News 16:00

BULLETIN 4 February 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Trump signs AGOA into law with South Africa still part of it for now
# Ukraine and Russia begin second round of US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi
# And motorsport: Red Bull’s former boss Christian Horner says he will only return to F1 for the right opportunity

# US president Donald Trump signed an extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act into law until December 31, effective retroactively from when it expired on September 30 last year. South Africa is still part of it despite strained relations between the countries. The preferential trade programme provides duty-free access to the US market for eligible Sub-Saharan countries, covering more than one-thousand-800 products. The US House of Representatives last month passed legislation to extend the law for three years, but the Senate reduced the extension to one year.

Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League is calling for the immediate implementation of export quotas, where at least 70-percent of all raw minerals are beneficiated locally and only 30-percent exported. Discussions are underway within the government for the introduction of an export tax to restrict the export of non-beneficiated minerals. The league’s spokesperson, Sindiswa Scheepers, says Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister Gwede Mantashe must work on quotas to restrict the amount of raw minerals that can be exported from South Africa:

# The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court has postponed the terrorism case against Zimbabwean opposition figure Job Sikhala and his co-accused uncle, Alexander Thema, to 4 May. Prosecutors say they are still awaiting key DNA and fingerprint results. The pair face charges linked to the alleged possession of explosives following a November stop in Pretoria. Both remain out on ten-thousand-rand bail. Sikhala’s defence team has denied all allegations as investigations continue.

Moving abroad:

# Ukrainian and Russian negotiators began a second round of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi to advance efforts to end Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two. The two-day trilateral meetings come after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had exploited a US-backed energy truce last week to stockpile munitions, attacking Ukraine with a record number of ballistic missiles yesterday. The most sensitive issues are Moscow’s demands that Kyiv give up land it still controls, and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a Russian-occupied area.

# Motorsport: Former Red Bull CEO Christian Horner says he is in no rush to return to Formula One, and will only come back for something genuinely exciting. The 52-year-old was dismissed as team principal in July last year before officially leaving in September. Horner, who is among a group of investors interested in purchasing a stake in Alpine, says he has had conversations with almost every team on the grid:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-95-cents and the euro at 18-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-108-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-44-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-29-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….