News 09:00

BULLETIN 25 March 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party wants a parliamentary debate and national summit on TB
# The Oscar-winning Palestinian director is detained by Israeli soldiers
# And tennis: Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka are knocked out of the Maimi Open

# The MK Party says it will be writing to the National Assembly speaker, Thoko Didiza, to request a parliamentary debate on tuberculosis. South Africa is among 30 countries that account for 87-percent of the global TB burden. It is also among the ten countries battling the triple burden of TB, HIV and TB co-infection. The MK Party’s, Nomahlubi Radebe, says increased funding for TB research and vaccines is urgently required:

# The Public Servants Association has expressed concern about the recent revelation by government that taxpayers have paid 65-million-rand in rates and services for more than one-thousand vacant state-owned properties. The association’s, Claude Naiker, says as of January, there were one-thousand-259 state-owned vacant lands, 207 unoccupied houses, and 830 abandoned farms that remain unallocated for utilisation. He says government is potentially losing an estimated 83-million-rand in revenue by not leasing out these properties:

# The GOOD Party has accused the DA of hypocrisy over the update of Tshwane’s property valuation roll. The party says former mayor and DA leader Cilliers Brink supported the update last year, citing discrepancies in property rates, but now opposes it. GOOD’s Sarah Mabotsa urges property owners to check their valuations and dispute any errors. Mabotsa says the update should proceed without political interference to maintain financial stability in the metro:

# The International Documentary Association is demanding the immediate release of the Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, Hamdan Ballal. He was reportedly beaten up by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and taken away by soldiers. His whereabouts are unknown. Five American activists from the Centre for Jewish Nonviolence who were at the scene were also assaulted. The association says the Israeli military must inform Ballal’s family and community about his condition, location, and the justification for his detention.

# Tennis: World number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is also through to the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, after a 6-4, 6-4, win over defending champion American Danielle Collins. Unseeded Poland’s Magda Linette knocked out world number three Coco Gauff of the US, 6-4 6-4. Italy’s Jasmine Paolini came from a set down to beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. In the men’s draw, former finalist Alexander Zverev of Germany is through to round of 16 following a, 7-5, 6-4, victory over Australia’s Jordan Thompson.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-24-cents and the euro at 19-rand-71-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-58-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-558-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-15-dollars-and-12-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-38-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….