August 27, 2012
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

Parliament dismisses its CFO with immediate effect.

Syria’s new mediator Lakhdar Brahimi tells UN chief he is 'scared'.

And, Nigeria’s government is in talks with Boko Haram through 'back channels'.

The national legislature on Friday said Parliament's chief financial officer Leslie Mondo had been dismissed with immediate effect following the findings of a disciplinary hearing.

Mondo was found guilty on four out of five counts of misconduct. The charges relate to the salary advance of R186 000 paid to National Assembly Secretary Zingile Dingani for a security wall around his plush Panorama residence.

The disciplinary hearing against Dingani has not yet been concluded. Both Dingani and Mondo were placed on special leave in March after the misconduct allegations surfaced.

Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he was "honored, flattered, humbled and scared" at the prospect of leading international efforts to broker peace in Syria's worsening 17-month conflict.

Brahimi met with Ban for the first time since agreeing last week to replace Kofi Annan as the UN and Arab League joint special representative on Syria.

Diplomats said Brahimi had already filled Annan's role, although he is not due to take up the post officially until September 1.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, said Nigeria's government is reaching out to radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. The government is talking with some of its members via "back room channels" as it seeks a peaceful way out of the north's conflict.

The militants ruled out peace talks, unless the government accepts their demand to turn the roughly evenly mixed Muslim-Christian country of 160-million people into an Islamic state.

The Taliban-style movement has killed hundreds in gun and bomb attacks since launching an insurrection in 2009.This makes it the biggest security threat to Africa's top energy producer.

Senior US diplomats have on a few occasions urged Nigeria to address the grievances of the population in its semi-arid north, such as massive unemployment and deepening poverty, and to seek a broader political solution to the crisis.

Also making headlines:

Dozens of Egyptians protest against Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

A UN green climate fund will choose new headquarter in an effort to fight global warming.

And, analysts say the ‘financialisation’ of South Africa undermines its fixed investment and job creation targets.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.