News Bulletin of 29 March 2026, 1pm

A curious two-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer named Sable sparked an emergency rescue at the Hillcrest Estate quarry last week in Cape Town. The adventurous pup chased dassies too far, ending up 20 metres up an 80-metre cliff. When he didn’t return, his owner raised the alarm, and teams from the Wilderness Search and Rescue and City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services worked together to save him. After a short round of diplomatic negotiations, involving the strategic deployment of some premium Woolworths droëwors, the young adventurer was convinced the rescuers were indeed there to help. Using a technical rope system, a K9 Search and Rescue operator and a Fire and Rescue specialist were then carefully lowered to bring Sable safely down.

Over 60 teams from schools across the region descended on Bedfordview for a weekend of rugby and netball at the annual Saheti Sevens Festival. The tournament featured 30 rugby teams and 36 netball teams competing in the U16 and open age groups, delivering two days of high-energy matches and spirited competition. Tournament director of rugby, Marceau Alberts, said the event was a success, highlighting both the competitive nature of the matches and the strong sense of community among the teams.

Amazon is rolling out an AI-powered upgrade for its Echo smart speaker, known as Alexa, across the UK. Dubbed Alexa+, the update makes the digital assistant more conversational, able to follow threads and respond proactively. The upgrade comes after criticism that Echo has stagnated since its 2016 launch, while AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude have advanced rapidly. Head of data insights at FDM/CCS Insight Jessica Miller said UK consumers will notice an immediate difference.