August 21, 2012
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

Ethiopian state television says Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died from an infection.

A World Bank unit says it is concerned with South Africa’s mine violence.

And, Mali forms a new caretaker government.

Ethiopian state-run television has reported that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died from a sudden infection while recovering from an undisclosed illness at a hospital abroad.

Speculation that Meles, 57, was seriously ill grew after he failed to attend an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last month.

Meles had been in power since ousting Mengistu Haile Mariam's military junta in 1991.

State media said Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn would be Ethiopia’s acting prime minister.

The International Finance Corporation (or IFC), which is the World Bank's private investment arm, said on Monday it was "deeply concerned" with violence at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine. It urged parties to settle their differences through negotiation.

IFC holds a 0.61 percent equity stake in London-based Lonmin through an investment made in 2006. Lonmin accounts for 12% of global platinum output.

IFC said in a statement that the issues are serious and it encourages all parties to resolve the dispute through constructive dialogue and negotiation.

Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore approved a new transitional government on Monday. This will move the West African country closer to constitutional order after a military coup in March.

The 31-member government will replace a transitional authority that was crippled by political infighting, and had failed to make progress in setting elections.

A presidential statement said the president of the republic, after receiving proposals from the prime minister, decreed the list of members of government. It also said the holders of five posts in the new transitional government were chosen by the military leadership.

At least four members of the previous transitional authority, including the interior minister charged with organising elections, remain unchanged.

Also making headlines:

United Nations monitors pull out of their observer mission in Syria.

Eskom expects the first Sere wind unit to be operating by late 2013.

And, a car belonging to an Egyptian diplomat was blown up in the Libyan city Benghazi.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.