January 17, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

The farm strikes in the Western Cape have been suspended.

The US will officially recognise the Somali government, opening the door to new aid.

And, the rebels’ hostage siege in the Sahara turns Mali’s war global.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (or Cosatu) said that the farm workers' strike in the Western Cape was suspended for one week on Wednesday.

The union federation's provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the strike would resume next Wednesday unless Agri SA agreed to certain conditions.

He said Agri SA had to agree to not victimising workers for standing up and protesting against what he called the “R69 a day starvation wage”. He added that the agricultural trade association also needed to "honour previous their commitments to local-level agreements".

At least 180 people have been arrested in connection with the protests since Wednesday last week.

Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration director Nerine Kahn said localised collective bargaining would also resolve the strike.

A senior US official said that the US would officially recognise the Somali government in Mogadishu on Thursday. This move will end an interval of more than 20 years and open the door to increased US and international economic help for the violence-plagued African nation.

Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson said that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would announce the shift during a meeting with visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whose election last year marked the first vote of its kind since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Carson said the US decision to formally recognise the new government underscored the progress toward political stability that Somalia has made over the past year, including "breaking the back" of the al Shabaab insurgency.

Islamist fighters have opened an international front in Mali's civil war by taking dozens of Western civilians hostage at a gas plant in the Algerian desert just as French troops launched an offensive against rebels in neighbouring Mali.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed that one Briton had been killed and "a number" of others were being held hostage. A group calling itself the "Battalion of Blood" is alleged to have taken 41 foreign nationals, including Americans, Japanese and Europeans, at Tigantourine, deep in the Sahara. Algerian media also said an Algerian was killed in the assault. Another local report said a Frenchman had died.

Hague said that this was a dangerous and rapidly developing situation. However, the British government has sent a rapid deployment team from its Foreign Office in order to reinforce its embassy and consulate staff there.

Also making headlines:

North West Premier Thandi Modise is expected to meet Anglo American Platinum’s management.

France launches a ground campaign against Mali’s rebels

And, the Gauteng Health Department closes the Chris Hani Baragwanath Nursing College following protests.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.