News 17:00

BULLETIN 22 October 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A foreign national is beaten to death in the Durban CBD
# OUTA demands action as only 1.5-percent of DNA profiles meet the turnaround target
# And: A global scramble to secure websites after critical PHP flaws are exposed

# Durban police are investigating the fatal beating of a foreign national by a crowd of about 50 people in the CBD. Spokesperson Robert Netshiunda says the man, believed to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s, was declared dead at the scene. The attack happened after two men broke away from a group marching on Dr Pixley kaSeme Street towards Maud Mfusi Street and approached him. Police have not confirmed the victim’s nationality or the motive for the killing.

Meanwhile, the Public Servants Association condemns the Department of Home Affairs for allegedly failing to protect employees at the Durban Refugee Reception Centre in KwaZulu-Natal. The PSA’s Claude Naicker says staff fear intimidation, victimisation, assault and loss of life amid a volatile environment, while the DHA offers only administrative measures. He says fears extend beyond the workplace, with staff worried about being identified and targeted while commuting. The PSA demands special leave and alternative work arrangements:

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse calls on the government to urgently improve forensic services after findings presented to Parliament showed that only 1.5-percent of DNA profiles met the 30-day processing target. Nearly 166-thousand DNA reference samples were still awaiting administrative processing at the South African Police Service. OUTA CEO, Wayne Duvenage, says these delays are undermining rape and child sexual abuse investigations and leaving victims waiting months or even years for justice:

# Governments and businesses worldwide are racing to secure their websites after two critical flaws were discovered in PHP, a programming language used to run much of the internet. The weaknesses could allow hackers to take control of vulnerable servers without a password. Millions of attempts to exploit the flaws have been reported, while several countries have temporarily taken websites offline as a precaution. In South Africa, thousands of internet-connected servers use PHP, but no local government outage linked to these specific flaws has been publicly confirmed.

# Motorsport: FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem expects the Formula One Grand Prix in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to go ahead as planned. This is despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia being targeted by strikes from the Iranian-backed Houthis. Ben Sulayem told Motorsport.com he feels secure about the last two races taking place. The Qatar Grand Prix is planned for next month and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. F1 has a contingency plan to stage the season finale in Italy.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-51-cents against the rand and the euro at 18-rand-50-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 81-thousand-662-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-76-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 113-dollars-49-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….