News 13:00

BULLETIN 26 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa is among ten nations joining India to hold the first joint naval exercise
# ActionSA warns against political interference in anti-corruption efforts
# And soccer: Michel Platini says his honour has been restored after his acquittal on fraud charges

# India and ten African nations, including South Africa, will conduct their first joint naval exercise off Tanzania’s coast next month. The six-day drill will see the participating countries, Tanzania, the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and Seychelles, focusing on maritime security, anti-piracy, and rescue operations. The nations will engage in visit, board, search and seizure drills, helicopter operations, and surveillance exercises. India’s patrol vessel, INS Sunayna, will also conduct joint patrols, reinforcing security cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

# ActionSA has raised concerns about potential political interference in the newly launched Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum. The party says corruption in the Department of Home Affairs has weakened border security and warns that without strict enforcement, it will continue to harm the immigration system and national security. ActionSA’s Matthew George calls for independent anti-corruption institutions, artificial intelligence-driven security measures, and specialised courts to ensure swift prosecution:

# FNB is predicting significant employment gains in the longer term with gradual improvements in the operating environment. The total number of people employed in South Africa decreased by 91-thousand from December 2023 to December last year. According to the Quarterly Employment Statistics published by Statistics SA, full-time employment decreased by 26-thousand and part-time employment was down by 65-thousand. FNB senior economist, Koketso Mano, has highlighted the importance of infrastructure investments to boost long-term employment:

# Soccer: Former French great Michel Platini says his honour has been restored after a Swiss court acquitted him of fraud. The 69-year-old and former Fifa president, 89-year-old Sepp Blatter, were accused over a 41-million-rand payment Blatter made to him as a consultant fee in 2011. Fifa banned both of them in 2015. Platini says he had received thousands of messages of support before yesterday’s appeal hearing. His lawyers say he has always emphasized he received the money as back payment, which had now been confirmed twice in court.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-24-cents and the euro at 19-rand-69-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-54-cents and Bitcoin trades at 87-thousand-890-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-20-dollars-39-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-73-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Passengers headed to China aboard a recent United Airlines flight faced an unexpected travel headache after a pilot’s forgotten passport prompted their return to the United States. The flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai was out over the Pacific Ocean when it made a u-turn and headed to San Francisco. The Boeing 787 with 270 people onboard made a stop in San Francisco and another crew took over. The forgotten passport meant passengers arrived six hours later than scheduled in China.

Stay tuned for more news………….