News 11:00

NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 10 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Nzimande is threatening to take legal action against Thuja Capital CEO
# Popcru has condemned what it says are reckless utterances by the IPID’s
# And, American surgeons have performed the world’s first whole eye transplant

# Higher Education, Science and Innovation minister Blade Nzimande says his legal team will be serving a cease-and-desist letter for defamation to Thuja Capital CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba. Nzimande is one of the ministers accused by Mdwaba of sending people to him in an attempt to solicit a bribe of 500-million-rand, from the proceeds of five-billion-rand his company would have received for an Unemployment Insurance Fund jobs scheme. Nzimande’s spokesperson, Ishmael Mnisi, says the allegations are false and defamatory:

Play sound: ENG MnisiOnAllegations

# The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union says it rebukes the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for comments on suspected criminals dying at the hands of police. Popcru labels IPID’s remarks as reckless, given the challenges faced by members. The union urges members not to hesitate to protect themselves amid escalating police killings and violent crimes. They call for urgent restructuring within the South African Police Service and amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act to safeguard law enforcement. The union plans to seek an audience with IPID head Jennifer Ntlatseng.

# The DA in Gauteng says the provincial Department of Economic Development continues to fail the residents by not meeting its key targets, which is negatively impacting service delivery and job creation. The party’s, Patrick Atkinson, says according to the department’s annual report for the 2022/2023 financial year, they failed to meet the job creation target of 572-thousand-784 jobs. He says only three-thousand-and-62 jobs were created through the various programmes, which is concerning and unacceptable:

Play sound: ENG PatrickonTargets

# Tennis: Former world number one Naomi Osaka will make her return to the WTA Tour at the Brisbane International, which begins on the 31st of next month. The tournament is a warmup ahead of the Australian Open. The four-time Grand Slam champion has not played since the Toray Pan Pacific Open in September 2022. She stepped away from the game in January this year and gave birth to her daughter, Shai, in July. Osaka says she is really excited about getting back out on court and competing again.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 19-rand-90-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 36-thousand-563-dollars-30-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-954-dollars-46-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-36-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Surgeons in New York have performed the world’s first transplant of an entire human eye. Aaron James, who survived a high-voltage electrical accident, underwent 21 hours of surgery that replaced half of his face in May this year. One of the leading surgeons on the team, doctor Eduardo Rodriguez, told CNN it was a challenge transplanting the whole eye, the eyeball, its blood supply, and the critical optic nerve that must connect it to the brain:

Play sound: ENG RodriguezOnSurgery

Stay tuned for more news………….