News 14:00

BULLETIN 24 June 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Tshwane’s mayor says municipalities have become places of despair
# Israel orders strikes on Tehran after Iran violates the ceasefire
# And rugby: More capped All Blacks join the Barbarians squad to face the Springboks

# Tshwane mayor, Nasiphi Moya, says the multiparty coalition government is turning around a metro that was once a place of despair. She says in just over seven months, they have been able to pass the metro’s first fully funded budget, putting it on a path to financial recovery. Moya adds that every metro and town in South Africa deserves leadership that is ethical, decisive and accountable:

Meanwhile, the GOOD Party is calling for greater transparency in municipal oversight and warns against misinterpreting audit outcomes. The party took part in a high-level dialogue with other political parties, as part of the ongoing review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says dysfunction persists even in municipalities with clean audits. He has urged reform to ensure Municipal Public Accounts Committees are open to the public:

# Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says he had ordered the Army to respond to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire after incoming Iranian missiles were reported by the military. He says he instructed the Army to respond forcefully by launching powerful strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran. US president Donald Trump announced a phased 24-hour ceasefire process, which Israel said it had agreed to. Iran has not formally accepted a ceasefire but denies firing any missiles after it came into force.

Meanwhile, Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, are planning to meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague in the Netherlands tomorrow. A senior source in the Ukrainian Presidency told AFP the discussion would focus on their purchase of a defence package, consisting largely of air defence systems, and on more sanctions against Russia. Zelensky has been a central figure at recent summits, but given his fractious relationship with Trump, he has not been invited to the main working session with NATO members.

# Rugby: Eighteen players with Test experience from across the world reported for duty for the Barbarians ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Springboks in Cape Town. The 23-man squad, including former Junior Springbok lock Ruben van Heerden of the Stormers and coached by Robbie Deans, are preparing to take on the Boks on South African soil for the first time. Five more capped All Blacks have joined the squad, namely Hoskins Sotutu, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Mark Tele’a.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-72-cents and the euro at 20-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-11-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-279-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-324-dollars-38-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-48-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….