News 14:00

BULLETIN 5 March 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# COPE says South Africa’s moral voice is quickly diminishing
# Authorities crack down on 50 non-profit organisations suspected of money laundering
# And cricket: Mohammad Rizwan remains Pakistan’s ODI captain despite their early Champions Trophy exit

# COPE says South Africa’s moral voice is quickly diminishing, both domestically and internationally. The party says American president Donald Trump is a wannabe dictator issuing threats against South Africa. COPE’s Pake Dikgetsi says characters like tech billionaire Elon Musk and political commentator Tucker Carlson can spread damaging lies about the country without any objections from the pro South Africa lobby in the USA:

# Authorities are investigating 50 non-profit organisations suspected of money laundering and terror funding. Acting Social Development director-general, Peter Netshipale, says some foreign-backed groups exploit NPOs to recruit members, threatening national security. He says this crackdown aligns with Financial Action Task Force guidelines. He says investigations into illicite transactions continue as National Treasury hopes South Africa will exit the task force’s grey list by October.

# The City of Cape Town has launched a marketing campaign targeting Indian travellers to attract a greater share of the country’s rapidly-growing outbound tourism and investment market. Travelport is projecting that India’s outbound travel market will reach 39-million people by 2028, a massive surge from the 28.2-million international Indian travellers in 2023. Mayoral committee member for Economic Growth, James Vos, says being the best city in the world for 2025, Cape Town is perfectly positioned to tap into this market:

# The City of Johannesburg has proposed renaming De Beer Street in Braamfontein to honour Mthokozisi Ntumba, who was killed by police during student protests in 2021. The proposal aims to recognise his legacy and raise awareness about police brutality. The city’s Virgil James says Ntumba, a bystander at the time of the protests, was fatally shot with rubber bullets:

# Cricket: Allrounder Salman Agha was appointed as Pakistan’s T20 captain, but Mohammad Rizwan retained the one-day captaincy despite the hosts’ woes in the Champions Trophy. They lost two of their three group matches and couldn’t reach the semifinal. Rizwan wasn’t included in the squad for the shortest format, while senior batter Babar Azam also didn’t make the cut. Pakistan will face New Zealand in five T20s and three ODIs from the 16th of this month until the fifth of April.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-39-cents and the euro at 19-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-60-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-646-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-914-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….