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The rand firmed further against the US dollar on Thursday night, edging close to the psychological R18 mark and fuelling expectations of fuel price cuts in April. It traded over 1% stronger, at around R18.07 to the greenback, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday.
If the rand stays at current levels or strengthens further by the end of March, fuel prices are expected to ease across the board in April, according to the Automobile Association of South Africa (AA). “The numbers today [Friday] are showing that a decrease across all fuel is most likely going to happen,” AA spokesperson Layton Beard told Moneyweb.
The AA’s mid-month assessment of Central Energy Fund (CEF) fuel data had already indicated that diesel and illuminating paraffin prices would see a decrease in April on the back of lower international oil prices. At the time, diesel prices were expected to drop by 20 cents a litre and illuminating paraffin by around 68 cents a litre. Petrol vehicle owners were not expected to be as lucky in terms of the mid-month data, with the AA initially forecasting petrol prices rising by 25 cents a litre.
With the rand firming this week, the AA believes the fuel price relief will now be felt by all motorists in April. “The data has been indicating a decrease ever since mid-month for diesel … But the underrecovery for petrol – in other words the increase for petrol – has been coming down as well, [which means] it’s pretty much flat at the moment,” said Beard. With no underrecovery in petrol now expected, further rand strength will see petrol also decreasing in April.
Another factor benefitting motorists according to the AA is National Treasury’s decision to keep fuel levies unchanged for 2023 in the recent SA Budget. This is the second year in a row that government has opted not to increase the Road Accident Fund Levy and General Fuel Levy.
However, Beard noted that it will be important to keep an eye on the rand’s performance against the US dollar moving forward, as this will influence how the fuel price pendulum will swing for motorists.
The ICC issued the warrant against Putin on March 18 for war crimes related to the alleged abduction of children from Ukraine.
Credit: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/fuel-price-relief-likely-in-april-as-rand-firms/
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Members of the victorious England Men’s ICC T20 Cricket World Cup team today visited 10 Downing Steet to meet the Prime Minister. They were joined by young people participating in the ACE programme, a scheme to improve talent pathways for aspiring black cricketers, who played cricket in the Downing Street garden. Professional players including Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and head coach Matthew Mott were in attendance. They presented the Prime Minister with an England shirt signed by the entire team.
The Prime Minister congratulated the team for their impressive victory against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final in November and commended them for inspiring a new generation of young people to take up the sport. He also praised the ACE programme for its work to open up the game and make cricket more accessible, while helping to produce a new pipeline of exciting talent for the sport.
Backed by government and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) funding, ACE operates in six inner cities across the country and has helped a succession of young players move into cricketing academies and professional teams. The programme, which was launched in 2020, focuses not only on talent development but also aims to recruit more coaches and volunteers and inspire the whole community to engage with cricket.
As both Prime Minister and a lifelong cricket fan it was a pleasure to welcome members of the victorious world cup winning side and young cricketers from the ACE programme to No10 today. This is a hugely exciting time for English cricket, with success on the field across all formats and the Ashes taking place in England this summer. Cricket is a sport for everyone and I know that the success of the team will inspire kids from all backgrounds to get involved in the game.
The visit follows the government’s major schools’ sports package last week, which includes over £600 million across the next two years for the PE and Sport Premium and a requirement for schools to deliver a minimum of two hours of curriculum PE. The announcement also set out new standards for equal access to sports, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.
Credit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-welcomes-england-cricket-heroes-to-downing-street
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(File Image) Former Nigerian President and African Union envoy Olusegun Obasanjo arrives for the signing of the AU-led negotiations to resolve the conflict in northern Ethiopia, in Pretoria, South Africa, November 2, 2022.
Former Nigerian President, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo, is to deliver the inaugural Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi annual lecture at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre Complex (ICC) in Durban on Tuesday.
Buthelezi founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975.
Following South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, he became the Minister of Home Affairs.
He served in this capacity under President Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki.
Buthelezi remains the traditional Prime Minister of the amaZulu.
Obasanjo is expected to pay tribute to Buthelezi’s efforts in the liberation struggle, significantly on Human Rights Day.
The lecture is named after Buthelezi as a tribute to his role in the struggle against apartheid and his contribution to South Africa’s democracy.
With the theme “Making Democracy Work for Africa,” the lecture is aimed at promoting a culture of democracy on the continent.
The lecture is hosted by the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Foundation and will be attended by various politicians, academics, and other dignitaries.
The foundation aims to preserve the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize winner Chief Albert Luthuli, who was the president of the African National Congress from 1952 to 1967.
Overall, the event is expected to foster dialogue and reflection on the continent’s future, and encourage the improvement of democratic processes in Africa.
