News 18:00

BULLETIN 2 February 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Motorists get relief at the pumps
# Police arrest over 14 000 suspects, seize illegal guns, drugs, and contraband
# And, the slump in commodities rattles the global markets

# Fuel prices are set to drop to their lowest level in four years. From Wednesday, 93-octane petrol and 95-octane petrol will fall by 65-cents per litre. Diesel will also be cheaper, dropping between 50-cents and 57-cents per litre, while paraffin falls by 53-cents per litre. However, LP-gas prices will increase by 31-cents per kilogram nationally and 36-cents in the Western Cape. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources says the rand’s strength helped bring prices down, though higher global oil costs limited the drop.

# Police have arrested over 14-thousand 500 people in a nationwide crime crackdown, targeting murder, rape, armed robbery, drug offences, and illegal mining. Police also recovered 119 firearms, more than one-thousand-100 rounds of ammunition, 51 stolen vehicles, and over 700 other dangerous weapons, as well as contraband worth over one-million-rand. Police spokesperson Amanda van Wyk says shootouts occurred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and foreign nationals were detained in the Western Cape for copper theft:

# Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, is cautioning young people against the growing scourge of substance abuse. The minister says substance abuse continues to threaten young people’s health, safety, education, and long-term contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. The department’s spokesperson, Cassius Selala, says as part of the government’s response, they will continue to work with the Central Drug Authority and civil society organisations:

# Commodities markets slumped earlier today, led by deep losses in gold, silver, oil and industrial metals. It follows American president Donald Trump’s choice of Kevin Warsh as the next US Federal chair, and sent precious metals tumbling for a second session. The choice sparked selling across financial markets. Global stocks fell for a third straight day, led by steep declines across Asia and Europe. Gold slid five-percent, ‌while silver fell more than seven-percent. Oil dropped nearly five-percent, easing from multi-month highs, while copper fell three-percent.

# Rugby: Stormers director of rugby John Dobson believes the coming four-week break will benefit them after three defeats in their last four matches – to Harlequins, and twice to the Sharks. The Cape Town team will next play the Lions in Johannesburg on 28 February and the Bulls in Pretoria on 14 March, followed by home games against the Dragons on the 22 March and Edinburgh on the 28th. Dobson admits the same problems against the Sharks in Cape Town were repeated in Durban this weekend.   

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-6-cents and the euro at 18-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-859-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-725-dollars-46-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-35-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….