News 08:00

BULLETIN 4 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus says South Africa is losing its industrial edge
# SCOPA will lay a criminal charge against Collins Letsoalo
# And, Israel and Lebanon agree to a renewed ceasefire

# The Freedom Front Plus says South Africa is facing a continued decline in industrial competitiveness. This after new African Development Bank findings showed that Morocco has overtaken South Africa as Africa’s most industrialised economy last year. The party blames problems like power cuts, corruption, policy uncertainty and poor economic management for the decline in manufacturing and investment. Jaco Mulder warns that without change, South Africa risks further deindustrialisation and long-term economic stagnation:

# Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts has resolved to lay a criminal charge against former Road Accident Fund CEO, Collins Letsoalo. This follows his failure to appear before the committee in response to a summons issued in November last year. The committee had summoned Letsoalo to appear in connection with RAF misgovernance, maladministration, and financial mismanagement during his tenure. Committee chairperson, Songezo Zibi, says he will write to the Secretary of Parliament, who will lay the charges against Letsoalo.

# Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile has condemned the killing of an 18-year-old Grade 10 learner from Mokgome Secondary School in Braamfischerville, Soweto. Preliminary investigations reveal that the teenager, who was not at school at the time, was attacked with a panga by unknown suspects over an allegation of stolen items. The victim passed away at the Dobsonville Clinic. Maile says violence against children is an affront to society and cannot be normalised:

# Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a renewed ceasefire, which is contingent on a complete cessation of attacks from the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, among other conditions. The agreement comes after Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, and Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says they hope to create an action plan on a track for security in Lebanon, independent from Hezbollah:

# Tennis: World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been knocked out in the quarterfinals of the French Open. The Belarusian suffered a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 defeat by Russia’s Diana Shnaider, who is through to her first Grand Slam semifinal. Shnaider will face Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, who beat Russia’s Anna ‌Kalinskaya, 7-6, 6-3. In the men’s draw, Italian Matteo Berrettini retired injured in the second set of the quarterfinal match against compatriot Matteo Arnaldi. Another Italian, Flavio Cobolli, reached his maiden major semifinal after defeating Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-35-cents and the euro at 18-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-93-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-909-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-468-dollars-81-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 95-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….