September 13, 2012
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe denies panic over recent violent protests.

The United Nations Children's Fund hails the rapid progress on child survival rates.

And, a US-trained engineer is picked as Libya's next prime minister.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has denied there is wide-spread panic over recent violent protests countrywide.

He said that he wasn’t sure what the difference was between panic and caution, and that mining companies needed to take cautionary measures to avoid further damage and deaths of people that have occurred until now. He also doesn’t believe that this can be called panic, and it should instead, be called cautionary.

Mantashe said that when there is lawlessness, the state must be capable to deal with that. Similarly, when there is agitation and incitement, the state must be able to deal with that as well.

He also expressed concern about threats to bring the mining industry to a standstill. Mantashe said it would be regrettable if bargaining councils no longer functioned properly.

The United Nations Children's Fund (or UNICEF) says countries across the world are making rapid progress on child survival rates. This shows that it is possible to bring down child mortality significantly in two decades.

In its latest report on child survival, UNICEF hailed a sharp drop of about 40% in the number of children under the age of five dying. The global toll is estimated as having fallen from nearly 12-million in 1990 to 6.9-million in 2011.

UNICEF says that there is progress across diverse nations with varied wealth. This provides evidence that neither a country's regional nor economic status was necessarily a barrier to being able to reduce child death rates.

Libya's national congress has chosen Mustafa Abu Shagour as prime minister. The US-trained optical engineer named improved services and security as his priorities a day after Islamist gunmen killed the US ambassador to Libya.

Abu Shagour defeated wartime rebel premier Mahmoud Jibril in a close second round vote by 96 votes to 94 in a contest that was shown live on national television.

As government chief, he will be responsible for the day-to-day running of Libya's oil-based economy while the national congress elected in July passes laws and helps draft a new constitution for the North African state.

It will be put to a national referendum next year.

Also making headlines:

Expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema says South Africa is a banana republic.

Angola’s election watchdog rejects opposition challenges to an election won by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

And, United States President Barack Obama raises security worldwide after a US Libya envoy is killed.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.