Credit: https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/obasanjo-to-deliver-inaugural-prince-mangosuthu-buthelezi-annual-lecture/
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ODI cricket will return to Senwes Park in Potchefstroom today (Tuesday, March 21) as South Africa gear up to take on West Indies in the final match of their series. The Caribbean team has already gained an unassailable lead of 1-0 after a 48-run win at Buffalo Park three days ago. The first match of the series was abandoned.
West Indies will aim to continue their winning momentum in Potchefstroom and complete a 2-0 win. South Africa, on the other hand, will aim to get back on the winning track ahead of their crucial ICC Cricket World Cup Super League matches against the Netherlands.
Before the final ODI of the series starts, here's a look at the pitch report details of Potchefstroom.
Senwes Park has not hosted a single ODI match since 2020. The venue hosted 19 ODIs from 2000 to 2020, with teams batting second emerging victorious in 10 of them. The Proteas have played eight ODIs on this ground and registered seven wins.
The pitch at this venue helps the batters and the fast bowlers. South Africa hosted Australia for an ODI match on this ground in March 2020. Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood bowled an excellent spell of 2/37, while Marnus Labuschagne scored a hundred.
In 2015, Martin Guptill smashed a hundred at this venue. The visiting batters have enjoyed batting on this ground. West Indies batters will be keen to get out there in the middle and play a big knock against the Proteas today.
South Africa defeated Australia by six wickets in the previous ODI at this venue. Marnus Labuschagne's 108-run knock helped the Aussies post 254/7 in their 50 overs. Anrich Nortje was the pick of the bowlers for the Proteas with figures of 2/35.
Brief Scores: Australia 254/7 (Marnus Labuschagne 108, Anrich Nortje 2/35) lost to South Africa 258/4 (JJ Smuts 84, Josh Hazlewood 2/37) by 6 wickets.
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Credit: https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/sa-vs-wi-2023-senwes-park-potchefstroom-pitch-history-odi-records
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Putin defiant as ICC issues arrest warrant, visit to Mariupol a symbolic show of strength
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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with local officials in Sevastopol, Crimea March 18, 2023. Vladimir Putin visited the port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, two days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for both him and Russia’s children’s commissioner for the mass abduction of at least 1,400 Ukrainian children. The court claims that some Ukrainian orphans have been forcibly resettled with Russian families, while others were sent to “re-education camps” in Russia with their parents' consent but have not been returned.
With Ramadan starting later this week, Palestinian and Israeli mediators met on Sunday in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh – along with Jordanian, Egyptian, and US representatives – to try and de-escalate tensions in Israel and the West Bank. After talks in Jordan last month failed to make progress, this weekend's summit aimed to halt the cyclical flare-ups at flashpoint sites that Jerusalem has seen during Ramadan and Passover in recent years.
Meanwhile, inside Israel, nationwide protests against the government’s proposed judicial reforms, now in their eleventh week, show no signs of abating.
ALL CAPS are back! Taking to social media on Saturday, former President Donald Trump called on his supporters to take to the streets, claiming that he would be indicted by a grand jury in New York, and arrested, in the coming days. Writing on Truth Social – his own social media platform – Trump said that he’ll likely be detained on Tuesday on charges linked to a 2016 payment to an adult film star in violation of campaign finance rules.
Serbia and Kosovo reached a tentative agreement on Saturday to implement an EU-backed deal to normalize relations after years of tensions threatened to reignite war.
Credit: https://www.gzeromedia.com/what-were-watching-putin-in-mariupol-israeli-palestinian-talks-trump-fears-arrest-kosovo-serbia-agreement
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A decorated former SAS soldier shown in a Four Corners story shooting an Afghan man in a wheat field has become the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with a war crime under Australian law. Former trooper Oliver Schulz, 41, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police at Jindabyne in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains this morning, after a years-long investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
His case was mentioned in Queanbeyan Local Court this afternoon, where his solicitor made no application for bail. He has been remanded in custody to appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on May 16.
His charge, the ABC understands, relates to the shooting death of Afghan man Dad Mohammad during an ADF raid in May 2012 in Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan.
If found guilty, Mr Schulz could face life in prison. His arrest marks a historic shift in the response to suspected military wrongdoing, both in Australia and among Western allies, who have avoided holding war crimes trials in civilian courts, according to international law experts. "It's unprecedented," said University of Tasmania law professor Tim McCormack, a special adviser on war crimes to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Mr Schulz was awarded the Commendation for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan, where he completed multiple tours. He was stood down by the ADF after the killing was revealed by ABC Investigations and Four Corners.
The Four Corners program, Killing Field, broadcast explosive footage taken from a helmet camera worn by the dog handler from Mr Schulz's patrol. It shows an SAS dog mauling Mr Mohammad in a field, before the dog is called off and Mr Schulz is seen training his weapon on the man. Mr Mohammad was a father of two, in his 20s, from the village of Deh Jawz-e Hasanzai.
