News 09:00

BULLETIN 14 November 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Over a hundred Palestinian refugees seeking asylum in South Africa have been given a 90-day visa
# The GOOD Party questions the appointment of Willie Aucamp as Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment minister
# And Hamas has handed over another body believed to be an Israeli hostage

# The Border Management Authority says the 153 Palestinians who travelled to South Africa as asylum seekers are eligible for 90-day visa-exempt travel to the country. The refugees were stuck at OR Tambo International Airport for 12-hours yesterday after they were initially denied entry for not having the customary departure stamps in their passports. They disembarked the plane after the Gift of the Givers gave its commitment to accommodate the travellers. BMA’s Mmemme Mogotsi says 23 of the 153 travellers have left the country already:

# The GOOD Party says DA leader John Steenhuisen must explain why appointing Willie Aucamp as the minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment serves the country’s integrity, rather than simply shoring up his party’s integrity. At Steenhuisen’s request, president Cyril Ramaphosa fired minister Dion George on Wednesday, with Aucamp as his replacement. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says Aucamp’s appointment places custodianship of South Africa’s environment directly in the hands of the wildlife breeding, trading, and hunting lobby:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to participate in the CEO-City Cleanup Partnership Programme in Kliptown, Johannesburg today. The programme unites entities and prominent CEOs from the metro, and aims to expedite urban renewal, enhance service delivery, and restore dignity within high-priority precincts. The metro’s spokesperson, Virgil James, says CEO-City Cleanup is the first central activation under the partnership model:

# Israel has confirmed that the Palestinian militant group Hamas has returned the remains of another hostage. If the latest body is confirmed to be a hostage following an identification process, it would mean 25 out of 28 deceased hostages have been handed over to Israel under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas has admitted to struggling to find the hostages’ bodies under rubble. All 20 living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and one-thousand-718 detainees from Gaza.

# Soccer: Nigeria is through to the 2026 World Cup African playoffs final, following a 4-1 win over Gabon in extra time. The Super Eagles will face the Democratic Republic of Congo in Sunday’s final, after the Leopards beat Cameroon 1-0. The winner of the final will advance to the inter-confederation playoffs in Mexico in March, which will determine the final two qualifiers for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the USA. Meanwhile, two-time champions France secured a place in the World Cup after beating Ukraine 4-0.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-1-cent and the euro at 19-rand-80-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-758-dollars. Gold sells at  four-thousand-203-dollars-3-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….