News 13:00

BULLETIN 5 June 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The police say Gauteng has made progress in the fight against crime
# Minister Creecy orders the ACSA board to enter into mediation with the Airports Coordination Services
# And rugby, Rassie Erasmus names an exciting Springbok squad

# The Gauteng provincial police commissioner, Tommy Mthombeni says the province has made progress in the fight against crime by recording a 7.9-percent decrease from January until March this year. He was briefing the provincial legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety on the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year in Johannesburg. Mthombeni says this decrease is a positive step even though, Gauteng still contributed 26.2-percent to overall national crime:

# Transport minister Barbara Creecy has ordered the Airports Company South Africa’s board to enter mediation with Airports Coordination Services over a dispute about baggage screening at airports. The disagreement, which also involves the Civil Aviation Authority, has led to ongoing litigation. Creecy warns the fight could affect airport safety and national security. Ministry spokesperson Collen Msibi says the board has been instructed to finalise a mediation agreement and submit a full report on legal costs within two weeks.

# Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the bodies of two Israeli-Americans killed in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack and held in Gaza, had been returned to Israel. He identified them as Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai. A joint statement from the army and the Shin Bet security agency said that the bodies were recovered from the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip in an overnight operation.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named the same 54 players, nine of whom are uncapped, that attended the second national alignment camp in Cape Town last month. This large training squad is for the opening stages of the international season, which kicks off on 28 June against the Barbarians. The squad includes 31 Rugby World Cup players. The nine uncapped players in the group are Marnus van der Merwe, Neethling Fouché, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese, Renzo du Plessis, Vincent Tshituka, Juarno Augustus, Ethan Hooker, and Ntokozo Makhaza.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-75-cents and the euro at 20-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-786-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-384-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

# And finally: South Africans are being encouraged to reuse their Rooibos tea leaves as part of efforts to reduce waste this World Environment Day. The South African Rooibos Council says over 3.5-billion cups of Rooibos are consumed each year, offering an opportunity to repurpose used tea into compost, natural scrubs, or moth repellents. The council’s Adele du Toit says with only ten-percent of waste recycled, Rooibos offers a simple way to go green and support a cleaner environment:

Stay tuned for more news………….