PRETORIA - South African President Thabo Mbeki tenders his resignation as head of state. The resignation will be effective from a date to be decided by South Africa's Parliament. Mbeki's resignation comes in the wake of the African National Congress' (ANC's) decision to oust Mbeki before the end of this term next year. Mbeki's presidency ended after a heated debate within the ANC's national executive committee over his future. Mbeki is accused of meddling in the corruption case of incumbent ANC President Jacob Zuma. Mbeki consistently denies any involvement in Zuma's prosecution.

JOHANNESBURG – African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, says that there is no crisis in government, after eleven cabinet ministers and three deputy ministers, including finance minister Trevor Manuel, tender their resignation. Word of Manuel’s resignation sends the financial markets into a panic, with the Rand losing value against major currencies. Manuel’s willingness to stay on as finance minister restores some stability to the markets. Six cabinet ministers including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, however, indicate they will be unavailable to serve in the new cabinet.

JOHANNESBURG – The African National Congress (ANC) nominates its deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe for the position of State President, left vacant by the departure of President Thabo Mbeki. Known as "the elder one" for his level-headed approach to even the roughest political waters, Motlanthe will guide the country toward next year’s elections while aiming to bridge the gaping divide within the ruling ANC. The former student activist and political prisoner’s nomination underscores the ANC contention that a political crisis is not unfolding in South Africa.

AFRICA & WORLD

NAIROBI - An official inquiry into the Kenyan elections earlier this year says that the elections were so badly flawed that it is impossible to know who won. The seven-member Independent Review Commission (IREC), under the leadership of retired South African judge Johann Kriegler, says that the poll was riddled with corruption on both sides. The IREC says that there was no evidence that the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) had rigged the results in favour of any of the candidates, but believes that the crisis was due to the incompetence and inefficiency of the body at all levels. Judge Kriegler believes that the Kenyan government will take the commission's recommendations on board quickly.

GENEVA - A new World Health Organisation (WHO) report on malaria dramatically cuts the organisation's estimate of how many people contract malaria every year. The WHO says that 247-million people were infected with malaria in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available. The report estimates that 881 000 people died from malaria in 2006, compared to "more than one-million" previously. Malaria is especially deadly for infants, children and pregnant women. The WHO says that the global burden of malaria remains enormous. Malaria attracts huge sums of public funding, channelled through the WHO as well as other bodies like the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Clinton Foundation. The WHO's Roll Back Malaria Partnership is calling for a scaling-up of funding for malaria to $3,4-billion a year, from $1,2-billion, to improve access to artemisinin-based drugs and insecticide-treated bed nets that can prevent infection.

SYDNEY - A report by the Australian National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research suggests that Australia's mining boom may be fuelling an alarming rise in HIV infections among cashed-up heterosexual outback miners and businessmen from the resource-rich states of Queensland and Western Australia who holiday in Asia. HIV infection rates in Australia have increased by almost 50% in the past eight years. The miners' work schedule, consisting of several weeks straight of work followed by a few weeks off, may be a risk factor for contracting HIV. Western Australian men are most likely to visit Southeast Asian countries, while those from Queensland visit neighbouring Papua New Guinea, which experts say is on the verge of an African-style HIV/Aids epidemic. Australia's Aids federation is calling on the government to increase funding for Aids prevention programmes to stem the rising rate of infections.

BEIJING - The number of Chinese infants sick in hospital, after consuming milk formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, increases to 13 000. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao threatens harsh punishment for those responsible for the latest blight on the ‘made-in-China' brand. This latest scandal comes in the wake of last year's scares over toxic toothpaste and medicines, and contaminated pet food. Nitrogen-rich melamine is added to watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure protein. It appears that liquid milk products have not been contaminated with melamine. Other countries in the region have clamped down on China's milk products.