Tuesday, May 5, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The South African Parliament was abuzz yesterday as newly elected members began to arrive for tomorrow's first sitting, in which Jacob Zuma will be elected President with the African National Congress's 65,9% majority.
Owing to a reinforced opposition presence, South Africa's fourth Parliament is likely to be more robust than the last.
The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, is taking up 67 seats in the National Assembly, while the fledgling Congress of the People takes 30 seats - the same number as those lost by the ANC in the recent election.
Opposition Members of Parliament said that Cope's entry into Parliament should mark a change from the Mbeki era, when debates were a battle between the ruling party and the DA, with the outcome mostly a foregone conclusion.

In international news, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that the World Health Organisation would not raise its pandemic alert to level 6, if the current outbreak of a deadly new strain of flu, widely known as swine flu, continues as it is.
World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan said that the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza reported to the WHO, now stands at 1 003 from 20 countries.
But she said there was "no indication that [the world] is facing a situation similar to that of 1918," when a flu pandemic killed tens of millions of people.

Back home, national police commissioner Jackie Selebi's corruption trial was postponed to October 5 in the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday.
This followed the State's application for a further postponement to get witnesses' statements and conduct further investigations. Selebi, who has not yet been charged, said he was angry about the postponement.
Judge Meyer Joffe said that he was unhappy about postponing the case for so long, but was left with no choice. He apologised to Selebi and the public for the delay, which he said made the justice system look bad. Joffe warned State prosecutor Gerrie Nel that, barring any "extraordinary" reason, the trial must go ahead.

Also making headlines:
Health authorities assure South Africans that there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu in the country.
The US navy says that the fight against pirates in the Gulf of Aden must also take place on shore.
And, former Liberian President Charles Taylor's request to be acquitted of war crimes charges was yesterday rejected at a court in The Hague.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.