News Bulletin of 14 November 2025, 1pm

On Tuesday, Johannesburg residents, civic groups and local businesses teamed up for a major tree planting drive ahead of the G20 Summit.
Volunteers braved the rain in Fourways to help plant 3 000 indigenous trees along Winnie Mandela Drive in just one hour.
This forms part of the national Ten Million Trees Programme, now in its fourth year.
The new trees will expand the city’s green canopy, support cleaner air and bring shade to one of the city’s busiest routes.
Another planting drive is planned for Soweto on 18 November, strengthening this positive community effort

South African writer Imraan Coovadia has earned second place at the International Science Fiction Literary Awards in Moscow.
The honour recognises his short story Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic in the Best Story in a Foreign Language category.
He was one of 27 writers shortlisted from more than two thousand global submissions.
The story will now be published on the major digital reading platform LitRes, making it accessible to millions of readers, with a special print collection also planned.
The awards celebrate stories that imagine a positive and technologically driven future.

Alphabet’s Waymo is expanding its autonomous ride service by adding freeway trips across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The company is also extending operations to San Jose, including the city’s international airport.
Waymo remains the only operator in the US offering paid robotaxi rides without safety drivers or in-vehicle monitors, and now has more than 1 500 vehicles on the road.
The new freeway capability uses upgraded safety protocols developed with local agencies to ensure the cars maintain control even if a system fails.
The service will roll out first to early-access users, offering quicker and smoother trips when freeway routes are faster.