News 11:00

BULLETIN 23 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Saftu accuses Amplats of wanting to retrench workers to maximise profits
# The Presidential Climate Commission urges stakeholders to participate in the Climate Bill public hearings
# And, America is set to impose more sanctions on Russia

# The South African Federation of Trade Unions says it strongly opposes the anticipated job losses at Anglo American Platinum. Amplats has initiated a section 189A process that is likely to result in the retrenchment of three-thousand-700 employees, as it seeks to reduce five-billion-rand in costs. Saftu’s spokesperson, Trevor Shaku, says Amplats plans to retrench workers simply because it wants to maximise its profits, and this is unacceptable:

# The Presidential Climate Commission is urging all stakeholders to actively participate in the public hearings on the Climate Bill by the National Council of Provinces. The bill has already been approved by the National Assembly and is currently in the NCOP for consideration. The commission’s deputy chairperson, Valli Moosa says the bill will support a just transition to a climate-resilient, equitable and internationally competitive low-carbon economy and society. He adds that it will pave the way for a new era in implementing an effective climate change response for South Africa.

# The Freedom Front Plus in Gauteng says premier Panyaza Lesufi’s state of the province address was a re-wrap of old unfulfilled promises. The party’s, Anton Alberts, says all the examples that the premier presented as signs of progress were evidence of the province’s regress under the ANC. He says Gauteng residents do not need a police state, but a province with a growing economy, where proper job opportunities are created to restore people’s dignity:

# The US is set to impose sanctions on more than 500 Russian targets today, making this the largest set of sanctions since Moscow invaded Ukraine two years ago. US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, says the new measures will cover a wide range of elements linked to the Russian defence industrial base, and sources of revenue for the country’s economy that power its war machine. Sullivan has described the package as another turn of the crank to hold Moscow accountable for the war.

# Rugby: Scotland coach, Gregor Townsend, says tomorrow’s game against England is their most important one of the season. He has made three changes for the round three match of the Six Nations at Murrayfield. Blair Kinghorn, Kyle Steyn and Jamie Ritchie have all been recalled. Scotland is targeting a fourth successive victory over England for the first time in 52 years. Townsend says playing against their biggest rival at home is something special:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-16-cents and the euro at 20-rand-75-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-27-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-187-dollars-29-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-21-dollars-36-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….