News 06:00

BULLETIN 10 October 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Shadrack Sibiya says he will not resign amid serious allegations
# The EU’s Von der Leyen survives two no-confidence votes in Parliament
# And cricket: Proteas Women beat India to secure a second win at the World Cup

# Suspended Crime Detection deputy national police commissioner, Shadrack Sibiya, says he will not resign, challenging authorities to fire him. His home in Centurion in Gauteng was raided yesterday by the National Intervention Unit, Special Task Force, and Crime Intelligence. Several electronic devices were confiscated. The operation forms part of an investigation into allegations of corruption, money laundering, and defeating the ends of justice. Sibiya called the raid an abuse of power:

# National police commissioner Fannie Masemola says he twice rejected the plan to disband the political killings task team because he was not informed of the reasons behind the directive. Masemola told Parliament’s ad hoc committee that he preferred a proper wind-down process instead of an abrupt disbandment. He states he was shocked to learn of the directive from Police Minister Senzo Mchunu while on leave:

# The DA says the immediate shutdown of all operations at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape is concerning. This follows violent protests at the Alice campus, which resulted in multiple buildings being set alight. Students have been protesting since Monday, demanding the holding of SRC elections within this month, and also calling for the vice chancellor, professor Sakhela Buhlungu, to resign. The DA’s Delmaine Christians says legitimate frustrations from students cannot justify violence and costly destruction:

# The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, comfortably survived two bids to remove her when the European Parliament rejected no-confidence motions from hard-right and left groups on Thursday. Both censure motions criticised Von der Leyen for accepting an unbalanced tariff deal with the United States and proposing a trade agreement with the South American bloc Mercosur, which critics say threatens farmers and the environment. The U.S. and Mercosur deals will be put to a vote in the European Parliament in the coming months, with the outcomes unclear.

# Cricket: South Africa secured their second win in the Women’s World Cup, defeating tournament co-hosts India by three wickets in Visakhapatnam. Richa Ghosh scored 94 off 77 runs and shared an eighth-wicket partnership of 88 with Sneh Rana to help India post 251. Chloe Tryon took three wickets. In reply, the Proteas slumped to 142 for six with captain Laura Wolvaardt scoring 70. All-rounder Nadine de Klerk then stepped up with the bat with a brilliant unbeaten 84 off 54 balls to lead South Africa to victory.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-88-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-86-cents and Bitcoin trades at 121-thousand-590-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-982-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-87-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Three-hundred-and-38 individuals and organisations were nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which will be awarded in Oslo, Norway, this morning. This is a significant increase from last year, when there were 286 nominees. The most nominees – 376 – were in 2016. Among this year’s candidates are US president Donald Trump, nominated by an Israeli advocacy group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza. The Norwegian Nobel Committee only releases the list of nominees 50-years after the prize was awarded. This year’s prize is worth 17.6-million-rand.

Stay tuned for more news………….