News 15:00

BULLETIN 9 October 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A councillor of ActionSA is elected new mayor of Tshwane
# Gauteng’s Office of Consumer Affairs appeals for calm during the probe into Soweto children’s deaths
# And Road running: A car-free route could boost the Cape Town Marathon to global status

# ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya has been elected as the new mayor of Tshwane. She secured 122 votes, defeating the former mayor, the DA’s Cilliers Brink, who received 86 votes. Moya, previously the deputy mayor, was backed by the ANC and other political parties after Brink was removed in a no-confidence motion earlier. After taking the oath, Moya was officially sworn in as mayor. She says she is set to lead service delivery reforms in the city officially endorsed by the ANC:

# The Gauteng office of Consumer Affairs is calling for calm following the deaths of five children in Naledi, Soweto, who allegedly consumed contaminated snacks. They reassured the public that investigations are underway. The office is also focusing on improving food safety through its ‘fix your business” compliance campaign. The office’s director, Milly Viljoen, urges the public to report unsafe food and encourages businesses to follow consumer laws: 

# Turkey has sent ships to evacuate around two-thousand of its citizens from Lebanon, with its Beirut envoy saying it would be the biggest evacuation of its type from the war-torn country. A Turkish diplomatic source told AFP two Naval ships carrying the evacuated nationals and their families would arrive at the southern Turkish port of Mersin in the early hours of tomorrow morning. The two ships set sail overnight for the Lebanese capital where the city’s southern suburbs were hit overnight by fresh Israeli bombardments.

# Road running: The Cape Town Marathon is being evaluated for inclusion in the prestigious Abbott World Marathon Majors by 2026. A key criterion is ensuring a car-free route for the 2024 race. To achieve this, several roads will be designated no-parking zones on race day, 20 October. City officials urge residents and visitors to comply to support Cape Town’s bid for global recognition.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-61-cents and the euro at 19-rand-31-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-100-dollars-96-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-622-dollars-2-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their groundbreaking work on proteins. American David Baker will receive half the prize, while the United Kingdom’s Demis Hassabis and John Jumper will share the other half. The prestigious prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, is worth about 20-million-rand. In a phone call to accept the award, Baker said using artificial intelligence to predict protein shapes opens new opportunities for designing proteins that could greatly benefit humanity:  

Stay tuned for more news………….