NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 7 January 8 am

Good morning,

In this bulletin:

# SARS will clean its house after the state capture report
# The British government deploys 200 military personnel to London hospitals
# An Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock welcomes his firstborn

# The South African Revenue Service will act against those implicated in the state capture report. It was the target of state capture and is included in the first part of the report handed to president Cyril Ramaphosa this week. Speaking to the SABC, Commissioner Edward Kieswetter says they are doing their part to make sure proper investigations are done:

Play sound: ENG SARS Bain&Co

The Commissioner says it will take time to rebuild trust and integrity in the organisation:

Play sound: ENG Sars rebuilding

# Eastern Cape police have activated a 72-hour mobilisation plan in the search for killers who shot dead four people in Zwide yesterday. Attackers riddled two cars with bullets in Johnson Street. The body of the one driver was found in the car while the three other victims were found lying in the road. Another person was rushed to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Police say they have confiscated two firearms at the scene. The case was handed over to the provincial organised crime investigation team in Gqeberha.

# The British government has deployed about 200 military personnel to hospitals in London that are struggling with a shortage of staff. Medics will assist doctors and nurses of the National Health Service to treat patients, while other soldiers will help with other duties. Sky News reports the Royal College of Nursing as saying the government can no longer deny the NHS’ staffing crisis, accusing prime minister Boris Johnson of avoiding questions about staff’s ability to deliver safe care. Almost 180-thousand new Covid-19 cases were reported in the United Kingdom yesterday.

# Cricket: Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock has become a dad. The player announced the birth of him and his wife Sasha’s first-born girl on Instagram with the words “How’s it, my name is Kiara”. De Kock recently shocked the cricketing world when he announced his retirement from Tests. He explained he wants to spend more time with his expanding family. He played in the first Test against India and was replaced behind the wickets by Kyle Verreyne for the second encounter, which South Africa won by seven wickets yesterday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar is trading at 15-rand-71-cents and the euro at 17-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 41-thousand-657-dollar-4-cents. Gold is selling at one thousand-792-dollars-38-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

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