September 9, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm David Oliveira.
Making headlines:

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa believes NDP interventions will address youth unemployment.

The World Health Organisation says Ebola is spreading exponentially in Liberia, with many more cases soon.

And, South African employers are ‘cautiously optimistic’ over increased hiring in the fourth quarter.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa believes interventions within the National Development Plan will grow the economy, create jobs and provide young people with “productive opportunities”. He acknowledges, however, that South Africa’s formal youth unemployment rate, which is currently at 36%, “appears dire”.

He said government would continue to complement its focus on education with vocational guidance, mentoring support and mechanisms to match people's skills to appropriate opportunities, while looking to further promote entrepreneurship.

Ramaphosa noted that on the demand side, government was looking at employment tax incentives, supplier development programmes, entrepreneurship incubators, employment services and work-seeker support. He therefore welcomed private sector initiatives that complemented the services provided by the Department of Labour and other government agencies.

Liberia, the country worst hit by West Africa's Ebola epidemic, should see thousands of new cases in coming weeks as the virus spreads exponentially, the World Health Organisation (or WHO) has said.

The epidemic is the worst since the disease was discovered in 1976 and has killed some 2 100 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria and has also spread to Senegal.

The WHO believes it will take six to nine months to contain and may infect up to 20 000 people. In Liberia, the disease has already killed 1 089 people – more than half of all deaths reported since March in this regional epidemic.

South African employers have reported cautiously optimistic hiring intentions for the upcoming quarter, with 10% of those polled in a recent study expecting to increase staffing levels, 5% forecasting a decrease in employee numbers and 85% anticipating no change to their current payrolls through to the end of the year.

Hiring intentions remained relatively stable when compared with the previous quarter, improving by 3 percentage points year-over-year, the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Q4 2014, which surveyed 752 employers in South Africa, showed.

Providing insight into why the South African employment market was expected to provide limited opportunities for job seekers, recruitment specialist Manpower South Africa MD Lyndy van den Barselaar said ongoing socioeconomic challenges had continued to influence the performance of key sectors within the economy, impacting on employment prospects.

Also making headlines:

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor says the partnerships with the eight other African nations that will host remote stations of the Square Kilometre Array telescope remain strong and the countries are developing a new African network of telescopes.

Gauteng MEC of Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Jacob Mamabolo says a mixed housing plan will be ideal for areas affected by dolomite.

And, a UN special envoy visited Libya's elected parliament in the eastern town of Tobruk in a show of support against a rival assembly set up by armed groups that seized the capital Tripoli last month.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines.