Good News 14:00

BULLETIN 16th October 2 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# Several South African artists have earned consideration for the 2025 Grammy Awards. Among those honoured are Sjava, Oscar Mbo, Cici, Abavuki, and Heavy K. Leading the pack is Sjava, who is being considered for best global music album for Inkanyezi Live. Award-winning singer and songwriter Cici has earned consideration in the best African music performance category for her breakout single Thula. Deep house maestro Oscar Mbo is being considered in the best dance/electronic album category. The Grammy nominees will be announced on November 7. 

# The internationally acclaimed stage production Far Gone is set to make its South African debut with a highly anticipated tour. Written and performed by Ugandan-born actor and writer John Rwothomack, the production tells the story of a young boy’s journey from childhood innocence to life as a forcibly recruited child soldier in Northern Uganda. The production has received global acclaim, including at the Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Arts Festival in Taiwan. The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and Joburg Theatre will show the production next month.

# Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says South Africa will receive two-billion-rand over six months from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to sustain existing HIV and Aids programmes in the country. The cuts in the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in February have created a massive shortfall in funding to South Africa’s HIV programmes. Motsoaledi says the US has decided to reconsider the recent funding cuts through a new mechanism referred to as a transitional period, ranging from one to five years. 

# Stellenbosch University has launched the Africa Centre for Therapeutic Innovation to advance drug discovery and therapeutic innovation to address Africa’s unique healthcare challenges. The centre brings together contributions from the broad disciplines of chemistry, biology, and pharmacology, further strengthening the university’s position in the health innovation space. ACTI’s co-director, Lyn-Marié Birkholtz, says the centre is currently part of several networks supporting drug discovery in Africa:

# And finally, one of the world’s longest sets of dinosaur footprints has been uncovered in an Oxfordshire quarry in the UK. Palaeontologists linked the footprints to Cetiosaurus dinosaur that could reach about 18-meter in length. Dewars Farm Quarry has long been linked with dinosaurs. Some trackways were discovered there in the 1990s, and last year researchers found 200 huge footprints criss-crossing the quarry floor. This year, the team unearthed even more tracks in a different part of the quarry.

Stay tuned for more news………….