RADIO BULLETIN NO: 05 FOR 15H00

HERE IS TODAY’S BULLETIN FOR 15H00
THURSDAY, 26 MARCH 2026
NAMIBIA PRESS AGENCY

1 (ADDIS ABABA, 26 MAR, AFP) - Nine migrants were killed and 45 were missing after a boat sank off the coast of Djibouti this week, the UN's migration agency said today.

Tens of thousands of migrants use the "Eastern Route" from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula each year in search of work as labourers or domestic workers in wealthy Gulf countries.

Last year was the deadliest on record along the route with the International Organisation for Migration recording 922 deaths, double the number for 2024.

"A tragic shipwreck occurred during the night of March 24 off the coast of Djibouti, north of Obock: 9 dead, 45 missing, out of 320 passengers," the IOM said on X.

Most migrants on the route come from Ethiopia, driven by poverty and internal conflict, and cross the Red Sea at the shortest point from Djibouti to Yemen.
AFP


2 (JOHANNESBURG, 26 MAR, AFP) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been disinvited by France to the G7 summit in the French town of Evian in June because of US pressure, the South African presidency told AFP today.

South Africa has faced months of pressure from US President Donald Trump on issues from trade to race relations.

"We've learnt that due to sustained pressure, France has had to withdraw its invitation to South Africa to attend the G7 meeting," Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson to the president, told AFP.

"We are told that the Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited," he said.

Trump has clashed repeatedly with the South African government, hitting the country with high tariffs, berating Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a "white genocide" and boycotting a G20 summit in Johannesburg in November.
AFP


3 (BERLIN, 26 MAR, DPA) - Around one in three asylum seekers from Iran had their applications approved in Germany at the beginning of the year, official data showed today.

The figures from the Interior Ministry, which were seen by dpa following an inquiry by a lawmaker from the Left party, showed 35 per cent of asylum applications by Iranian nationals to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in January and February were successful.

The data does not include cases closed for procedural reasons, such as responsibility for the asylum claim lying with another EU member state.

The period in question came before the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran, as the Iranian regime cracked down on a nationwide wave of protests.

The escalating war has triggered concerns in Europe of a flow of migrants escaping the violence.
DPA


4 (BERLIN, 26 MAR, DPA) - German lawmakers today voted to restrict petrol stations to raising prices only once a day, as Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government seeks to tackle the sharp rise in fuel costs sparked by the war in Iran.

The package, which also included additional powers for the Federal Cartel Office to tackle excessive prices, was backed by Merz's conservative-led coalition and the opposition Greens in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.

It is expected to pass the upper house, or Bundesrat, on Friday and could come into force next week.

The government hopes that the change, modelled on the Austrian system, will bring greater reliability for consumers through fewer price rises and increased transparency. It allows petrol stations to raise prices just once per day, while cuts are allowed at any time.

Germany, along with many other countries, has seen prices at the pump soar amid the conflict in the Middle East, with Iran blockading the key Strait of Hormuz waterway.
DPA


5 (DHAKA, 26 MAR, AFP) - Rescue teams including navy divers in Bangladesh have recovered 24 bodies from a bus that plunged into a river at a ferry crossing, officials said today.

The bus sank into the deep waters of the Padna river in Goalanda on Wednesday, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) west of the capital Dhaka. It had around 50 passengers on board, many of whom managed to escape.

A fire service report said that 24 bodies, including those of five children, had been recovered by midday on Thursday.

Some were pulled out by fire service officers, others by locals who come to help, as well as by the navy divers.

"The bus was waiting to board a ferry, when it fell into the river," said Noor Jahan Begum, 35, who saw the accident. "Some passengers got out of the bus, but their family members died, trapped inside."
AFP