of learners surveyed had been involved in cyberbullying. Twaddle says the study found that girls and boys experienced different forms of online abuse, with TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat most commonly linked to cyberbullying:

Stay tuned for more news………….