South Africa Financial News

By Emma Farge and Rachna Uppal

ALSO READ: Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer axed from BCCI's contract list - Here's why Earlier, Kishan and Iyer were excluded after ignoring the directive to play Ranji Trophy. However, skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli retained their place in the Grade A+ category. Even Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja too were included in the same category.

₹150 crore (for five years) will lead initiatives to disseminate good practices in conserving big cats," Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav told reporters on Friday. Globally, the ‘big cats’ include the tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar, and cheetah. Barring the puma and jaguar, the rest are found in India, with the latest—the cheetah—having been translocated under an experimental programme from South Africa to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh.

Indian Express has stated that Pandya committed to play for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy when he is not involved with the national team. Citing a senior BCCI official, the IE also reported that Pandya has affirmed his intention to maintain his partnership with Baroda in domestic tournaments whenever he is not on national team duty. “We have had discussions with Pandya, who has been told to play domestic white-ball tournaments when he is available.

By Emma Farge

BCCI) on Wednesday cracked the whip on cricketers who refused to comply with its directives requiring all centrally-contracted and A -team players, who are fit to play, to make themselves available for participation in the domestic cricket tournaments. The BCCI announced a list of 30 senior men’s cricketers, up from last year’s 26, for the annual central contracts, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja remaining in the topmost Grade A+ category. However, two names were conspicuous by their absence – Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan. Iyer, who had a Grade B contract, was part of the Test side for the first two matches against England before being dropped for lack of runs. He had some issues with his back and went to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for treatment. However, despite being declared fit by the NCA, he informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that wouldn’t be available for the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda saying that he was suffering from back spasms. Since then, though, he has joined the Mumbai squad for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting from March 2.

ALSO READ: BCCI terminates central contracts of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Check full contract list here Looking at Ishan Kishan's exclusion from BCCI's list, it appears the board was unhappy with him not participating in domestic cricket during periods when he was not representing the national team. Earlier on 17 December, when Ishan Kishan had left India's Tour of South Africa, the BCCI had said, "Mr Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons.

Iyer was on a Grade B contract last year while Kishan was handed a Grade C contract but despite playing in the 50-over World Cup last year, the BCCI said both players were not considered in this round of recommendations. Read More: BCCI announces annual player retainership 2023-24 for men's team; Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah and Jadeja in Grade A+

coal imports are expected to fall for the first time this year since the COVID-19 pandemic due to increasing domestic output and record-high inventories, industry officials said on Tuesday. Out of eleven coal traders, Reuters spoke with at the Coaltrans India conference in the western state of Goa, eight expected shipments of the fuel to decrease this year, while the others foresaw flat imports or marginal growth.

NEW DELHI : New Delhi: The 13th Ministerial Conference (MCA 13) of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday announced new rules to streamline the international trade in services. These regulations, which apply on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, aim to make authorization processes more transparent and accessible, with commitments to gender equality. The reduction in barriers to the services trade could have a substantial economic impact, particularly benefiting poorer countries, and emerging economies like India that are driven by services, experts said.

South African comedian and entertainer Trevor Noah has expressed regret over not investing in  Bitcoin (BTC)  during its early days when it was practically “worth nothing.” 

cross-border remittances has found support from many World Trade Organization members including the European Union, officials said. Except for the US, most countries have favoured a work programme at the WTO for cheaper, faster and more accessible cross-border payments including remittances. Separately, Indonesia has backed New Delhi's proposal to reinvigorate the work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, which requires structured discussion on trade-related issues over global e-commerce, taking into account the economic, financial and development needs of developing countries. Last week, New Delhi pushed for promoting interoperability and interlinkages of digital payment infrastructure including fast payment systems to lower transaction costs.

Civil Society Organisations Sunday said that there is no mandate for the adoption of the proposed agreement on investment facilitation for development (IFD) which is being negotiated by a group of members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), led by China. A WTO decision of 2004 prohibits negotiations on investment facilitation and efforts are on to bring the issue in through plurilateral means. Around 130 members support the pact. The US, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are also not part of this proposed pact. India and South Africa have opposed it as it neither has the WTO mandate or its members’ consensus and cannot be brought to the formal process in the WTO.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand weakened on Friday, extending the previous day's losses to hit its lowest level since October, with analysts citing the impact of this week's 2024 budget on investor sentiment.

South Africa has unveiled its 2024 budget, leveraging stablecoins and blockchain technology to promote financial inclusion among its marginalized communities and to boost interest in digital payments.

New Zealand vs Australia Live Score Updates, 1st T20: NZ vs Aus, Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand take on 50-over world champions Australia in the first T20I of the 3-match series at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. The T20I series comes just 3 months before the start of the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.New Zealand will be without regular skipper Kane Williamson, who recently helped the Black Caps to a historic first Test series win against South Africa.

Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma have been blessed with a baby boy, the couple said in a statement. The baby boy was born on February 15 and the couple has named him “Akaay", they said. Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma shared the news on their Instagram handles.

edtech have called for an extraordinary general meeting on Friday to oust its founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family members over «mismanagement and failures» at what was once India's hottest tech startups, sources said. The shareholders, who have called the EGM, collectively hold more than 30 per cent stake in Byju's. Raveendran and family own about 26 per cent in the company.

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) Speculations around Anushka Sharma's second pregnancy started surfacing online in November 2023 especially after she marked her presence at the Diwali bash in Bengaluru ahead of Team India's World Cup match against the Netherlands. While the couple has remained tight-lipped about Anushka's second pregnancy, eagle-eyed fans spotted the actor's baby bump and flooded the internet with speculations.

By Kopano Gumbi and Anait Miridzhanian

Houthi attacks on merchant shipping continue to disrupt international trade, driving more cargoes to Asia. Flows to the European Union and the UK plunged as higher freight costs stoked by the ongoing turmoil in the Red Sea, as well as unplanned refinery maintenance in Asia, made trade economics better for sending cargoes east rather than west.