News 11:00

NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 13 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says government’s actions to tackle illegal mining are part of a broader effort
# The DA has lodged a complaint with the European Union over race quotas
# And in cricket, England’s managing director is taking the blame for the World Cup failure

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says government’s efforts to end illegal mining cannot focus only on the miners, but also on those people further up the value chain who benefit. Defence and Military Veterans minister Thandi Modise revealed last week that over four-thousand suspects have been arrested on various illegal mining-related charges. In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa says illegal mining is linked to other crimes such as money laundering and human trafficking. He says government’s actions against illegal mining are part of a broader effort to tackle all crimes of economic sabotage.

# The DA has lodged a complaint with the EU Trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, and UK Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch, over what it describes as job-killing race quotas. The party revealed the ANC has introduced a new set of quotas that will further devastate the economy. The DA’s Noko Masipa says the latest quotas target agricultural export businesses by making it illegal for farmers and businesses that do not meet strict racial BEE quotas:

Play sound: ENG NokoonJobkillingRace

# Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development, Lebogang Maile, is today set to release an investigation report into the loans issued by the Gauteng Partnership Fund. In July, the MEC ordered a probe into loans offered to Nonkwelo Investments owned by Nceba Nonkwelo, who is deputy president Paul Mashatile’s son-in-law. Loans reportedly worth 30-million-rand were granted to Nonkwelo Investments between 2013 and 2017, for a housing project that was never built.

# The Pentagon confirmed a new round of airstrikes on Iranian facilities in Syria yesterday, linked to dozens of recent attacks targeting US troops in the country and in neighbouring Iraq. This is the third time in less than three weeks that the US military has targeted locations in Syria linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strikes were conducted against a training facility and a safe house. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says president Joe Biden has made it clear that America will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.

# Cricket: England’s managing director Rob Key says he should be blamed more than anyone else for the team massively underperforming at the World Cup in India. The defending champions failed to reach the semifinals after ending with six defeats in their first seven games. England came into the tournament among the favourites, but they were bottom of the table until wins over the Netherlands and Pakistan lifted them to seventh. Keys admits he prioritised Test matches over the 50-over format:

Play sound: ENG KeysOnTestPriority

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-69 cents and the euro at 19-rand-99 cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 37-thousand-00-dollars-51-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-940-dollars-27 cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-73 cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….