News 08:00

BULLETIN 30 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Fikile Mbalula says DA has a choice to leave the government of national unity
# The police investigate the abduction of a nine-day-old baby at a mall in Cape Town
# And rugby: Jean Kleyn is ruled out of the Springbok squad due to an injury

# ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the DA has a choice to leave the government of national unity. The DA earlier announced it would not participate in the National Dialogue and threatened to withdraw support for key budget votes after president Cyril Ramaphosa axed the deputy minister for Trade, Andrew Whitfield. Mbalula says if the DA proposes a motion of no confidence in the president, it will mean they are out of the GNU:

Meanwhile, the South African National Christian Forum says it is shocked by the DA’s hypocrisy and continuous threats about its position in the government of national unity. The Forum’s president Marothi Mashashane says the GNU can survive without the DA:

# The Western Cape police are probing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of a nine-day-old baby from a mall in Cape Town on Saturday. Police spokesperson, Joseph Swartbooi, says the infant was last seen at Middestad Mall in Bellville by his mother. He says the mother felt nauseous and left the child with the person who was with her while going to the bathroom:

# Rugby: Springbok lock Jean Kleyn has been ruled out of the squad for the opening match of the Castle Lager Incoming Series after sustaining an injury during the team’s 54-7 victory against the Barbarians on Saturday. Kleyn will return to Irish club Munster to recover from the injury and undergo the necessary rehabilitation.  The Springboks have started their on-field preparations for the first official Test match of the season against Italy on Saturday. They play Italy again a week later, before the closing match of the series against Georgia on 19 July.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-79-cents and the euro at 20-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-40-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-494-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-279-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

# And finally, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez concluded their three-day-long Venetian extravaganza on Saturday evening with a celebration at the Arsenale, a former medieval shipyard. The Amazon billionaire wed the former journalist in a private ceremony held on the secluded, historic San Giorgio Maggiore Island. Venice’s Ministry of Tourism has estimated the celebrations will generate almost 68-percent of the city’s annual tourism turnover in just one weekend. However, demonstrators have rallied against what they perceive to be a takeover of the idyllic Italian archipelago city by some of the world’s wealthiest people.

Stay tuned for more news………….