News Bulletin of 29 April 2026, 7am

The Thuma Hope Foundation is expanding its Plate Hope Initiative to provide meals to vulnerable households in South African communities, including Midrand.
Volunteers prepare and distribute food to children and families to reduce hunger and support school attendance and concentration.
The foundation says a meal can change a child’s whole day and help them stay in school.
It also planning a winter outreach campaign to distribute blankets and clothing to families in need.

The Western Cape Education Department and Funda Wande have launched the Bala Wande programme to improve maths teaching in early grades in the Western Cape.
The pilot has trained 225 Grade 1 teachers in 70 schools.
The department plans to expand the programme to 10,000 teachers over three years.
The programme provides teacher training, learner materials and classroom resources.
The initiative targets stronger numeracy skills in early schooling.

Japan Airlines will start using humanoid robots in ground handling tasks at Tokyo’s Haneda airport from next month in a two-year trial aimed at easing employees’ workload.
The Chinese-made robots will be deployed to load and unload cargo containers.
The airline hopes they can in future also be used to clean cabins and operate ground support equipment.
The carrier says using robots for physically demanding tasks will provide significant benefits to employees, although some duties, including safety management, can only be handled by humans.