Friday October 21, 2011.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah.

Making headlines:

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed yesterday as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte.

Libya's interim rulers said his killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.

Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declared that it was time to start a new and united Libya.

Libyan officials said a formal announcement of Libya's liberation, which will set the clock ticking on a timeline to elections, would be made on Saturday.

South Africa improved its global ease-of-doing-business ranking by one position, climbing from 36 to 35 in the latest International Finance Corporation-World Bank ‘Doing Business’ report. For the fourth consecutive year, Mauritius was found to be the easiest place in sub-Saharan Africa to do business, with a global ranking of 23.

The review, entitled ‘Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World’, assessed regulations affecting firms in 183 economies, covering such issues as starting a business, resolving insolvency, trading across borders and accessing electricity.

Singapore led the rankings, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the US and Denmark, while Korea was a new top-ten entrant.

National Planning Commission member, Professor Mike Muller, says a significant constraint to South Africa’s water sector is a lack of sufficient capacity at local government level.

He urged the private enterprises to consider innovations within this space to help develop capacity and enable greater participation in the sector.

Department of Water Affairs deputy director of planning frameworks Stephen Marais acknowledged the constraints. However, he said that local government was not responsible for the backlog in enabling access to water for all South Africans.

Marais explained that the challenge is for local government to adequately use all its resources to serve people and to drive internal efficiencies.

Also making headlines:

The African Union has lifted its suspension of Libya's membership.

A liberal-led coalition of eight political parties says it’s confident of winning a parliamentary election in Morocco next month.

And, South Africa gives its carbon-heavy sectors two years to set carbon budgets.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.