News 12:00

BULLETIN 25 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Business Leadership SA is confident of Ebrahim Rasool’s ability to repair the relations between South Africa and America
# The National Christian Forum is concerned about government’s decisions in curbing food poisoning
# And rugby: Seven Springboks make it to the World Rugby 15’s dream team of the year

# Business Leadership South Africa’s CEO, Busiswe Mavuso, says she is confident of Ebrahim Rasool’s ability to repair South Africa’s strained relationship with the US. President Cyril Ramaphosa has reappointed Rasool as the country’s ambassador to the country, a post he previously held from 2010 to 2015. America is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner after China. Mavuso says it will take considerable diplomatic skills to find the right balance of interests to ensure that South Africa continues to benefit from the US relationship the way it now does.

# The South African National Christian Forum says it is concerned about government’s decisions in trying to curb the food-borne illness outbreak. Over 800 cases have been recorded across the country with more than 20 deaths. The forum’s Marothi Mashashane says the process to register all spaza shops within 21 days is already presenting some challenges for municipalities:

# Unidentified drones were spotted over three American airbases in the United Kingdom. According to the US Air Force the incidents involved small unmanned aerial systems. It’s not clear if the drones were considered hostile. The Air Force says it maintains the right to protect installations, but didn’t say if any defence mechanisms were used. A spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry of Defence says it takes threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites. These include counter drone security capabilities.

# Rugby: Seven Springbok players have been named in World Rugby’s men’s 15s Dream Team of the Year. World Rugby’s 2024 Player of the Year, Pieter-Steph du Toit, is one of four South African forwards in the team. He is joined in the pack by Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx, and Eben Etzebeth. The three Bok backs who made the cut are Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, and Cheslin Kolbe. Ireland has four players in the team, New Zealand three, and Argentina one.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-9-cents and the euro at 18-rand-90-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-257-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-672-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-97-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has described renowned anti-apartheid writer and activist Breyten Breytenbach as a genius who captured people’s emotions. He died at the age of 85 in Paris yesterday. Breytenbach, who was imprisoned in 1975 on charges under the Terrorism Act for treason, published over 50 books during his lifetime. Hill-Lewis says Breytenbach has been awarded numerous literary accolades, including the Alan Paton Award:

Stay tuned for more news………….