July 18, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

The Muslim Brotherhood holds a protest day as Egypt’s cabinet starts work.

Defence analyst Helmoed Heitmann says South Africa needs to urgently re-equip ground forces for African missions.

And, former President Nelson Mandela is 'steadily improving' on his 95th birthday.

Thousands of supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi demonstrated outside the prime minister's office and marched through Cairo on Wednesday to protest against a military-backed cabinet on its first full day at work.

Islamist protesters held up Korans and portraits of Mursi in the noon heat outside the main government buildings, demanding that Mursi be restored to power following his overthrow by the army.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton became the latest international figure to visit Egypt's interim rulers. Unlike a US envoy who came two days ago, she was expected to meet senior figures in Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The army, which removed Egypt's first freely-elected president two weeks ago, accused Mursi's supporters of inciting armed demonstrations near military bases. However, the afternoon's protest was mostly peaceful although there were scuffles when the crowd marched through the city centre and along the Nile riverbank, held back by riot police as they approached Tahrir Square.

Defence analyst Helmoed Heitmann told Engineering News Online on Wednesday that given the current, and likely future, strategic circumstances in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa urgently needs to re-equip its Special Forces and acquire air transportable light armoured vehicles for its army.

He said that the immediate urgency was the Special Forces, with the need to expand the Special Forces by providing dedicated vehicles for them. Heitmann said  these vehicles should be better than the Hornet, as well as provide dedicated aircraft and helicopters for the Special Forces, with dedicated crews."

Earlier this year, a small force of South African Special Forces and airborne troops suffered heavy casualties in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, at the hands of a numerically far superior rebel force.

South African troops currently serve with the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo and have been assigned to the reaction brigade specifically intended to fight rebels in the east of that country.

The presidency says the health of former president Nelson Mandela, who turns 95 on today, is "steadily improving".

Presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj said in a statement that “Madiba remained in hospital in Pretoria, but his doctors had confirmed that his health is steadily improving.”

Mandela was admitted into a Pretoria hospital on June 8 with a recurrent lung infection. Until now, his condition has been described as critical but stable.

President Jacob Zuma on behalf of government and all the people of South Africa, wished Madiba a joyous 95th birthday. "We are proud to call this international icon our own as South Africans and wish him good health" Zuma said.

Also making headlines:

Ethiopia's long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie plans to run for Ethiopia’s 2015 elections.

The newly established Tax Review Committee’s terms show sensitivity to the mining sector’s current travails.

And, Congress of South African Trade Union secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi says political parties need to enforce their leadership for their ideas and ideologies to work.
 

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.