News 11:00

BULLETIN 3 March 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Five border posts have been closed due to flooding
# Eskom avoided implementing load-shedding during the weekend despite Koeberg’s unit 2 tripping 
# And the Joslin Smith court case starts in Saldanha today

# The Border Management Authority has temporarily suspended operations at five ports of entry due to severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall. The affected ports are Stockpoort, Makgobistad, Bray, Groblersbridge, and Pontdrift. Spokesperson Mmemme Mogotsi says travelers and commercial operators are advised to use Ramatlabama, Kopfontein, Beitbridge, and Skilpadshek ports of entry as alternatives for cross-border movement:

# Eskom says unit two of the Koeberg nuclear power station in Cape Town experienced an unplanned, non-technical trip while operating at full capacity yesterday. This resulted in the unit being safely shut down, but it is expected to be reconnected to the national grid within 48 hours. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says unit two inadvertently tripped during the execution of work on unit one, which is currently offline for work to be conducted as part of its long-term operation programme:

# The trial of the three accused in the kidnapping and human trafficking case of Joslin Smith will begin in the Circuit High Court in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape today. The Grade 1 learner from Diazville Primary School disappeared from the Middelpos informal settlement on the 19th of February last year. The accused in the case are Joslin’s mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn. The media is allowed to cover the trial, but with strict restrictions.

# Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has acknowledged that his country needs to spend more on defence. Canada is one of just eight NATO members out of 32 not meeting the two percent benchmark for defence spending. It spent 1.37-percent of its gross-domestic-product on defence last year. Trudeau says the time of peace that was experienced after the Cold War has been upended, and it is now necessary for countries to spend significantly more on defence:

# Cricket: All-rounder Cooper Connolly has been called into Australia’s Champions Trophy squad ahead of the semifinal clash against India tomorrow. The 21-year-old replaces star opener Matthew Short, who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to a quad injury he suffered against Afghanistan. Australia has not lost to India in an ICC knockout match since the 2011 World Cup. The two teams last faced each other in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, which Australia won by six wickets.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-64-cents and the euro at 19-rand-40-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-48-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-655-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-864-dollars-49-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-79-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….