News 11:00

BULLETIN 21 May 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# AfriForum and Solidarity intensify their opposition to the BELA Bill
# BLSA says the National Health Insurance threatens the country’s ambition of becoming a regional business hub
# And Biden criticises efforts by the International Criminal Court to obtain an arrest warrant for Netanyahu

# AfriForum, Solidarity, and the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools have intensified their pressure on government regarding the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill with a petition to president Cyril Ramaphosa. The petition demands that Ramaphosa not approve the bill and return it to the National Assembly. Solidarity’s deputy chief executive for legal matters, Anton van der Bijl, warns that the bill’s amendments threaten single-medium Afrikaans schools’ survival and could lead to litigation if signed.

# Business Leadership SA says the National Health Insurance will damage private and public healthcare systems while missing an opportunity to deliver improved healthcare for everyone. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the NHI Bill into law last week. In her weekly newsletter, the organsaition’s CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso, says there is simply no funding for NHI, and the tragedy is that there are ways to deliver universal healthcare that are feasible. Mavuso adds that NHI threatens the country’s ambitions of becoming a regional hub for business across Africa.

# The Hawks have arrested two more suspects in connection with the murder of five-year-old Ditebogo Junior Phalane. He was fatally wounded when his father’s bakkie was hijacked outside their home in Soshanguve, Tshwane. Hawks spokesperson Wendy Nkabi says they acted on a tip-off about the whereabouts of the suspects, leading to the arrest of two men aged 29 and 30. This brings to four the number of people who have been arrested for the murder. Nkabi says two unlicensed firearms were recovered:

# US president Joe Biden has described as outrageous the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Defence minister. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is also seeking warrants of arrest for three Hamas leaders. This is for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in Israel and Gaza. Biden says it is clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection:

# Cricket: The first qualifier of the Indian Premier League will be played today. Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, who ended first and second on the log, respectively, will face off in Ahmedabad. The winner goes straight through to Sunday’s final in Chennai. The loser gets another chance to reach the title match in the second qualifier in Chennai on Friday. That team will play the winner of tomorrow’s eliminator between the third- and fourth-placed teams, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, also in Ahmedabad.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-22-cents and the euro at 19-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 71-thousand-208-dollars-22-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-411-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-7-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….