Thursday April 26, 2012.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Reggie Sikhakhane.

Making headlines:

A bid to stop e-tolling made headway on Wednesday when the High Court in Pretoria ruled the application was urgent.

Judge Bill Prinsloo agreed with the applicants, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (or Outa), saying that the widespread public interest and the protesting had persuaded him to hear the matter.

Prinsloo said lawyers for the South African National Roads Agency Limited, National Treasury, the transport minister and Gauteng transport MEC hadn’t convince him that Outa's application was an abuse of the court.

Tolling is scheduled to start on Monday.

Bribery, theft and other kinds of fraud had cost African governments and companies at least $10.9-billion last year, auditing firm KPMG estimated in a study on Wednesday. This is a sobering reminder of the challenges facing the fast-growing continent.

KPMG said it arrived at the figure after scouring English-language news reports and databases of fraud cases from 2011.

KPMG forensic investigator Petrus Marais said the actual cost of fraud is likely much higher, given that the study was limited to information in the public domain.

However, he noted that many governments appear to be making headway in fighting fraud and other types of corruption, with South Africa and Nigeria having the highest number of reported cases.

Political parties and media bodies have welcomed recommendations for a new mechanism to regulate print media more effectively.

The South African National Editors' Forum said yesterday that the Press Freedom Commission's (or PFC’s) recommendation for an independent co-regulation of the press was important because it "clearly rejected" any involvement of political parties or state officials.

In the report, the PFC recommends greater public participation in a system of independent co-regulation between the public and press, without state or government involvement.

It proposes a system of people drawn mostly from various sections of the public outside the press industry to ensure independence.

Also making headlines:

The World Bank says global food prices are rising again, pushed higher by costlier oil, strong demand from Asia and bad weather in parts of Europe, South America and the US.

A joint development bank planned by the Brics group of major emerging economies will be officially launched in South Africa early next year.

And, Egypt’s state news agency reports that the last prime minister to serve under deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been allowed to re-enter the race for the presidency, one day after electoral authorities disqualified him.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.