News 12:00

BULLETIN 21 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The US State Department revokes former minister Naledi Pandor’s visa
# The Presidency says Ramaphosa won’t hand over the G20 presidency to a junior US diplomat
# And cricket: Starc takes seven wickets as England is dismissed for 172 in the Ashes opener

# The US State Department has revoked former minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor’s visa. She was granted a multiple-entry visitor’s visa for short-term stays in America after she retired from politics last year. Pandor, who is currently the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s chairperson, says she was informed of the decision in an email from the US Consulate this week, with no reasons given. Pandor’s most recent visit to America was this week.

Meanwhile, the Presidency says South Africa will not hand over the G20 presidency to the US’ Chargé d’Affaires, Marc Dillard, who, in diplomatic terms, is considered a junior embassy official. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced yesterday that Washington was reconsidering its decision to skip this weekend’s G20 leaders’ summit. The White House dismissed this, stating the US would not participate in any discussions, but Dillard would attend the declaration handover ceremony on Sunday as a formality.

# The Freedom Front Plus has criticised the Department of Agronomy in Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of AgriSciences’ advertisement of two internships for junior research assistants. The party’s Wynand Boshoff says the ad states that only black, coloured, Indian and Chinese South African citizens will be considered for the positions. Boshoff says the advertisement amounts to direct discrimination, as any citizen, provided they are not white, can apply:

# The Department of Education is inviting the public to submit written comments on the gazetted changes to the school calendar starting in 2028. The National Policy for Determining School Calendars for Public Schools mentions significant changes to how school terms, holidays and national calendars will be structured from 2028 onwards. The department’s spokesperson, Terence Khala, says the proposed amendments remove all references to clusters, staggering and differentiated lengths of holidays, meaning all provinces would follow one standardised calendar:

# Cricket: A venomous Mitchell Starc took seven wickets for 58 and Australia bowled England out for just 172 on day one of the first Ashes Test in Perth. England captain Ben Stokes won the toss at a packed Perth Stadium and opted to bat first, but the visitors had few answers to Starc’s onslaught. Harry Brook with 52 and Ollie Pope with 46 offered the only resistance as England crumbled after lunch.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand–27-cents and the euro at 19-rand-96-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-62-cents and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-212-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-47-dollars-19-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 61-dollars-93-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….