News 17:00

BULLETIN 18 September 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Home Affairs confirms a surge in fraudulent asylum applications
# Nehawu calls on the Higher Education minister to address the plight of workers in her department
# And boxing: Oleksandr Usyk is released after being detained in Poland

# The Home Affairs Department has revealed a significant rise in fraudulent refugee asylum applications. Deputy director-general Thulani Mavuso told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee that stricter immigration laws are needed to curb illegal immigration. He emphasised that the upcoming white paper, set to be presented by 2027, will establish a stronger legal framework for refugee protection and asylum processes:

# The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union is calling on Higher Education minister Nobuhle Nkabane to immediately address issues confronting its members in the department. The union’s spokesperson, Lwazi Nkolonzi, says its members have endured miseries, pains and suffocation, brought about by the treatment from presupposed caring but stubborn management of the department. He says overtime they have also witnessed poor administration in the department:

# Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech tomorrow after pagers used for communication exploded across Lebanon. A senior Lebanese security source as well as another source told Reuters that Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside five-thousand pagers imported by the group, three-thousand of which exploded. AP reports the detonations killed at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl. Nearly three-thousand people were wounded, amongst them Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

# Boxing: World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk was released after being detained briefly at Poland’s Krakow airport. The Ukrainian was filmed in handcuffs, surrounded by uniformed officers. President Volodymyr Zelensky was outraged by the attitude of police towards Usyk, and ordered an investigation. Usyk is undefeated and regarded as the world’s best heavyweight, holding the WBC, WBO, and WBA belts. In May, he beat British boxer Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.  Usyk is seen as a Ukrainian national hero and inspiration.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-53-cents and the euro at 19-rand-52-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-957-dollars-32-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-578-dollars-7-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Twelve entrepreneurs from South Africa, Malawi, and Lesotho will showcase their creative industry businesses at the prestigious Création Africa Days in Paris. The event highlighted innovations in sustainable fashion, video games, and more. This marks the culmination of a 24-million-rand French-funded initiative aimed at fostering African creative talent. The finalists will travel to Paris in October to present their work at Europe’s largest business and investment forum, BIG 2024.

Stay tuned for more news………….