News 15:00
BULLETIN 15 March 3 pm
Good afternoon. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# Microsoft reports a delay in fixing the massive undersea cable outage
# Cosatu says the rebuilding and growth of SAA will require agile leadership
# And tennis: Carlos Alcaraz beats Zverev, but loses against the bees
# Microsoft says repairs to four undersea cables, causing disruptions to cloud platforms in South Africa, have encountered delays. The company has rerouted traffic to restore functionality while investigations are ongoing. The outage, affecting the West Africa Cable System, the Africa Coast to Europe, MainOne, and SAT–3 cables, was caused by a massive outage near Abidjan in Ivory Coast. The exact cause of the disruption remains unclear. Microsoft assures users of ongoing efforts to mitigate the impact, with a target completion date set for today.
# Cosatu says the rebuilding and growth of South African Airways will require agile leadership and sound management. If provided these and protected from the corruption and mismanagement that grounded what was once Africa’s best airline, the SAA can once again thrive. Cosatu’s acting spokesperson, Matthew Parks, says the federation will seek an urgent meeting with government to engage on the SAA developments, and more importantly on a way forward that secures the future of the airline and its employees:
# Johannesburg Water’s operations manager, Logan Munsamy, says the majority of the city’s water systems have improved and are now back in operation. Munsamy was giving an update on systems that were affected by incidents that occurred at the Eikenhof pump station, resulting in disruptions to water supply throughout the city. He says the Kensington B reservoir is very stable at 70-percent, and Blairgowrie reservoir that supply water to Randburg, is now at 65-percent:
# Asian markets sank in line with Wall Street after a sharper-than-expected jump in US wholesale prices dealt a blow to hopes for interest rate cuts. The uncertainty also sent Bitcoin tumbling. The surprisingly large bump in February’s producer price index followed a forecast-beating read on consumer prices earlier in the week and overshadowed separate figures pointing to a slowdown in retail sales. This follows above-estimate data for January and will likely instill nervousness ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s next policy decision next week.
# Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz’s match against Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was suspended after a swarm of bees invaded the court. Alcaraz comfortably defeated Zverev, but wasn’t standing in the best of positions when a swarm of bees halted the match for about an hour. Alcaraz was stung on the forehead before the players and the chair umpire literally made a beeline for the dressing rooms. The swarm happily settled around the spider camera before a local beekeeper managed to remove them.
# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-31-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-196-dollars-74-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-166-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-98-cents a barrel.
Stay tuned for more news………….