June 4, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Reggie Sikhakhane

Making headlines:

The Johannesburg Labour Court on Sunday ruled in favour of the application by the South African Police Service to set aside the lifting of the suspension of Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

Presiding Judge Andre van Niekerk said the reason Mdluli's application on Friday was not opposed was due to the State being unaware it was taking place.

In making his ruling, Van Niekerk said if the court had been aware of the facts, the order to lift Mdluli's suspension on Friday wouldn’t have been granted, and ordered Mdluli to also pay costs.

The verdict of toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his son’s verdicts, has fueled additional tension ahead of Egypt’s June 16 and 17 elections.

Despite Mubarak being handed a life imprisonment sentence, thousands took to the streets for protests in Cairo, saying the judgment that acquitted his sons and senior policemen of corruption charges is a clear indication that Egyptian institutions are still controlled by Mubarak figures.

International peace envoy Kofi Annan has accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of atrocities and arbitrary arrests, and said on Saturday he had delivered a blunt message to Assad to act now to implement all points of a peace plan.

Nine people were killed and 42 wounded in clashes between Assad supporters and opponents who fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in neighbouring Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli.

Annan, appointed as envoy to Syria by both the United Nations and the Arab League, said the spectre of an all-out civil war was growing daily to the concern of other Middle East countries.

Also making headlines:

Europe's envoy to Pretoria said on Friday, that South Africa's ruling African National Congress was walking a precarious path if it pursued policies shunning the West in favour of fellow Brics members India and China to fund its development.

And, A commercial airliner crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, on Sunday, killing all 153 people on board.

That’s a round up of news making headlines today.