News 12:00

BULLETIN 22 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Tshwane is prioritising the protection of communities affected by the gastrointestinal illness outbreak
# Meta is ordered to pay over 400-billion-rand in a case related to Facebook user data
# And rugby: Kolbe will only return to action in December

# Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya says they are prioritising the protection of communities affected by the gastrointestinal illness outbreak, while accelerating rehabilitation work at the Bronkhorstspruit water treatment works. The number of confirmed cases has risen to 433, with the outbreak affecting communities including Bronkhorstspruit, Zithobeni, Dark City, Rethabiseng and Sokhulumi. Moya says the metro is committed to ensuring accountability for the failures that contributed to this crisis:

Staying with health matters:

Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi says no country is immune to an Ebola outbreak, and while no cases have been detected in South Africa, the country remains on high alert. The Democratic Republic of Congo remains the epicentre, claiming the lives of four-thousand-600 people out of over nine-thousand-500 cases recorded. Cases have also been detected in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. Motsoaledi says 24 public and 12 private hospitals have been prepared to handle potential Ebola cases:

# The Freedom Front Plus in Tshwane is calling for urgent security measures to be implemented at the Wonderboom Airport following the lapse of security contracts last month. The airport supports more than two-thousand-500 people, accommodates dozens of aviation businesses and facilitates thousands of aircraft movements each year. FF Plus’s Willie Spies says at present, anyone can move among the airport’s critical infrastructure without being subjected to any security checks, which is unacceptable:

Moving abroad:

# Social media giant Meta has been ordered to pay over 411-billion-rand for misleading users about its privacy practices. New Mexico’s lawsuit stemmed from allegations that political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in Donald Trump’s 2016 US presidential campaign, obtained data from millions of Facebook users ⁠without their consent. Meta was also accused of intentionally misleading the public on how it benefited from the content. Judge Francis Mathew says Meta’s violations of law and misrepresentations to the public were willful. Meta plans to appeal the ruling.

# Rugby: The Springboks will play next month’s Nations Championship Tests in Europe without star winger Cheslin Kolbe after breaking his jaw in the third Test against the All Blacks early last month. His franchise team, the Stormers, confirmed he would only be back in December, when he should be available for the Cape Town team in the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup. The Boks play Italy in Turin on the seventh of November, followed by matches against France in Paris and Ireland in Dublin.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-47-cents and the euro at 18-rand-50-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-7-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-21-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-84-dollars-91-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 113-dollars-36-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….