News 12:00

BULLETIN 19 June 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA wants answers on the exclusion of gender-based vioence figures in the latest crime stats
# The Israeli Defence Force is ordered to intensify strikes on strategic targets in Iran
# And Australia lifts the ban on blood and plasma donations for gay men

# The DA says it is demanding accountability over the exclusion of gender-based violence and crimes against children figures in the most recent police crime statistics report. The party’s Lisa Schickerling says in a country where a woman is murdered every three hours, this omission is not just a statistical gap but a moral failure. She says the Police Service cannot claim to be fighting gender-based violence and crimes against children when they don’t even count them:

Meanwhile, police are searching for a woman using the Facebook profile name, Khosi Thomson, who is pretending to be a police officer. She posts pictures wearing a police uniform, complete with a badge with the title Captain Thomson. Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says preliminary investigations have revealed that she is not a member of the Police Service, and she is a civilian of foreign nationality:

# The Israeli Defence Force has been ordered to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran. This comes after Iran launched its latest wave of around 30 ballistic missiles at Israel today. A hospital in Beersheba was hit directly, leaving more than 60 people injured. Israel’s Defence minister, Israel Katz, says the deliberate attacks on hospitals and residential buildings are the gravest form of war crimes. He says the IDF’s intensified strikes are to destabilise the Ayatollah regime.

# Tennis: The US Open is introducing a different format to the mixed doubles event this year, and a host of big names already committed to playing. It will take place over two days before the main tournament starts on the 24th of August, with the organisers hoping this will attract more high-profile singles players. Among the entries received so far are Spanish world number two Carlos Alcaraz, who plans to team up with Britain’s Emma Raducano, world number one, Jannik Sinner of Italy, and Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-3-cents and the euro at 20-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-906-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-366-dollars-23-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-84-cents a barrel

# And finally: Rules that banned all sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma are being lifted in Australia. The rules were originally introduced to decrease the risk of blood donations from groups with a higher chance of HIV exposure. Australia will also become the first country to remove all sexual activity-based restrictions on plasma donation. People in a sexual relationship of six months or more with a single partner will be eligible to donate blood, regardless of their gender or sexuality. The new rules will expand the donation pool by 625-thousand people.

Stay tuned for more news………….