News 18:00

BULLETIN 27 February 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Donald Trump pulls the plug on HIV grants in South Africa with immediate effect
# The hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight resumes 10 years after the plane vanished
# And cricket: South Africa fights Australia and Afghanistan for two places in the Champions Trophy semifinals

# US president Donald Trump’s administration has ordered the immediate termination of USAID funding for HIV programmes in South Africa. According to News24, this will impact several organisations that receive support through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This move could lead to more deaths and setbacks in the fight against HIV and tuberculosis.  Pepfar was launched in 2003 to help fight Aids in countries with high HIV infection rates. South Africa has since received about 145-billion-rand of which about 8.1-billion-rand was for the current US financial year.

# Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, says South Africa’s G20 presidency is progressing well following the successful Foreign ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg last week and the ongoing Finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting in Cape Town. According to Ntshavheni, the cabinet highlighted that the G20 remains essential for international economic cooperation and for advancing South Africa’s goals of solidarity, equality, and sustainability:

# FNB senior economist, Koketso Mano, says consumer inflation edged up to 3.2-percent in January, up from three-percent in December. This was the first data after the measured basket of goods was updated. The market sees headline inflation at 3.5-percent in February and settling above five-percent by the end of the year. Mano says any hike in the VAT rate would lead to even higher inflation:

# The hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is set to resume, more than a decade after it vanished in one of the greatest ever aviation mysteries. There were 239 people on board the Boeing 777 when it disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014. A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to go off course. Malaysian Transport minister Anthony Loke has since said the search will not be open-ended.

# Cricket: Afghanistan’s brilliant victory over England in yesterday’s Champions Trophy match in Lahore, Pakistan, means a three-way fight for the two qualifying spots from Group B. South Africa, Australia and Afghanistan all still have a chance of reaching the semifinals. Australia and Afghanistan face off in Lahore tomorrow, while the Proteas will play eliminated England in Karachi on Saturday. South Africa is first in the group, while Australia also has three points, with Afghanistan on two. New Zealand and India have already qualified from Group A.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-47-cents and the euro at 19-rand-28-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 85-thousand-985-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-889-dollars-3-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….