News 11:00

BULLETIN 20 June 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government says it is dedicated to building a capable and honest administration
# Dawie Roodt welcomes the market relief amid progress towards a government of national unity
# And, Rishi Sunak’s protection officer is arrested over alleged bets on the election date

# Government says it is dedicated to building a capable and honest administration that serves all South Africans, and remains steadfast in its mission to work together to overcome any challenges that face citizens. Government’s spokesperson, Nomonde Mnukwa, says South Africans are encouraged to continue to work with Government to strengthen social cohesion and build a united nation. She says South Africans celebrate not just a new president, but a new chapter in the nation’s history:

Meanwhile economist Dawie Roodt believes the positive performance of the South African rand is a result of the markets relief about the outcomes of recent elections. The rand has surged to its highest level in nearly a year, trading below 18-rand to the dollar. Roodt asserts the rise aligns with progress towards a Government of National Unity. He adds recent political developments signal greater economic optimism:

# The University of the Witwatersrand researcher, professor Bavesh Kana says a candidate vaccine for tuberculosis has been created using a gene-editing approach. Kana says researchers sought to modify the Bacille Calmette-Guerin, commonly known as the BCG vaccine to make it more effective at controlling the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He says mice injected with the edited BCG vaccine had less Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth in their lungs than mice that received the original vaccine. The original BCG vaccine is still given to children around the time of birth and is effective at preventing TB disease.

# A close protection officer for the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has been arrested and suspended over alleged bets about the timing of the general election. Sky News reports the officer is a member of the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command. The Gambling Commission informed the Met Police on Friday that they were investigating the activity by the police constable. The officer was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was taken into custody and bailed pending further inquiries.

# Golf: Max Homa will return to defend his Nedbank Golf Challenge title when ‘Africa’s Major’ moves back to its traditional December slot at Gary Player Country Club. The World Number 15 secured an impressive four-shot victory on his Nedbank Golf Challenge debut last November, and he will aim to repeat that “dream week” when he tees it up once again in Sun City from 5 to 8 December. Last year Homa won his sixth PGA Tour title and finished as Team USA’s top points scorer on his Ryder Cup debut.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-98-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-826-dollars-3-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-342-dollars-69-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-4-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….