News 17:00

BULLETIN 12 September 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Steenhuisen says the DA will challenge the BELA Bill if it compromises children’s rights
# Cricket: Rashid Khan is included in Afghanistan’s squad for the three ODIs against the Proteas
# And, Jon Bon Jovi is praised for talking a woman off a bridge

# The DA has announced its intention to challenge the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill if it undermines children’s rights. In his address to the Cape Town Press Club, party leader John Steenhuisen expressed opposition to the bill’s potential impact on mother-tongue education rights. Steenhuisen stated that the DA will pursue all legal avenues to protect educational rights if the bill is enacted unchanged: 

In another development, the Cape Forum is urging all communities, especially Afrikaans-speaking ones, to oppose the BELA Bill. They plan to challenge the bill in court, advocating for more community control and better resource distribution in education. The forum’s Bernard Peters argues the bill threatens educational autonomy and fairness, impacting all schools, including those in coloured communities: 

# The Information Regulator says it lacks the authority to ban major social media companies like X, Meta, and Google, despite their non-compliance with South Africa’s privacy laws. The companies claimed the Promotion of Access to Information Act doesn’t apply to foreign entities. During a briefing, chairperson Pansy Tlakula highlighted that all companies operating in the country must follow its laws, but the regulator has limited recourse for enforcement. She adds that banning these platforms, as Brazil did, would infringe on the right to freedom of expression.

# Cricket: Brilliant Afghan spinner Rashid Khan will play in this month’s three one-day internationals against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates after missing the one-off Test against New Zealand on medical advice. He is still recovering from a back operation he underwent after the ODI World Cup in India last year. The series against the Proteas will take place in the Sharjah Stadium from this coming Wednesday. The venue will then become the first in the world to host 250 ODIs.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-91-cents and the euro at 19-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-40-cents and Bitcoin trades at 57-thousand-719-dollars-99-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-536-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-59-cents a barrel.

# And finally, rock legend Jon Bon Jovi has been praised by police for helping a woman in distress from the ledge of a bridge in Nashville, Tennessee. The 62-year-old rockstar was in the American city shooting a music video on the bridge. His team was setting up camera equipment when the woman was seen standing on the ledge. Bon Jovi walked over to her and started talking to her. Police footage shows how he and another woman later managed to get the distressed woman off the ledge and walked her to safety.

Stay tuned for more news………….