News 09:00

BULLETIN 13 June 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Israel has launched an unprecedented attack on Iran’s nuclear sites
# Action Society says the country’s murder rate exceeds the Gaza war fatalities
# And athletics: Armand Duplantis delivers another stellar performance in Oslo

# The Israeli Defence Force has confirmed that it carried out strikes on nuclear sites in Iran in the early hours of this morning, as part of Operation Rising Lion. The strike targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile centres. According to reports, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander-in-chief, Hossein Salami, was killed in the attacks. A state of emergency has been declared in Israel, as counter-attacks by Iran are expected. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon:

# Action Society says South Africa recorded over 26-thousand murders last year, surpassing the death toll in the Gaza conflict. The organisation has launched the ‘Decade of Decline’ campaign to highlight rising crime and government failure to protect citizens. Action Society’s Juanita du Preez calls for urgent police reforms, including a dedicated task team for gender-based violence cases and faster investigations:

# Deputy minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Andrew Whitfield, says the clothing and textile sector has a critical role to play in South Africa’s economic recovery and re-industrialisation efforts. The government is targeting the creation of 100-thousand new direct jobs in manufacturing, and a 4.1-percent growth in manufacturing exports. Whitfield says the department is doing the work necessary to deal with the trade imbalance that has resulted in the staggering 223-percent rise of imports within the sector. 

# The Minibus Taxi Task Team held a special meeting on Thursday, amid conflict that flared up between operators in Somerset West and Mfuleni in the past weeks. This follows the recent killing of eight taxi operators from the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association in Mfuleni, Lwandle and Langa. City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas, says the meeting was meaningful:

# Athletics: Olympic champion Sweden’s Armand Duplantis walked away with the men’s pole vault title at the Diamond League meet in Oslo, Norway. He set a new meeting record after clearing 6.15-metres, with Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis second and Australian Kurtis Marschall third. South Africa’s Jo-Ané du Plessis finished third in the women’s javelin throw, which was won by Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi. Olympic champion Julien Alfred took home the women’s 100-metre crown ahead of Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-96-cents and the euro at 20-rand-70-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-31-cents and Bitcoin trades at 103-thousand-945-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-429-dollars-61-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….