News 11:00

BULLETIN 26 May 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola says no grievance can justify attacks on people based on their nationality
# Netanyahu vows to intensify Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon
# And cricket: A place in the IPL final is at stake in Dharamsala today

# Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, has emphasised that immigration is a shared regional responsibility and not a challenge faced by South Africa alone. Citizen-led groups have accused illegal migrants of crime and taking jobs from locals. Lamola says government acknowledges it needs to strengthen its capacity to manage undocumented migration and ensure law enforcement is applied fairly, but reiterates any attacks on foreign nationals are illegal:

# Business Leadership South Africa says municipal debt exceeding 130-billion-rand is the biggest financial risk facing Eskom, and the biggest barrier to its full financial recovery. The power utility has gone a full year without implementing load-shedding, a major turnaround from only three years ago, when the country experienced 300 days of load-shedding. BLSA CEO Busiswe Mavuso says Eskom’s recovery has come at the same time as important reforms to the electricity sector overall, on the country’s path to a fundamentally transformed electricity market.

# AfriForum has accused the City of Johannesburg of obstructing meaningful public participation in the budget process. The metro refused to disclose the basis for the proposed 65.6-percent increase in the water demand management levy. Currently, domestic users pay 65-rand-8-cents, but the proposed increase will see them pay 107-rand-74-cents. AfriForum’s Marais de Vaal says it appears residents are once again being forced to pay for the metro’s own failures:

Moving abroad:

# Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the military to intensify its attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is despite Lebanon and Israel agreeing to extend a 45-day ceasefire earlier this month. Since the ceasefire, Hezbollah has fired explosive drones at Israeli forces and northern Israeli towns, killing at least eleven soldiers. In Lebanon, at least 608 people have been killed in Israeli strikes during the same period. Netanyahu says the military will increase its firepower and crush Hezbollah.

# Cricket: The Indian Premier League has reached the business end, and a place in the final is at stake in today’s first qualifier. Defending champions Royal Challenger Bengaluru, who topped the log after the league phase, play second-placed Gujarat Titans in Dharamsala. The winner goes straight through to Sunday’s final, while the loser will get another shot at reaching the title match in Friday’s second qualifier. Its opponent will be the winner of tomorrow’s eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Chandigarh.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-33-cents and the euro at 18-rand-99-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-1-cent and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-788-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-532-dollars-52-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 95-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….