News 11:00

BULLETIN 18 October 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Police have found the guns used in the Lusikisiki massacre
# The SA Private Practitioners Forum is taking legal action against the NHI Act
# And, Israel’s prime minister says the death of the Hamas leader is not the end of the war

# Police believe they have recovered the high calibre firearms used in the killing of 18 people in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape last month. The high-calibre firearms include three AK-47 automatic rifles and a Mannlicher rifle. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says two suspects have been arrested after the rifles were found in their possession in Flagstaff:

# The SA Private Practitioners Forum has approached the High Court in Pretoria to review and set aside president Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to sign the National Health Insurance Act into law. The president signed the controversial legislation into law in May, saying he believes the NHI will make healthcare in the country more affordable. The forum, South Africa’s largest association of medical specialists, says Ramaphosa failed to discharge his constitutional duties when signing the legislation into law.

# The Institute of Race Relations says polls show that black economic empowerment has failed 85-percent of South Africans, by harming the public service, inflating prices, and increasing the opportunities for fraud. Minister of Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi intends to issue a policy direction to communications regulator Icasa, that could lead to an overhaul of BEE rules governing the ICT sector. The IRR says it is time to take BEE off its pedestal and start looking at genuine non-racial empowerment alternatives.

# Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the death of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, does not mean the end of the war in Gaza. He was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah. Sinwar is believed to be the chief architect of last year’s October seven attack in Israel, which left one-thousand-200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. This triggered an Israeli offensive that has so far killed over 42-thousand people in Gaza. Netanyahu says the focus now is to get the hostages back:

# Cricket: The Dolphins welcome back local hero David Miller for their final home T20 Challenge clash against Boland at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban tomorrow. Miller will turn out for the hosts after his recent stint with the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League. The 35-year-old says he is eager to represent his home union again. The Dolphins have won their last two matches, including a good victory over the Knights in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night, and still have an outside chance of making the semi-final.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-60-cents and the euro at 19-rand-8-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-98-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-3-dollars-18-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-707-dollars-97-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….