News 14:00

BULLETIN 17 March 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa calls for urgent action to expand early childhood development
# The KwaZulu-Natal premier says more funds are needed to fix the infrastructure damaged by floods
# And tennis: The Indian Wells champion Jack Draper improves seven places in the ATP rankings

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for urgent action to expand early childhood development. Speaking at the Bana Pele 2030 Roadmap Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, he highlighted its role in breaking cycles of poverty and unlocking economic potential. Ramaphosa says strong early education leads to better school outcomes, workforce readiness, and long-term economic benefits:

# KwaZulu-Natal premier Thamsanqa Ntuli says the ongoing severe weather conditions have caused significant damage, displacing families and affecting infrastructure. The provincial government is working closely with disaster management teams and relevant stakeholders to ensure immediate relief efforts, including emergency shelter, food, and medical assistance for those impacted. Ntuli says they need more funds to fix infrastructure that was damaged by floods:

# Foreign Affairs ministers from the Southern Africa Develop Community and the East African Community are meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, today following Sadec’s decision to withdraw soldiers from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in phases. Angola’s president and African Union chairperson, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, will oversee the peace process. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe and Kenya’s Foreign Affairs ministers will update on discussions regarding the region’s security situation as efforts to stabilise the conflict-hit area continue.

# Tennis: Britain’s Jack Draper improved seven places to seventh in the latest world rankings after clinching the Indian Wells Masters title yesterday. Former number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia improved two places to fifth. Suspended Italian Jannik Sinner is still on top, followed by German Alexander Zverev, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and American Taylor Fritz. Norwegian Casper Ruud is sixth, Russian Daniil Medvedev dropped two places to eighth, followed by his compatriot Andrey Rublev, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas complete the top ten.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-15-cents and the euro at 19-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-451-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-996-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-96-cents a barrel.

# And finally: For the seventh year, TIME has released its list of the world’s 100 greatest places to visit in 2025, highlighting everything from resorts to cruises to museums, restaurants, and national parks. In South Africa, The Manor in Johannesburg and the Few and Far Luvhondo Hotel in Limpopo made the list. Other places on the list include the newly-restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Namibia’s NamibRand Nature Reserve, Nintendo’s first-ever museum in Japan, and Denmark’s newly opened Tiny Seaside resorts of Loddenhøj and Skarrev.

Stay tuned for more news………….