Friday February 4, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Eleanor Seggie

Making headlines:

The City of Johannesburg will continue cutting off services of those who do not pay their electricity bills, Mayor Amos Masondo said on Thursday.
Speaking in Parktown he said that: "We don't enjoy cutting off people, but the municipality has a legal responsibility and obligation to collect all the money due to the municipality." He added that the city would not "wrongfully" cut power. Masondo said that "significant progress" had been made in dealing with the situation. He earlier drew widespread criticism for saying that the problem did not constitute a "crisis".

Global food prices tracked by a United Nations (UN) agency hit their highest level on record in January, a problem set to worsen after a massive snowstorm in the US and floods in Australia. The UN said that its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index rose for the seventh month in a row to reach 231 in January, topping the peak of 224,1 last seen in June 2008. It is the highest level that the index has reached since records began in 1990. "These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come," FAO economist and grains expert Abdolreza Abbassian said in a statement. Global food inflation is a mounting worry for world leaders. It has contributed to political unrest in countries with high poverty rates and unemployment, as evidenced in the toppling of Tunisia's President in January. That unrest has spilled into Egypt, Yemen and Jordan.

The Southern Africa Customs Union is considering a major overhaul of revenue sharing that will see South Africa keeping a far bigger slice of pooled customs receipts, according to a policy document.
Conversely, Swaziland, a landlocked absolute monarchy, will see a "substantial" drop in its overwhelming source of revenue and could ultimately be driven into bankruptcy. The review paper was drawn up by an Australian consultancy and recommended an eight-year adjustment period for the new revenue-sharing formula, starting in 2012, to minimise the shock to already vulnerable economies.

Also making headlines:
The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak as one of several scenarios for a transition of power, a US official said.
A party ally of deposed Nigerien leader Mamadou Tandja will head into a decisive Presidential runoff vote next month with the backing of a broad coalition, results of a first-round poll showed.
And, Morocco said that it was not worried about opposition plans for a peaceful protest later this month to press for reforms in the monarchy and the resignation of the government.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.