News 07:00

BULLETIN 3 June 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says the election results reflect the will of South Africans
# The South African Human Rights Commission is satisfied the elections were free and fair
# And a poll shows 51% of Americans believe Trump is unfit to be president following his conviction

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the results of the 2024 general elections reflect the will of the people and must be respected. After failing to secure an overall majority, the ANC now holds 159 seats in the National Assembly down from 230, the DA has seen an increase from 84 to 87 seats, while the new MK Party has secured 58 seats. Speaking at the result announcement in Midrand, Ramaphosa says voters were able to participate in an election that is free, fair and peaceful:

Ramaphosa also says South Africans expect the parties for which they have voted to find common ground, overcome their differences, and work together for the good of everyone. He says each party emerges from this election with a mandate based on the commitments they each made to the electorate:

And still on the election front: The South African Human Rights Commission says the general elections were free and fair, after observing 250 voting stations. The general elections have seen the ANC lose its three-decade-old absolute majority. The commission says its preliminary observations revealed that operationally, 83-percent of voting stations observed opened on time, and 98-percent of ballot boxes were assembled in the presence of party agents and observers. It adds that security incidents at voting stations were minimal.

# A CBS News poll shows 56-percent of Americans think the guilty verdict against former president Donald Trump was fair. A New York court found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to former adult star Stormy Daniels, during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Fifty-one-percent of those polled believe Trump is unfit to be president now that he is convicted, while 45-percent say he should be jailed. Trump, who is the first US president to be convicted of a crime, will be sentenced in July.

# Tennis: Two-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz has set up a quarterfinal clash with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas at the French Open. The Spaniard defeated Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, while Tsitsipas beat Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2. In the women’s draw, world number one Poland’s Iga Swiatek recorded the quickest win of her career, dispatching Russia’s Anastasia Potapova, 6-0, 6-0, in 40 minutes to reach the quarterfinals. Alcaraz says he is looking forward to facing Tsitsipas:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-72-cents and the euro at 20-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-632-dollars-18-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-329-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A battery-operated spoon that makes food taste saltier has gone on sale in Japan. The spoon is aimed at people struggling to reduce their salt intake. In Japan, adults consume on average of around 10 grams of salt a day, double the recommended intake. The spoon works by passing a weak electric current through the tip of the device to concentrate sodium ion molecules on the tongue. This magnifies the perceived saltiness of the food by one and a half times. Users can choose their preferred intensity from four different levels.

Stay tuned for more news………….