News 08:00

BULLETIN 18 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Rwanda’s Foreign minister says Africa as a whole should tackle migration
# Parliament’s Trade Committee welcomes the decision to save Tongaat Hulett
# And, the US and Iran sign a 14-point agreement aimed at ending the war

# Rwanda’s minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, says discussions should centre on the underlying causes of migration rather than assigning blame to a single country. This is amid recent violent anti-immigration protests in parts of South Africa, where tensions over undocumented migrants have escalated. Nduhungirehe, who met with minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, in Pretoria yesterday, says it’s important that Africa as a whole tackles the issue of migration:

# Parliament’s portfolio committee on Trade, Industry and Competition welcomes the agreement reached for Tongaat Hulett to exit business rescue and maintain its operations. Under the terms of the agreement, the Industrial Development Corporation will extend its post-commencement finance support to enable Tongaat Hulett to continue trading while the transaction is implemented. This also provides a basis for preserving an estimated 250-thousand jobs across the sugar industry value chain. The committee says the rescue of Tongaat Hulett must be accompanied by accountability for the events that led to the company’s collapse.

# Eskom has extended the public consultation process regarding potential electricity supply restrictions for the City of Johannesburg and City Power by a further 30 days. By the end of May, the metro and City Power owed the power utility 5.26-billion-rand, excluding the current account of 1.58-billion-rand which was due on June 5th. Eskom says 1.2-billion-rand has thus far been paid towards the electricity account since the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act notice was first issued. The public now has until July 17 to make submissions.

# US president Donald Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian have formally signed the 14-point peace agreement, which is known as a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement includes an immediate and permanent halt to fighting on both sides, including in Lebanon. It also states that Iran must restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days, and Tehran will not procure a nuclear weapon. Both sides have 60 days to negotiate a final agreement. Iran’s Foreign Ministry says that with both presidents signing the MoU, its violation carries higher costs.

# Golf: World number one Scottie Scheffler, who will become the seventh man to complete the career Grand Slam if he wins the US Open this week, says he will not consider it a failure if he does not win. The 29-year-old American is already a four-time major champion after capturing both the PGA Championship and The Open last season. He already has two Master’s victories. Scheffler insists completing the career Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-32-cents and the euro at 18-rand-80-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-73-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-325-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-316-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….