News 12:00

BULLETIN 14 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Johannesburg man is linked to an elite Israeli sniper unit in Gaza
# A suspected drug trafficker from South Africa is arrested in Ethiopia
# And cricket: Mahela Jayawardene returns as Mumbai Indians’ head coach

# A 22-year-old man from Johannesburg has been identified as a member of an elite sniper unit within the Israeli Defence Forces. According to News24, a documentary by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi indicates that Aaron Bayhack was allegedly involved in the unit’s Gaza operations which reportedly killed over 100 people, including civilians. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has expressed concern about citizens fighting in the conflict, citing possible violations of international law.

# A suspected drug trafficker from South Africa has been arrested in Ethiopia with 5.4-million-rand worth of cocaine. The 29-year-old woman was apprehended through a collaboration between the South African Police Services Gauteng counter-narcotics intelligence, and the Ethiopian Federal Police in the capital of Addis Ababa. Police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, says the woman was flagged through SAPS Interpol on suspicion that she was travelling to Brazil to collect drugs and fly back to South Africa via several countries:

# Minister of Energy and Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says the stability in the leadership at Eskom is contributing to the prolonged suspension of load-shedding. He gave an update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan today, as South Africa has maintained an uninterrupted power supply for over 200 days. Ramokgopa says Eskom has also managed to fill critical vacancies:

# Cricket: Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene has been reappointed as Mumbai Indians’ head coach, after previously holding the position from 2017 to 2022. He replaces former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who had a two-year stint as head coach of the five-time Indian Premier League champions. Under Boucher, Mumbai made the playoffs last year, but this year they finished at the bottom of the points table with just four wins in 14 games. Jayawardene says he is looking forward to this exciting challenge.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-44-cents and the euro at 19-rand-6-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-79-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-611-dollars-18-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-659-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-87-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot has topped the international box office, making over two-billion-rand to date. The movie is based on the children’s books by Peter Brown and features an all-star voice cast that includes Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, and Bill Nighy. Other films that are currently dominating the international box office include Warner Brothers’ Joker: Folie á Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Marvel/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Stay tuned for more news………….