News 11:00

BULLETIN 4 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA is concerned by the continued cyber fraud at SASSA
# South Africa and Chile plan to sign a memorandum of understanding
# And motorsport: The MotoGP title will be decided in the last race of the season

# The DA says it is deeply concerned by recent reports of an international hacker group threatening to release South African Social Security Agency data. The group claims to have previously stolen 175-million-rand from SASSA. The DA’s Alexandra Abrahams says the group obtained the data via vulnerable backend access within the social grant system. She adds that urgent modernisation and bolstering of the IT security is needed:

# Deputy minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Narend Singh, and Chile’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, Claudia Sanhueza, will sign a memorandum of understanding on fisheries and aquaculture in Pretoria today. The memorandum will formalise a collaborative framework that addresses the management of marine resources, research, technology exchange, and the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The agreement will strengthen bilateral relations and advance efforts toward sustainable fisheries management and aquaculture innovation.

# The Gauteng Health Department has reiterated its call for the public to exercise caution when purchasing and consuming food items. This comes as a ten-year-old girl died in Alexandra yesterday while her mother and brother are recovering in hospital from suspected food poisoning. They allegedly got sick after eating snacks bought at a tuck shop. The department’s spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says it is important for people to purchase food from reputable sellers with valid permits to operate:

# Moldova’s pro-Western president Maia Sandu has won a second term in office beating political newcomer, Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was backed by the pro-Russian Party of Socialists. Preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission showed Sandu won 55-percent of the votes compared to Stoianoglo’s 45 percent. The elections were marred by allegations of electoral interference, vote-buying, and polling stations in Frankfurt, Germany, and Liverpool and Northampton in the UK targeted by false bomb threats. Russia has strongly denied meddling in the elections.

# Motorsport: Defending world champion Francesco Bagnaia kept alive his hopes of retaining his MotoGP title by winning the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Italian finished three seconds ahead of championship rival Jorge Martin, with Enea Bastianini in third. South Africa’s Brad Binder could not finish the race after being involved in a crash. The championship will be decided in the final race of the season later this month, with Martin holding a 24-point advantage. Bagnaia says he is enjoying the title race:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-59-cents and the euro at 19-rand-9-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-142-dollars-40-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-740-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….