Monday, March 29, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

South African opposition party, the Independent Democrats (ID), has appealed in an open letter for the African National Congress (ANC) to desist from challenging a court finding on the struggle song "shoot the boer".
The South Gauteng High Court ruled on Friday that the use of the words "Dubula ibhunu" (shoot the boer) was unlawful and unconstitutional, after an uproar over ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's singing of this struggle song at recent rallies.
In the letter, ID secretary-general Haniff Hoosen appealed to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to "rise above the current tit-for-tat racial squabbles in South Africa, which are achieving nothing more than taking our country backwards". Hoosen said that the current climate around the singing of the song, is reminiscent of pre-1994 intolerance. "Some amongst us, have either failed to see the danger of our actions and words, or simply do not care," he said.
Hoosen added that whatever the outcome of the ANC's appeal, his biggest fear was that the country would be the biggest loser.

World trade is expected to grow by nearly 10% this year, rebounding strongly from the economic crisis and shrugging off faltering progress in the eight-year-old Doha Round, World Trade Organisation (WTO) figures showed on Friday.
The WTO said that the volume of merchandise trade would expand by 9,5% after dropping 12,2% in 2009, the biggest contraction in more than 70 years. The forecast growth this year comprises of 7,5% for developed countries and 11% for developing countries.
The outlook came as WTO's 153 members decided to push on with negotiations in the Doha Round, launched in late 2001 to free up global commerce and help poor countries prosper through more trade, but tacitly dropped a 2010 deadline for a deal and set no new timetable.
WTO DG Pascal Lamy said that although some progress has been made since 2008, there is no denying the fact that the negotiations are not where they were expected to be by now.

Travel restrictions placed on Zimbabwean officials from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party should be lifted to help the unity government function effectively, said South African President Jacob Zuma, who is mediating in a dispute between Mugabe's party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party.
Zuma said that the restrictions to the movement of one side of the unity government and not the other, is impeding the functioning of the government. He called for the international community supporting the power-sharing agreement to lift sanctions to allow the unity government to function to its full capacity.
Zuma has previously urged western powers to lift sanctions imposed before the two rival sides agreed on the unity government in 2008.

Also making headlines:

Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan warns Kenya that failure to push through political reforms could undermine economic recovery.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions supports the campaign by local artists to benefit from the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says that he will only implement the terms of a power-sharing agreement if the West removes sanctions.
And, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids says that the economic crisis and climate change concerns could affect the fight against HIV/Aids and lead to a "universal nightmare".
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.