February 25, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sashnee Moodley.
Making headlines:

More than 70 bids have been received for the fourth renewables bid window.

A teenage girl kills 15 people after blowing herself up at a crowded bus station in Nigeria.

And, the Gauteng provincial legislature apologises to the South African National Editors Forum for the media gallery error during the State of the Province address.

Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson confirmed on Tuesday that 77 bids were received by the August 18, 2014, submission deadline for the fourth bid window under government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (or REIPPPP). With the evaluation process now complete, an announcement of the preferred bidders was “imminent”.

Responding to a parliamentary question, Joemat-Pettersson indicated that the implementation, power purchase and direct agreements should be signed within six months from the preferred-bidder announcement date.

The projects should reach financial close within 300 days of the signing of the agreements.

Through the previous three REIPPPP bid windows more than 60 renewables projects were procured, stimulating associated private investment of around R140-billion.

A teenage girl blew herself up at a crowded bus station in a northeastern Nigerian town on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 53 in the second such attack there this week.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing in Potiskum but the main suspect is likely to be group Boko Haram. Their struggle for an Islamic state in religiously mixed Nigeria has killed thousands of people and displaced over a million.

A witness who was knocked over by the force of the blast, said the girl arrived at the Tashan Dan Borno bus station in a rickshaw and was trying to board a bus when she detonated the bomb.

The use of female suicide bombers has become a common tactic of Boko Haram since last year as the group expanded its territory and became stronger and more deadly.

The Gauteng provincial legislature (or GPL) apologised to the South African National Editors Forum (or Sanef) regarding journalists being barred from the media gallery during premier David Makhura's State of the Province Address.

Sanef requested an ‘urgent meeting’ with the legislature following reports of journalists being barred from the gallery.

GPL's delegation acknowledged the unfortunate incident and provided reasons for the challenges.

The legislature then undertook to consult Sanef regarding all potential challenges that could affect the media in all of the legislature's future events.

Sanef accepted the explanation and apology and offered to assist the legislature in future where increased public and media interest could lead to difficulties for the media.

Also making headlines:
Wits University economic and business sciences head Professor Jannie Rossouw said a ‘fiscal cliff’ has not yet been averted in South Africa.

Congolese government forces launched strikes against Rwandan Hutu rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, in the first combat since last month's announcement of a campaign to stamp out the group.

The US distributed a draft UN Security Council resolution that would establish a sanctions regime for war-torn South Sudan, but stopped short of proposing specific individuals to be blacklisted or an arms embargo.

Togo has fixed April 15 as the date for a presidential election, when incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe is expected to seek a third term in office in defiance of opposition calls for him to step aside.

A mass leak of South African espionage secrets could cause many foreign agencies to think twice before sharing information with Pretoria, hampering its efforts to walk a delicate diplomatic tightrope between East and West, experts said.

And, some 42% of South African adults are optimistic about the country moving in the right direction, an increase of eight percentage points since 2009.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.