Four Corners also revealed that the ADF had investigated the killing months after the 2012 incident, following complaints from Afghan villagers. However, ADF investigators cleared Mr Schulz after being told Mr Mohammad had been "tactically manoeuvring", was carrying a radio, and had been shot in self-defence.
The Brereton inquiry handed down its findings in November 2020, recommending that 23 incidents and 19 individuals be referred for further investigation by police. That inquiry recommended that any alleged war crime should be prosecuted in a civilian criminal court in a trial by jury, rather than in a military tribunal.
This year, a brief of evidence was signed off by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, whose consent is required to start a war crime prosecution. "The willingness of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to use that legislative framework is a very significant thing," Professor McCormack said.
In a statement, the AFP said it was working with the OSI "to investigate allegations of criminal offences under Australian law related to breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by Australian Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016". "As the matter will be before the court and the investigation is ongoing, no further comment will be made," the statement said.
Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, a killing constitutes the war crime of murder if the victim is neither a combatant nor out of action due to injury or damage. Prosecutors must also prove that the perpetrator knew, or was reckless to, this fact. The killing does not constitute a war crime if it occurred as a result of an attack on a military objective, during which the perpetrator did not expect excessive civilian casualties.
Credit: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-20/former-sas-soldier-arrested-over-afghanistan-killing/102119554
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The US president, Joe Biden, has backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over his role in the abduction of Ukrainian children, saying it was “justified”.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was among other international leaders who welcomed the decision, saying on Saturdayyesterday that it showed “nobody is above the law”.
Thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia, where many have been adopted by Russian families. It is just one of many crimes – including torture and the deliberate targeting of civilians – for which Ukraine wants to see Russian soldiers and politicians held to account.
Volodymr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, hailed it as a historic decision “from which historic responsibility will begin”.
The warrant is unlikely to lead to a trial. Putin cannot be tried in absentia, and can only be arrested if he travels to one of the 123 countries that are members of the ICC. Russia, Putin’s key ally China, and the US have all declined to become members.
Biden acknowledged this, even as he said the warrant made “a very strong point”.
This marks the first time the court has issued an arrest warrant against the leader of one of the five permanent members of the UN security council.
Putin will now be labelled an alleged war criminal for the rest of his life by the court responsible for investigating some of the most serious violations of recent decades. It puts him in the same company as infamous figures such as Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Yugoslavia, and the former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir.
At a time when Moscow is seeking to win support for its war – or neutralise backing for Ukraine – among countries in the global south, it will potentially limit his travel. However, ICC member countries do not have to enforce arrest warrants, and have declined to do so in the past.
The warrant, along with one for Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, also sends a strong message to other senior Russian military and civilian officials who are playing a role in the war.
It is now clear they can be held accountable for what they are doing, by lawyers who are closely monitoring events in Ukraine. Even if Putin’s government protects them at home, at the very least their travel could be severely restricted if they appear on future warrants.
In the UK, the Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, said the decision sent an important message: “There will be no hiding place for Putin and his cronies, and the world is determined to make them pay for what they have done.”
He also suggested more warrants were likely to follow: “These cases are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Russia has denied committing atrocities, and in Moscow the arrest warrant was met with predictable outrage. Pro-Putin figures presented it as evidence that Washington was pushing for regime change in the country, even though the US is not a member of the ICC.
The warrant is likely to bolster the standing of pro-war Russian hardliners who have sought to present the invasion of Ukraine as an existential battle for national survival.
“All pro-western liberal forces who looked for compromise with the west will be fired,” wrote Sergei Markov, a pro-Putin political analyst and former Kremlin adviser.
“The Kremlin’s only path can be that of a military victory.”
The Russian opposition, which has largely fled abroad since the start of the war, hailed Friday’s announcement.
“Yes, it’s a symbolic step. But what an important one,” said Leonid Volkov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
And while Putin’s opponents acknowledged that the warrant would make little difference to the Russian leader’s status, they welcomed the decision as an appropriate response to his likely role in the abduction of children.
“Now Putin is truly an international pariah,” Ivan Pavlov, a prominent Russian human rights lawyer, told the Observer.
“I exclude the possibility that the deportation of Ukrainian children was carried out without his knowledge, without his consent and without his order.”
Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/18/biden-hails-decision-icc-arrest-warrant-against-putin
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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on Saturday to celebrate the ninth anniversary of its annexation from Ukraine despite being issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday over alleged war crimes in the Eastern European country.
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, posted a video to Twitter of Putin, claiming that the Russian leader was "visibly limping" during his visit. Putin's health has been questioned in recent months, with armchair diagnoses of the Russian leader gaining traction since the war began last year. In the past, social media users and analysts have tried to interpret footage that showed him apparently limping across Red Square, clinging to his desk, and displaying a listless right arm.
