News 13:00

BULLETIN 20 May 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA says South Africa is facing an immigration crisis
# NUMSA responds to Nissan’s announcement that it is considering the closure of plants globally
# And Soccer: Amajita return home as the U-20 Kings of Africa after a historic victory

# ActionSA says South Africa is facing an immigration crisis that is spiralling out of control. The party’s Lerato Ngobeni says the country has a porous border, a collapsing Department of Home Affairs, and a government that has completely lost the political will to act. She says ActionSA has long warned that uncontrolled and undocumented immigration fuels lawlessness, overwhelms public services, and contributes to rising tensions in communities:

# Numsa says it has noted with concern, the reports in the media that Nissan has announced plans to shut down some of its plants, including the plants in South Africa, as part of a cost cutting plan. Numsa spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says they have not received formal communication or confirmation and the information is based on media reports. She says if these reports are true, at least 20-thousand jobs are at risk:

# Gaza’s civil defence agency says Israeli strikes killed at least 44 people today across the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, where Israel has intensified a military offensive aimed at crushing Hamas. Aid trickled into the Gaza Strip yesterday for the first time in more than two months, following widespread condemnation of Israel’s total blockade that has sparked shortages of food and medicine. The Israeli army stepped up its offensive in Gaza on Saturday, saying it was aimed at defeating Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian territory.

# Soccer: Amajita returned today as U-20 Africa Cup of Nations champions after edging Morocco 1–nil in the final in Cairo, Egypt. It’s South Africa’s first title in the tournament, 28 years after their previous final appearance in 1997. Eighteen-year-old, Gomolemo Kekana, sealed the win with a VAR-approved strike in the 70th minute. The team swept the individual awards with Tylon Smith named Best Player, while goalkeeper Fletcher Lowe earned both Best Goalkeeper and Man of the Match in the final.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-5-cents and the euro at 20-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-14-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-350-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-236-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington received a surprise honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Monday, in recognition of his outstanding career. The 70-year-old attended the festival for Spike Lee’s latest film Highest 2 Lowest, in which he stars alongside A$AP Rocky, Jeffrey Wright and Ilfenesh Hadera. Other winners of the honorary Palme d’Or since it was first presented in 2002 include Jodie Foster, Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, and just last year, Meryl Streep and George Lucas.

Stay tuned for more news………….