News 17:00

BULLETIN 4 June 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA urges National Treasury to penalize Gauteng over unpaid municipal debt
# South Africa’s business activity growth hits a four-year high
# And Tennis: Gauff reaches the French Open semi-finals after beating Keys

# DA Tshwane leader Cilliers Brink has urged the national government to withhold funds from the Gauteng Provincial Government over unpaid municipal debt. In his letter to Finance minister Enoch Godongwana, Brink says frontline services like Weskoppies Hospital have faced credit action due to non-payment. He says that the Gauteng government is failing, and ordinary people are bearing the cost:

# Metalworkers union Numsa says the rise in violence against children is a result of deep inequality under capitalism. The union highlighted several shocking child abuse and murder cases during Child Protection Week and warned that poverty and desperation are making things worse. Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola calls on the government to fix state-owned companies to create jobs, hire more social workers, and strengthen police units to protect children:

# The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.8 in May from 50 in April, indicating growth for the first time since November last year. A PMI reading above 50 indicates growth, while below 50 points to a contraction. The index showed a marginal improvement in the private sector’s health, with companies reporting increases in output, new orders and inventories. Despite the positive domestic outlook, export orders continued to decline, although at a slower pace than in April, partly due to US tariffs impacting foreign trade.

# Around 20-thousand people were evacuated from central Cologne after three unexploded World War Two bombs were found, the biggest such operation in the German city since the end of the war. Bomb squad technicians were planning to defuse the three American explosives, two weighing a thousand kilograms and one 500 kilograms, which were found during building work. Road and train lines were closed and city officials were going door to door to clear the evacuation zone, which included three bridges over the Rhine.

# Tennis: Coco Gauff battled back from a set down to beat Australian Open champion Madison Keys in an error-strewn quarter-final at Roland Garros. The second seed battled past her fellow American 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 in a tense clash littered with a whopping 14 double-faults and 101 unforced errors. Gauff will be hoping to go at least one better than last year when she was beaten by Swiatek in the semi-finals.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-82-cents and the euro at 20-rand-31-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-12-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-265-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-353-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….