News 07:00

BULLETIN 18 November 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The government wants to revise the National Road Safety Strategy
# Russia launches its biggest missile and drone attack on Ukraine
# And motorsport: Jorge Martin is crowned the 2024 MotoGP world champion

# Deputy Transport minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa says government plans to revise the National Road Safety Strategy, in a bid to accelerate the rate of reduction in fatalities. He paid tribute to 69 traffic officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in Pretoria yesterday. Hlengwa says over the medium term greater focus will be put on road safety education, engineering, and law enforcement. He adds that ten countries reduced fatalities by over 50-percent last year, providing a benchmark for South Africa to aspire to.

# The DA says it has written to the Special Investigating Unit on its investigation into the 840-million-rand Wilge Residential Complex near Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga, left abandoned and in ruin by Eskom. The party’s Kevin Mileham says the DA have requested an update on the progress of the investigation, as it is indication of how serious and brazen Eskom’s waste of money at Wilge has been revealed to be:

# National Union of Mineworkers is calling on Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister Gwede Mantashe to revoke all the mining licences of Seriti Resources and be given to potential mining companies that will employ mineworkers on a permanent basis. NUM’s Bizzah Motubatse says the union has taken a decision to approach the Labour Court to challenge or fight the decision taken by Seriti Resources to retrench one-thousand-143 workers in Mpumalanga:

# The ANC in Gauteng will attend the trial proceedings related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission case of the late student activist, Caiphus Nyoka, in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court, Ekurhuleni today. More than 37 years after Nyoka was executed in 1987, former apartheid-era police officer, Johan Marais, pleaded guilty to his murder last week. The 65-year-old is on trial with two others. The ANC says it remains committed to supporting justice for victims of apartheid-era atrocities and will stand in solidarity with the families of the victims.

# Russia launched its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since September, killing at least ten people and damaging energy infrastructure in the capital Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Odesa. In total, around 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched. Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its thermal power plants suffered significant damage, resulting in emergency blackouts. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the bombing as the work of Russian terrorists. This attack was the eighth large-scale one targeting Ukraine’s energy facilities this year.

# Motorsport: Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin won his first MotoGP world championship title after he finished third in the season-ending race in Barcelona on Sunday. Italian Francesco Bagnaia started the day 19 points behind Martin, but victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was insufficient to overhaul the Spaniard. Martin’s 32 podiums across sprints and races earned him the title by ten points. South Africa’s Brad Binder finished fifth in the championship. Martin says winning the championship is special:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-14-cents and the euro at 19-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-757-dollar-84-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-586-dollars-42-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-17-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….