News 15:00

BULLETIN 6 March 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government allocates 1.4-billion-rand to foot-and-mouth disease vaccinations
# Iran says it is targeting the heart of Tel Aviv
# And rugby: Erasmus is pleased with the foundation that was laid at the first Bok alignment camp

# Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen has confirmed government has provided 1.4-billion-rand to combat foot-and-mouth disease, with additional funding requested. Government will cover the full cost of vaccinating livestock as part of a national containment campaign. Steenhuisen says vaccines sourced from Argentina and Turkey are already being distributed across provinces. He told Newzroom Afrika the country aims to vaccinate about 80-percent of livestock by December:

# The Madlanga commission has clarified that decisions on witnesses testifying in camera depend on the nature of the evidence they intend to present. This follows an application by North West businessman Suliman Carrim requesting a closed session, citing threats. Commissioners note Carrim’s request to restrict access to his application documents lacked clear legal justification. Commissioner Sandile Khumalo says such applications must demonstrate sufficient grounds before confidentiality measures are granted:

# The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Resucue Services has confirmed nine minibus taxis were destroyed in a blaze at the Nyanga taxi rank in Emms Drive this morning. Spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says they received calls of vehicles alight at the taxi rank at around one am:

Moving abroad:

# Iran says it is ​targeting the heart of Israeli city Tel Aviv with missiles, while Israel carried out heavy air strikes on Hezbollah-controlled parts of the Lebanese capital of Beirut and started broad-scale attacks against infrastructure in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says missiles were fired toward Tel Aviv as part of the 21st wave of its “Operation True Promise Four”. It says it began with a combined missile and drone operation targeting sites in the city. There were no reported casualties.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is pleased with the Boks’ opening alignment camp of the year, which concluded last night. The three-day camp – which included a series of detailed boardroom sessions about the key areas of the game and the coaches’ expectations, as well as the macroplan for this season – kicked off on Tuesday. Erasmus says it was nice to see everyone face-to-face and explain the operational aspects for the year, as well as the coaching areas, which is probably the most important.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-62-cents and the euro at 19-rand-25-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-18-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-557-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-94-dollars-80-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-14-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….