News 08:00

BULLETIN 18 February 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Nuclear Energy Corporation denies Trump’s claims of collaboration with Iran
# My Vote Counts says political parties should declare all donations
# And 18 are injured in a Toronto air crash

# The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation has strongly denied US president Donald Trump’s claim that the country is working on nuclear arrangements with Iran. An executive order issued by the Trump administration on the seventh of this month stated that the country was reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements. South Africa operates Africa’s only nuclear power plant, Koeberg. Necsa CEO, Loyiso Tyabashe, says there is no work that they are doing with Iran:

# My Vote Counts argues that potential voters need to make decisions based on all the available information, including who funds their political parties of choice. The Western Cape High Court is this week hearing the organisation’s challenge of the constitutionality of the Political Funding Act. My Vote Counts says the Act is irrational and unconstitutional, because the disclosure threshold of 100-thousand-rand, could be bypassed by companies or individuals making several donations through different entities. Opposing the application, Parliament said it followed the procedural requirements when passing the legislation.

# The Gauteng Health Department says work is underway to resolve the water issues affecting the delivery of services at Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging, and electricity issues at Weskoppies Hospital in Tshwane. Kopanong Hospital is experiencing a water supply disruption due to low water pressure. The department’s spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says Weskoppies Hospital has been facing power interruptions since Saturday, and the affected areas include certain wards and units not connected to backup generators:

# At least 18 people were injured, three critical after a Delta Airlines plane flipped upside down while landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport. The plane from Minnesota was carrying four crew and 76 passengers, among them, 22 Canadians. Toronto Pearson International Airport president and CEO, Deborah Flint, says the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has deployed a team to investigate the accident:

# Tennis: Four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz is through to the Qatar Open round of 16 in Doha. The Spaniard earned a hard-fought, 6-4, 6-4, victory over Croatian veteran Marin Cilic, who was playing his first match of the season following a long-term knee injury. Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka knocked out seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria with a, 6-4, 6-4, win. British number one Jack Draper made a winning return to action after injury with a, 6-2, 7-6, victory over Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-43-cents and the euro at 19-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-169-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-909-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….