Thursday, April 30, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The Independent Electoral Commission yesterday released the official list of Members of Parliament and Members of Provincial Legislatures due to take up their seats in the national and provincial legislatures next week. There are few surprises, given that the party lists are largely those published before the election, but some changes have arisen.
Heading the African National Congress's list for the National Assembly is party president Jacob Zuma, set to become South Africa's fourth democratic President and thus resign as a MP. The ANC list should shift forward as a result, making outgoing President Kgalema Motlanthe first on the list. His future role is still uncertain, however, so the composition of the ruling party's list may yet change.
The Democratic Alliance did not have a national list, so all of its 67 MPs come from regional lists. The Congress of the People will see most of its leadership figures heading for Parliament.

In international news, Barack Obama yesterday marked his one-hundredth day in the US Presidency after a whirlwind start in which he has signalled a new approach on policies ranging from the economy through to climate change, to US relations with Iran.
Some have used the milestone to assess Obama's policies, even as analysts cautioned that it is too soon to say whether his long list of initiatives will yield success.
The tradition of marking the first 100 days of US Presidencies dates back to Franklin D Roosevelt, who boasted of his ability to push through 15 pieces of major legislation in that time period after taking office in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression.
Though none of Roosevelt's successors have yet matched the activity of his first few months in the White House, there remains a fascination in the media for a President's first 100 days in office.

Back home, South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan says that southern African countries have a response plan in place to deal with possible swine flu cases.
Having just returned from a meeting with her counterparts from other members of the Southern African Development Community, Hogan said that the supply of anti-viral medicine in the region was under consideration.
SADC has set up a technical task team which is, through the World Health Organisation, accessing additional supplies of medicine for the whole region.
Hogan states that South Africa has enough medicine to deal with an outbreak of swine flu. The country has also had "good experience in dealing with outbreaks", said Hogan, referring to the recent cholera outbreak.
The WHO raised the level of its flu alert yesterday, signalling a swine flu pandemic as "imminent", as at least nine countries had confirmed cases and another 20 countries reported suspected cases.

Also making headlines:
South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission is back in action before the dust from the recent national elections has settled, as it plans by-elections and local government polls in 2011.
Statistics South Africa reports that inflation slowed only slightly in March.
The South African Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee is expected to announce its decision on a rate cut today.
And, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation looks to "beef up" its anti piracy mission off the coast of Somalia.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.