News 12:00

BULLETIN 18 June 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Canadian guest is fatally wounded in the Kruger National Park
# Parliament’s Legal Services backs the impeachment committee’s opposition to Ramaphosa’s court application
# And soccer: Bafana Bafana’s coach insists he will continue to do things his way

# A Canadian guest has been fatally wounded in the Kruger National Park last night. The incident happened at a concession-operated picnic area in the vicinity of Phabeni Gate. SANParks spokesperson JP Louw says a private guide attached to the concession operator allegedly accidentally discharged a firearm, resulting in the fatal injury of the 69-year-old guest. The victim was part of a group booked outside the park and only came in for a bush braai offered by a private concession with a valid permit to operate the facility.

# Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Services Office says the impeachment committee has good grounds for opposing president Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent court application to stop the impeachment process pending a review of the Section 89 report. Senior counsel William Mokhare says in his view, the committee can continue with its work independently and impartially:

# Union federation Cosatu has expressed concern at the rise in consumer inflation, saying this will affect workers who are already drowning in debt. South Africa’s consumer inflation rate rose to 4.5-percent in May this year, up from 4.0-percent in April, marking the highest annual rate recorded since July 2024, when inflation stood at 4.6-percent. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says, hopefully, the US-Iranian peace agreement will hold to ease higher fuel prices:

Moving abroad:

# Apple’s outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, says price increases across its product line are now unavoidable due to soaring memory and storage chip costs. The boom in artificial intelligence and the disruption in the global supply of helium, a gas crucial in making semiconductors due to the Middle Eastern conflict, have driven up prices of memory chips. Cook told Wall ‌Street Journal there is less supply at a time when consumers want devices. He says they have been trying to shield customers, but the situation has become unsustainable.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says he will continue to do things his way and is not interested in trash spoken about him on social media. South Africa will try to get their World Cup campaign back on track against the Czech Republic in Atlanta today. Broos, who came under heavy criticism after the 2-0 defeat to co-hosts Mexico in their opener, says the team’s only focus is on delivering an improved performance:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-37-cents and the euro at 18-rand-83-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-526-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-286-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-86-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….