News 13:00

BULLETIN 14 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa warns of an empty chair hand-over if America skips the G20 summit
# Gift of the Givers asks president Ramaphosa to probe Home Affairs for refusing entry to 153 Palestinians
# And rugby: The Italian team is largely unchanged for the clash against the Boks

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will hand over the G20 presidency to the US delegation, even if it means placing the documents on an empty chair should president Donald Trump or any US representative fail to attend next weekend’s leaders’ summit in Johannesburg. Speaking during a clean-up campaign in Kliptown, Soweto, Ramaphosa stressed South Africa’s commitment to continued engagement with the US, calling the country a vital trading partner despite recent diplomatic tensions:

Meanwhile, Gift of the Givers is asking Ramaphosa to investigate Home Affairs and the Border Management Authority for blocking 153 Palestinian travellers entering South Africa at OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng yesterday. The organisation’s founder, Imtiaz Sooliman, says the BMA acted in keeping with their mandate not to allow passengers without an exit stamp to disembark. He says Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country:

The Constitutional Court this week heard a case on South Africa’s obligations to protect in-place asylum seekers, who could face persecution if returned home. The matter concerns two Burundian nationals who came to South Africa between 2008 and 2012 and sought asylum in terms of the Refugees Act. Their applications were refused by Home Affairs on the basis that their concerns were unfounded. Lawyers for Human Rights have argued this case goes to the heart of South Africa’s domestic and international law obligations of non-refoulement.

# Russia’s FSB security service says it had thwarted a Ukrainian plot to assassinate an unnamed top Russian government official. In a statement, the FSB also accuses Kyiv of planning similar attacks in other parts of the country. The security service says there was a Ukrainian plot aimed at killing the official when he visited relatives’ graves at a Moscow cemetery. Ukraine has been targeting Russian military and other officials inside Russia since Moscow attacked the country in February 2022.

# Rugby: Italy’s head coach, Gonzalo Quesada, named a largely unchanged side for tomorrow’s Test against South Africa in Turin after last weekend’s victory over Australia. Prop Marco Riccioni replaces Simone Ferrari who drops back to the bench. Italy’s only previous victory in 18 meetings with South Africa came in 2016. Ferrari is one of two players in the current squad who featured in that triumph in Florence, along with flyhalf Tommy Allan who is also among the replacements. Kick-off is at 2.40 tomorrow afternoon.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-9-cents and the euro at 19-rand-87-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-48-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-810-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-170-dollars-65-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-92-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….