News 09:00

BULLETIN 3 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Civil society organisations are against Hlophe’s nomination to the Judicial Service Commission
# The DA in Gauteng is willing to continue negotiating with the ANC
# And, Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case is postponed

# Six civil society organisations have written to National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza expressing deep concern about impeached judge John Hlophe. This comes as the MK Party has nominated Hlophe to become one of Parliament’s representatives on the Judicial Service Commission. The organisations including Freedom Under Law and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation say designating an individual to the JSC who has been found by the very body in question to have committed gross misconduct would be completely inappropriate.

# The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has served Ford South Africa with a notice to strike. Approximately three-thousand workers are dissatisfied with the non-payment of bonuses. Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says Ford failed to reach an agreement with NUMSA at the June conciliation at the CCMA offices in Pretoria. She noted that the picket begins Thursday in Pretoria, with workers urged to unite behind their demands:

# DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga says if they cannot reach an agreement with the ANC on the composition of a government, they will gladly take the opposition seat in the provincial legislature. The party has criticised the ANC for only offering it three out of ten cabinet seats, which it says falls far short of the requirements set out in the statement of intent. Msimanga says they are not prepared to be co-opted by the ANC on their terms:

# Former US president Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case in New York has been postponed until September. This follows Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while in office. Trump became the first US president to be criminally convicted last month when a jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. He was initially scheduled to be sentenced next week Thursday.

# Soccer: The Netherlands will face Turkey in the quarterfinals of the European Championships in Germany. A goal from Cody Gakpo and two from Donyell Malen saw Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands beat Romania three-nil and book their spot in the last eight. Meanwhile, Merih Demiral scored twice, including the quickest knockout-stage goal in the history of the Euros as Turkey stunned Austria two-one. Turkey are into their first Euros quarterfinal since 2008.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-59-cents and the euro at 19-rand-98-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-59-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-791-dollars-80-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-333-dollars-36-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….