News 11:00

BULLETIN 18 January 11 am 

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Independent Matriculation Board’s matric candidates achieve an impressive 98.46-percent pass rate
# Six suspects are killed in a shootout with police in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal
# And tennis, Alexander Zverev and Iga Świątek battle through to the third round of the Australian Open

# The Independent Examinations Board matric candidates have obtained a 98.46-percent pass rate for the 2023 academic year, a slight improvement from the 98.42-percent achieved in 2022. At least 88.59-percent of learners who passed achieved a Bachelor’s pass. A total of 15-thousand-180 candidates from the country’s private schools wrote the exams administered by the IEB. Pretoria’s Cornwall Hill College pupil, Carlisle Hartman, achieved 12 distinctions. IEB CEO, Confidence Dikgole, told the SABC these results are impressive:

# Public Service and Administration minister Noxolo Kiviet says the process of conducting lifestyle audits in the Public Service is still yet to be evaluated for effectiveness in preventing and detecting fraud and corruption. The department’s Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit has revealed that as of March last year, seven-thousand-856 members of government’s senior management service were subjected to lifestyle reviews. A total of 157 cases involving senior management were referred for lifestyle investigation by various departments. Only 36 of 44 national departments have performed lifestyle reviews.

# Six suspected criminals have been killed in the notorious township of Inanda in the north of Durban during a gun battle with the police in the early hours of this morning. Police spokesperson, Jay Naicker, says they followed up on information on the whereabouts of the suspects, who are wanted for a spate of house and business robberies, murders, and car hijackings. He says upon arriving at a house in Emachobeni, the suspects started shooting at the police:

# Pakistan has carried out a series of military strikes against militants in Iran, reportedly killing three women and four children. According to reports, this is in retaliation to Tuesday’s attacks by Tehran, targeting sites within Pakistan’s borders belonging to a Sunni separatist militant group. This left two people dead. Pakistan’s Foreign ministry says it fully respects Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but its action was a manifestation of the country’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.

# Tennis: World number six Alexander Zverev battled passed Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein, avoiding consecutive second-round exits at the Australian Open. The German claimed a 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, victory in over four hours to make the third round in Melbourne. Norwegian Casper Ruud also survived a five-setter against Australian Max Purcell. In the women’s draw, world number one Iga Świątek avoided an early exit as she recorded a hard-fought, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, victory against American Danielle Collins. The Polish player says it was a difficult match:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-67-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-7-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-861-dollars-24-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-13-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….