Monday January 03, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

South African petrol pump prices will increase by up to 29 c/l, or 3,4%, from January 5, the government said on Friday. The Department of Energy said that the pump price for 95 grade petrol would rise to R8,73/l in the main inland commercial region from R8,45/l. The wholesale diesel price will also increase by 23,6 c/l, or 3,2%, in the same region that includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. South Africa is a net importer of oil and adjusts its fuel price each month to account for changes in the rand exchange rate, international oil prices and government levies. The central bank cited petrol prices as a longer term risk to the inflation outlook, along with food costs. Transport costs have a nearly 20% weighting in the inflation basket, the second biggest item after housing and utilities category.

Zimbabwe is likely to postpone a Parliamentary election that President Robert Mugabe's party wanted by midyear in order to allow completion of constitutional reforms, a State-owned newspaper reported on Sunday. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party endorsed plans to call early polls two weeks ago, despite strong opposition from rivals that the political climate was not right for a free and fair vote. The Sunday Mail newspaper, which is tightly controlled by Zanu-PF officials, quoted unidentified sources saying that it was not feasible to hold elections in the first half of 2011 and that Zimbabwe had said so to fellow members of the Southern African Development Community weeks ago.

A United Nations (UN) investigation into alleged human rights abuses in the Côte d’Ivoire will be fruitless without the cooperation of authorities loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, an official in his administration said on Sunday. The country was plunged into crisis when Gbagbo refused to step down after a disputed election in November, leading to an outbreak of violence in a nation still divided since a civil war in 2002 and 2003. The electoral commission, world leaders and the UN General Assembly have recognised Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the election. Ouattara's supporters say that they are being hunted down and killed or kidnapped at night by pro-Gbagbo forces. The UN has put the death toll from the violence at more than 170, the US at over 200.

Also making headlines:

Queues stretched for kilometres at immigration offices in South Africa on Friday, as thousands of Zimbabweans tried to meet a year-end deadline to file papers for legalising their stay in the country.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo told his Presidential rival on Saturday not to expect foreign troops to install him in power by force, and repeated his call for talks to end the country's violent political standoff.
And, according to the International Monetary Fund, a two-speed global recovery will extend into 2011, with developed countries growing slowly while emerging market economies power ahead.

That a roundup of news making headlines today