News 12:00

BULLETIN 8 Oktober 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Parliament’s ad hoc committee finally completes deliberations on its draft report
# The World Health Organisation is verifying reports of a second plague case in Russia
# And rugby: The Wallabies’ coach picks the rookie centre Henry for the first Test against the All Blacks

# Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating police corruption has concluded deliberations on its 790-page draft report. There have been several contentious issues during the deliberations in recent weeks. These include allegations that Police minister Senzo Mchunu, who is on special leave, solicited bribes; Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s alleged cash payments to former Police minister Bheki Cele; and the future of the Investigating Directorate against Corruption. Committee chairperson Soviet Lekganyane says the content team will now clean up the draft report before it’s sent to witnesses for comment.

# The Public Servants Association is calling on the Department of Home Affairs to conduct an urgent workload and capacity assessment at all refugee reception offices. The Constitutional Court has confirmed asylum seekers may not be prevented from having their claims considered solely because of procedural non-compliance. This relates to their immigration status, manner of entry or failure to timeously report to an office. PSA’s Claude Naicker says this could put more pressure on the offices:

# Police Crime Intelligence and the Hawks have uncovered another suspected multi-million-rand drug manufacturing laboratory at a farm in Krugersdorp, Gauteng, today. National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says officials have seized quantities of Mandrax and ecstasy tablets. She says five South African nationals found at the premises have been arrested. This follows the discovery of a multimillion-rand mandrax-production lab near Hartbeespoort in North West earlier this week, which led to the arrest of four suspects.

Moving abroad:

# The World Health Organisation is looking to verify reports of a second suspected case of pneumonic plague in the southeastern Russian region of Siberia. A female laboratory worker employed at the Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, fell ill and died after she was diagnosed with a pneumonia of unknown aetiology last week. WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus says Russia has denied any cases of plague were recorded:

# Rugby: Wallabies head coach Les Kiss has named a strong side to face the All Blacks in Saturday’s Bledisloe Test in Auckland. Rookie centre Isaac Henry will make his Bledisloe Cup starting debut, replacing the suspended Hunter Paisami. The 27-year-old is the only change to the starting side that upset South Africa 42-38 in Perth two weeks ago. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto will start alongside Jeremy Williams in the second row. Kiss expects a tough match:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-64-cents and the euro at 18-rand-63-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-98-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-918-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-128-dollars-56-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 107-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….