Thursday December 08, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

Negotiators are close to agreeing the shape of a Green Climate Fund, which is designed to help poor nations tackle global warming and nudge them towards a new global effort to fight climate change. Rich countries have pledged up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to aid poor States most directly affected by rising global temperatures to adapt their economies and protect themselves from adverse weather. But critics say it could remain a hollow shell unless there is also agreement on where the actual funds come from – and how the money is spent.

The fight against Aids risks being set back years by a global financial crisis, the head of the UN campaign against the disease warned. About 34-million people worldwide are infected with the Aids causing HIV virus, just over two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Incidence rates are falling and access to treatment is expanding. However, a decline in donor contributions has caused a funding crisis within the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the largest body for HIV funding, and is dampening optimism about an eventual end to the disease, UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe says.

Negotiations were proceeding in a “constructive and productive” manner, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres said at a press briefing at the climate change talks in Durban. Issues related to technology were at a level of “being resolved or were resolved”, she reported. Further, world governments remained firmly committed to discussions around the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

Also making headlines:

South Africa’s employers have received a mixed report card, with slightly less than half of all survey respondents of the Kelly Global Workforce Index saying bosses have done a good job in preparing them for future success.

Mexico uncovered and stopped an international plot to smuggle late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi into the country using fake names and false papers, authorities said.

And, Egypt's army detailed plans to ensure those who draft the Constitution represent all society not just groups in Parliament; views set to rile Islamists seeking a commanding role in the process after early success in a Parliamentary poll.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.