Monday, August 17, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to make available all minutes of its meetings over the past five years, ahead a meeting next month with the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Military Veterans.
DA Member of Parliament David Maynier says that the evaluation of these documents is the only way to gain insight into alleged "dodgy arms deals" authorised by the NCACC.
Minister Jeff Radebe, chairperson of the NCACC, together with officials from the Directorate of Conventional Arms Control (DCAC), are to appear before the Portfolio Committee in September. Maynier says that the DA has written to Mnyamezeli Booi, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, requesting that the NCACC produces certain documents to aid oversight.

A successful Doha Round trade deal could boost the global economy by between $300-billion and $700-billion a year, according to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
These figures underline how much is at stake in the long-running talks. Delays in completing the round, now in its eighth year, prompted two leading trade economists at the institute to examine the potential benefits of a successful round.
The economists estimate that the boost to global exports from concluding the Doha Round could range between $180-billion and $520-billion annually, depending on how far-reaching an eventual deal turns out to be.
Potential gross domestic product gains are significant, between $300-billion and $700-billion annually, and well balanced between developed and developing countries.

United Nations (UN) talks on a new climate treaty, due to be agreed in December, risk failure unless negotiations accelerate, says Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat. Negotiators made little progress at the August 10 to August 14 talks towards breaking deadlock on a share-out of curbs on greenhouse gases among rich and poor countries, or raising funds to help developing nations adapt to climate change.De Boer said that there are only 15 days of negotiations left before Copenhagen, at meetings in Bangkok in September and Barcelona in November. Jonathan Pershing, head of the US delegation, says that there is a significant uphill battle still to come if an agreement is to be reached by December.
Also making headlines:
Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, says that more focus is needed on primary school teaching.
President Jacob Zuma says that gender equality is not a numbers game.
Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina says that only he can lead the island's transitional government.
And, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party demands that the Movement for Democratic Change seeks an end to sanctions on Zanu-PF's leaders.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.