News 09:00

BULLETIN 3 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Health Department records one-thousand-448 births on the first day of the year
# The State’s bid for Louis Liebenberg’s bank accounts heads to the Supreme Court
# And Darts: Luke Littler books a place in the World Darts Championship final against Michael van Gerwen

# The Department of Health has recorded a total number of one-thousand-448 births on the first day of the year at public health facilities across the country. The department’s spokesperson, Foster Mohale says the department is calling upon all sectors of society, especially families to join hands with government and other non-governmental organisations to address the scourge of teenage pregnancy:

Meanwhile, the Activists and Citizens Forum says the ANC government must take full responsibility for child pregnancies and the lawlessness prevailing in the country. The forum’s Dennis Bloem says everybody is concerned about the number of children giving birth at an alarming rate. He adds the parents are constantly blamed for this:

# The Supreme Court of Appeal will hear the state’s bid to regain control of fraud accused diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg’s 100-million-rand bank accounts next month. Liebenberg and his company Tariomix’s accounts were frozen in 2021 through a preservation order obtained without prior notification to Liebenberg. The Gauteng High Court overturned the preservation order in 2022, after it found the state’s case lacked evidence. Accused of fraud, theft and running a Ponzi scheme involving 4.5-billion-rand, Liebenberg remains in custody as the contentious legal battle continues.

# FBI officers and Las Vegas sheriffs have revealed details about the Tesla Cybertruck explosion, which happened outside Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. The identity of the driver had not yet been officially confirmed, but evidence points to Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs in Colorado. He suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head prior to the vehicle bursting into flames. Livelsberger was a decorated officer who served in the Green Berets. He was still on active duty and on approved leave at the time of the explosion.

# Darts: Luke Littler has beaten Stephen Bunting to book his place in the final of the World Darts Championship. The 17-year-old was the favourite to progress to the final for a second year running and swept 39-year-old Bunting aside to win by 6 sets to 1 at Alexandra Palace in London. He will face three-time champion Michael van Gerwen for the title tonight. A win for Littler would make him the youngest world champion in the sport. After the semi-final win Littler told Sky Sports it has been an amazing tournament so far.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-70-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-587-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-660-dollars-19-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-92-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….