News 12:00

BULLETIN 26 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasises the importance of SA-US relations
# Solidarity sets aside 7-million-rand to stop race laws in South Africa
# And tennis: The French Open honours Rafael Nadal with an emotional ceremony

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says his successful working visit to the US affirmed the importance of keeping the channels of dialogue open. In his weekly newsletter, he says one of the key outcomes of discussions with president Donald Trump was an agreement on an economic cooperation channel between the two countries, to engage further on tariffs and a broad range of trade matters. Ramaphosa says there is potential to increase and diversify trade between the two countries in areas such as gas, mining, agriculture and nuclear products.

Meanwhile, Solidarity says it is intensifying its campaign to stop race laws in South Africa by establishing a legal fund of seven-million-rand. The fund will have several court cases against the new race regulations, a contempt of court case against Ramaphosa, and a challenge against the proposed new 100-billion-rand Transformation Fund. Solidarity’s Jaco Kleynhans says they will soon hand over a report on the intensification of race laws to Trump’s administration:

# The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, is appealing for more international pressure to be applied on Israel. This comes after two separate Israeli air strikes on Gaza over the weekend, including on a school sheltering displaced families, killed 24 people. Makgoba says Israel’s aggression has now taken on levels which are vastly disproportionate to Hamas’s heinous attacks of October 7, 2023. He adds diplomacy seems to be reeling with ineffectiveness while Israel threatens to wipe out a whole nation.

# Tennis: Fourteen-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal was honoured with an emotional farewell ceremony on Court Philippe‑Chatrier in Paris. Since his title-winning debut in 2005, the Spaniard dominated the clay court tournament, claiming his record 14th title in 2022. Long-time rivals Roger Federer of Switzerland, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and Andy Murray of Scotland joined Nadal on the court to pay tribute. Nadal, who won 112 matches at Roland Garros and lost only four, says this was the perfect sendoff:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-86-cents and the euro at 20-rand-35-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-24-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-992-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-335-dollars-41-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-54-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Disney’s live-action Lilo and Stitch topped the global box office on its opening weekend. The movie is about a chaotic alien who crash-lands in Hawaii and gets adopted by a young girl and her older sister. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, in which Tom Cruise picks up as spy operative Ethan Hunt, opened at number two. The sixth instalment in Warner Brothers and New Line’s long-running horror, Final Destination Bloodlines came in third. Disney and Marvel’s Thunderbolts, and Warner Brothers’ vampire thriller Sinners wrapped up the top five.

Stay tuned for more news………….