News 09:00

BULLETIN 27 March 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF condemns the nomination of Bozell as the US ambassador to South Africa
# The UN welcomes Ukraine and Russia’s Black Sea agreement
# And tennis: Iga Swiatek and Alexander Zverev are knocked out of the Miami Open

# The EFF says it condemns what it describes as the provocative and hostile nomination of Leo Brent Bozell The Third as the US ambassador to South Africa. Bozell founded the Media Research Centre, a conservative watchdog group that critiques perceived liberal bias in mainstream media. The EFF says Bozell is a well-documented conservative ideologue and a fierce defender of right-wing extremism. It adds that it views this appointment as a clear indication that president Donald Trump is aggressively targeting South Africa.

# The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa says the possible impending termination of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act benefits, constitutes part of US president Donald Trump’s economic warfare. Agoa allows African countries to export products to the US tariff-free but there are doubts about its future, especially given South Africa’s strained relations with America. Giwusa president, Mametlwe Sebei, says the termination of Agoa will affect strategic industries, including auto, smelting, and agricultural exports:

# ActionSA in Johannesburg says the 2023/2024 Auditor General’s report reaffirms its long-standing views about the metro’s financial turmoil. The report highlights amongst other things that debt collection expenses surged from 30-million-rand to 423-million-rand, and electricity losses stand at 1.4-billion-rand. ActionSA’s, Khomo Mashala, says all of this is exacerbated by the widespread mismanagement, wasteful expenditure, lack of accountability and consequence management:

# The United Nations says the agreement reached by Ukraine and Russia on freedom of navigation and security in the Black Sea is a crucial step for global food security. While Ukraine has agreed to stop using military force in the Black Sea, the Kremlin has put forward far-reaching conditions for signing up to the partial truce. UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, says they hope this agreement will contribute to achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in Ukraine:

# Tennis: Teenage wild card Alexandra Eala stunned world number two Iga Swiatek of Poland, 6-2, 7-5, to make her first WTA semifinal at the Miami Open. The 19-year-old is the first player from the Philippines to reach a tour-level semifinal. In the men’s draw, Frenchman Arthur Fils rallied from a set down to beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev, 3-6 6-3 6-4 and book his spot in the quarterfinals. Bulgarian 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov needed nearly three-hours to battle past Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 87-thousand-505-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-34-dollars-21-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….