News 15:00

BULLETIN 26 May 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Public pressure increases on Kelly Smith to reveal Joslin’s whereabouts as sentencing begins tomorrow
# BOSA renews its call to open the sex offenders register as sexual crimes surge
# And cricket: Sikandar Raza is hailed a hero after his trans-continental flights to help Qalanders clinch the PSL title

# Non-governmental organisations and the public are calling on Kelly Smith to reveal the whereabouts of her missing daughter, Joslin, ahead of sentencing procedures in the Western Cape High Court, sitting in Saldanha Bay, tomorrow. The three-day process includes arguments and aggravations as convicted trio Smith, Jacquen Appollis, and Steveno van Rhyn await their fate. They were found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking. Joslin vanished on 19 February last year, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Community members demand the harshest sentence.

# Build One South Africa says the sharp rise in sexual crimes shows the urgent need to make the national sex offenders register public. The police’s latest crime statistics show over 13-thousand sexual offences were reported, with contact cases up 21-percent. BOSA wants the register digitised and shared with schools and employers to protect the vulnerable. Spokesperson Roger Solomons believes public access to the register will help prevent repeat offences:

# The DA says its Private Members Bill to amend the problematic and stifling Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act is progressing through Parliament. The bill is now being considered by the Human Settlements committee. The DA’s Luyolo Mphithi says the act has caused untold problems for property owners, and has protected land invaders and unlawful land occupiers, who have acted in blatant bad faith for too long:

# Iran has ruled out suspending its uranium enrichment as part of any nuclear deal with the United States, a key demand from Washington in successive rounds of talks between the foes. The issue of enrichment has come into focus in recent weeks, with Iran staunchly defending its right to enrich uranium as part of what it says is a civilian nuclear programme, while the United States wants it to stop. The negotiations, which began last month, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord.

# Cricket: Zimbabwean allrounder Sikandar Raza is hailed a hero in his country of birth, Pakistan, for rushing to help Lahore Qalanders win the Pakistan Super League. He landed just in time, but contributed an undefeated 22. Qalanders beat Quetta Gladiators by six wickets with one ball to spare. Raza’s teammates then carried him off the field shoulder-high. He left England on Saturday after playing for Zimbabwe in the one-off Test, saying he had dinner in Birmingham, breakfast in Dubai, lunch in Abu Dhabi and dinner in Pakistan.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-86-cents and the euro at 20-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-21-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-708-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-331-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-1-cent a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….