News 16:00

BULLETIN 8 October 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# AfriForum claims Panyaza Lesufi covers up corruption in the Gauteng government
# ACSA confirms the flight postponement at King Phalo airport in the Eastern Cape
# And rugby: France overhauls its disciplinary system after the controversial tour of Argentina

# AfriForum claims Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is covering up corruption involving fraud and money laundering in the Social Development Department. AfriForum’s Barry Bateman says the Private Prosecution Unit, representing a whistleblower, alleges Lesufi failed to act on forensic reports implicating officials in the misappropriation of funds meant for NGOs. He says Lesufi allegedly appointed a law firm to clear the officials:

# Airports Company South Africa has confirmed that all inbound and outbound flights at King Phalo Airport in the Eastern Cape have been postponed. The postponement comes as a result of adverse weather in East London. Flight operations are expected to resume once conditions improve. ACSA has apologised to passengers for any inconvenience. Updates can be monitored on the ACSA app or aizrlines can be contacted directly.

# Hundreds of thousands of people in Florida in the United States are preparing to evacuate their homes ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton. State officials warned that getting to a safe location quickly will get harder the longer people wait. Hurricane Milton dipped down to Category 4 strength overnight, but it is expected to rebound to a Category 5 later today. The storm is forecast to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Officials are warning Milton’s impact could be more severe and far-reaching than Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 200 people.

# Rugby: France’s governing body has announced plans to overhaul the disciplinary system after three members of the national team landed on the wrong side of the law during the recent tour of Argentina. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou were both arrested on charges of aggravated rape, while Melvyn Jaminet was sent home for racist remarks on social media that led to a 34-week suspension. The president of the federation, Florian Grill, says the current system doesn’t work and controls and sanctions will be strengthened.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-16-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-532-dollars-91-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-651-dollars-17-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-23-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics to John Hopfield from the United States and Geoffrey Hinton from Canada for their work on artificial neural networks. Hopfield created a network that stores and recreates patterns in data, while Hinton developed methods for machines to learn and recognize patterns on their own. In a media briefing, Hinton says their research has greatly advanced artificial intelligence, with applications in image recognition and new material development:  

Stay tuned for more news………….