News 09:00

BULLETIN 12 June 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Hlabisa says preparations for the local government elections are progressing well
# The FF Plus says Joburg cannot afford a 10.3-billion-rand salary agreement
# And, Iran says no agreement with the US has been finalised

# Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, says preparations for the local government elections in November are firmly on track. He led the presentation of the Department of Cooperative Governance Budget Vote to the National Council of Provinces yesterday. Hlabisa says four-thousand-488 wards have been finalised, an increase of 20 wards from the four-thousand-468 in the 2021 election. He adds that these wards remain the most direct link between communities and government:

# Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, says South Africa is committed to strengthening science, technology, and innovation cooperation with China. The minister held a high-level bilateral engagement with the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Wu Peng, yesterday. This is ahead of the World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai, China, next week. Nzimande says both countries have worked well in key areas of human development:

# The Freedom Front Plus the salary agreement between the ANC-led coalition in the Johannesburg Metro Council and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union is simply unaffordable, given the metro’s current financial position. The 10.3-billion-rand wage deal will be implemented over two years. FF Plus’s Franco de Lange says, although mayor Dada Morero insists that the agreement is necessary to ensure employee satisfaction, the reality is that any organisation experiencing financial pressure has to make some difficult decisions:

# Iran says it has not yet made a final decision on any deal, emphasising that reports of a finalised agreement with the US were “merely speculation”. US president Donald Trump has stated that the final points of a deal to end the war had been approved. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says the majority of the text for the memorandum has already been finalised, but the US has made excessive and new demands. He maintains that Iran will not compromise on what it has defined as its red lines.

# Cricket: The women’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales starts today with the opening match between England and Sri Lanka in Birmingham. Tomorrow, the Proteas will kick off their campaign against Australia in Manchester, while Ireland and Scotland will meet at the same field earlier. South Africa’s other group matches are against Pakistan, India, the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The semifinals will be played on the 30th of this month and the second of July, respectively, with the final at Lord’s in London on the fifth.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-29-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-85-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-704-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-192-dollars-86-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-90-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….