News 11:00

BULLETIN 19 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola highlights difficulties in returning South African men who were lured to Russia
# OUTA says South Africa has a spending problem and not a revenue problem
# And soccer: UEFA launches an investigation into Vinicius Junior’s racism allegation

# Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, says government is doing everything possible to return the group of South Africans who were lured to Russia under false pretences. Four of the 17 men lured to fight in the Russian-Ukrainian war arrived at OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng yesterday. Lamola told the SABC the process to locate and return all the men has been difficult:

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse urges government to focus on spending discipline instead of raising taxes in this year’s budget. The organisation says South Africa’s fiscal challenges are caused by wasteful spending, corruption and bailouts of failing state entities, not a lack of revenue. OUTA CEO, Wayne Duvenage, says restoring discipline and tackling corruption will boost confidence and support economic recovery:

# The National Union of Mineworkers is calling for urgent and structured consultations between organised labour and the National Energy Crisis Committee task team. The task team will address various issues relating to Eskom’s restructuring process, including clear timeframes for its phased implementation. Eskom is being restructured to establish a fully independent state-owned transmission entity. NUM says government must provide a transparent and definite plan addressing financial risks, cross-default mitigation, and compensation arrangements related to the restructuring process.

Moving abroad:

# The White House says US president Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on whether to launch a military attack on Iran. According to reports. Trump has discussed attack options with his advisers, and a joint US-Israeli strike could take place as early as Saturday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump is still hoping for a diplomatic resolution over Tehran’s nuclear programme:

# Soccer: UEFA has appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to investigate Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior’s allegation he was racially abused by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni. The Brazilian reported the alleged abuse to the referee, resulting in Tuesday’s Champions League knockout play-off first leg being suspended for ten minutes, as per UEFA’s anti-racism protocol. The match eventually resumed, and Madrid won 1-0. Prestianni, who has denied the allegation, faces a potential ten-match ban if found guilty of racial abuse according to UEFA’s disciplinary code.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-4-cents and the euro at 18-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-126-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-18-dollars-76-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….