Still, Putin's alleged health conditions didn't seem to hinder or impact the course of the war in Ukraine, where the battle between his forces and Ukrainian troops extended throughout major cities, including Kyiv, Odessa, and Kherson. Most recently, the fight has intensified in Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which has been the site of a months-long battle between Russian and paramilitary forces against Ukrainian troops.
There is still no end to the war in sight, but Western nations, including the United States, continue to supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid. Kyiv also has recently reiterated its commitment to take back Crimea, which was violently and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media has recently reported that Russian forces in the annexed Crimean peninsula could be "preparing for a possible so-called forced evacuation." Since its annexation, Crimea has seen human rights violations and a crackdown on dissent by Russian authorities, according to a report by Amnesty International, which is an international organization focused on human rights.
Calls for investigating Putin's war crimes grew louder after the Russian leader declared war on Ukraine, but the Friday ICC arrest warrant is the first formal international charge since his invasion on the war-torn country. The court, which Russia does not recognize, but prosecutes those accused of war crimes, charged Putin with unlawfully abducting and transporting Ukrainian children and teens to Russia, where many have been adopted by Russian families. An arrest warrant was also issued for Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
Forced deportation of populations is recognized as a crime under the Rome statute, which Russia signed, but withdrew from in 2016.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign affairs ministry via email for comment.
Credit: https://www.newsweek.com/visibly-limping-putin-visits-crimea-amid-icc-warrant-ukraine-official-1788715
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Joe Biden has welcomed the international criminal court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for the Russian president for war crimes in Ukraine. The US president said Vladimir Putin had clearly committed war crimes and that the arrest warrant for the Russian leader made a “very strong point”. “Well, I think it’s justified,” Biden said of the warrant on Friday. “But the question is – [the ICC is] not recognised internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point.”
The US is not a member of the court and the Pentagon has resisted cooperating with it because of fears American soldiers could be pursued by the court.
The ICC decision, for allegations Putin has overseen the abduction of Ukrainian children, marks the first time the court has issued a warrant against one of the five permanent members of the UN security council. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, hailed the court’s move, saying on social media it was “a historic decision from which historic responsibility will begin”.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said it was essential that those at the top of the regime in Moscow were held to account for the atrocities which had taken place since the invasion began last year. “We welcome the step taken by the independent ICC to hold those at the top of the Russian regime, including Vladimir Putin, to account,” Cleverly said in a statement posted on social media. “Work must continue to investigate the atrocities committed.” The UK’s Labour party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, said the announcement sent an important message: “There will no hiding place for Putin and his cronies and the world is determined to make them pay for what they have done”.
While there is no immediate prospect of Putin facing arrest, legal experts have pointed to the examples of the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević and Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor as international leaders who wound up in the dock in The Hague.
Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/18/joe-biden-welcomes-icc-arrest-warrant-vladimir-putin
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Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula's annexation from Ukraine on Saturday, the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.
Putin visited an art school and a children's center, locations that appeared to have been chosen in response to the court's action on Friday. The court specifically accused him Friday of bearing personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion of the neighboring country that started almost 13 months ago.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded that Russia withdraw from the peninsula as well as the areas it has occupied since last year. Putin has shown no intention of relinquishing the Kremlin's gains. Instead, he stressed Friday the importance of holding Crimea.
The ICC's arrest warrant was the first issued against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. The move was immediately dismissed by Moscow — and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough. Its practical implications, however, could be limited as the chances of Putin facing trial at the ICC are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.
Widespread Russian attacks continued in Ukraine after the court's announcement. Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday night, the Ukrainian air force reported early Saturday.
According to the Ukrainian statement, Russia is still concentrating its efforts on offensive operations in Ukraine's industrial east, focusing attacks on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka and Shakhtarsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province. Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional Gov. of the Donetsk province, said one person was killed and three wounded when 11 towns and villages in the province were shelled on Friday.
Further west, Russian rockets hit a residential area overnight Friday in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital of the partially occupied province of the same name. No casualties were reported, but houses were damaged and a catering establishment destroyed, Anatoliy Kurtev of the Zaporizhzhia City Council said.
U.K. military officials said Saturday that Russia is likely to widen conscription. In its latest intelligence update, the U.K. defense ministry said that deputies in the Russian Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, introduced a bill Monday to change the conscription age for men to 21-30, from the current 18-27. The ministry said that, at the moment, many men aged 18-21 claim exemption from military service because they are in higher education. The change would mean that they would eventually still have to serve. It said the law will likely be passed and come into force in January 2024.
Credit: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/18/1164529887/putin-visits-crimea-annexation-ukraine
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