News 16:00

BULLETIN 23 August 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Analyst warns EFF-MK Party turmoil may disrupt the opposition in Parliament
# Mthombeni says police are dismantling drug labs in Gauteng
# And, tennis: A tough draw for world number one Jannik Sinner at the US Open

# Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast warns that the fallout between EFF leader Julius Malema and MK Party National Organiser Floyd Shivambu could destabilise opposition politics in Parliament. Shivambu’s recent defection from the EFF to the MK Party, amid internal tensions, may lead to further defections. Breakfast told the SABC this may complicate the dynamics within the progressive caucus:

# Gauteng police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni says police are making inroads in identifying and dismantling drug labs in the province. This follows the arrest of two illegal immigrants and the discovery of a drug lab, with drugs and processing machinery to the estimated value of 80-million-rand at a plot in Douglasdale, Johannesburg, yesterday. Police spokesperson Mavela Masondo says more than ten drug labs have been discovered by the police in Gauteng in the last five months:

# The Italian Coastguard says divers have discovered the body of the final person missing from the superyacht that sank off Sicily. Eighteen-year-old Hannah Lynch, the daughter of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, was the only person still unaccounted for. Lynch was lost along with Morgan Stanley International bank chair Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda when the yacht sank early on Monday morning. Fifteen of the 22 passengers and crew on board were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat.

# Tennis: World number one and top seed Jannik Sinner received a tough draw for the US Open which starts in New York on Monday. The Italian could face 14th-seeded local player Tommy Paul in the fourth round, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the quarterfinals, third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal and defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final. Sinner also faces criticism after the revelation he was cleared of doping after testing positive twice in March.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-94-cents and the euro at 19-rand-95-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-56-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-852-dollars-15-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-500-dollars-96-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

# And finally, a lung cancer patient has become the first in the UK to receive a new experimental vaccine to help his body fight the disease. Janusz Racz had six syringes of the jab, each containing genetic material for a different part of the tumour, to train five-billion cells in his immune system to go on the attack. The vaccine is made by BioNTech using the same mRNA technology that underpinned its highly effective COVID jab. About 130 patients with non-small cell lung cancer at six hospitals in the UK, are part of the study.

Stay tuned for more news………….