September 22, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Chantelle Kotze.
Making headlines:

The Islamic State urges more attacks on Egyptian security forces.

Sacci is concerned about the increase in crimes against business.

And, Kenya will stay on course in its quest to stabilise Somalia.

Islamic State (or IS) called on insurgents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Monday to press ahead with attacks against Egyptian security forces and to continue beheadings, an appeal likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups.

Egyptian officials, including the foreign minister, have acknowledged coordination between the two groups but have said there are no IS fighters in the country. IS controls swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria where it has proclaimed a caliphate.

Egypt has faced an Islamist insurgency since the army ousted President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief last year led Mursi's ouster following mass protests, has expressed concerns about Islamist militants in Egypt and in other parts of the Middle East.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (or Sacci) has expressed concern about the marked increase in crimes against business, evident in the 2013/14 crime statistics released by the South African Police Service .

Sacci CEO Neren Rau said the 13% increase in robberies at business premises was a clear indication that the SAPS had to urgently improve its coordinated policing at malls, offices and factories around the country.

He noted that crime was already a significant cost factor to many businesses due to expenses made on security and higher insurance premiums. A single incident of burglary, robbery or highjacking disrupted business operations for several days that, in total, imposed a significant cost on the South African economy.

He stated that the combined 92 215 incidents of robberies and burglaries at business premises during 2013/14 translated into at least R500-million in lost production.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenyan troops will keep fighting Islamist militants in Somalia until peace and stability is restored to the region. This comes one year after gunmen stormed a shopping mall in his country's capital.

Militants belonging to Somalia's al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab attacked Nairobi's upmarket Westgate shopping mall on September 21, 2013, killing at least 67 people in an attack that evolved into a four-day siege.

Al Shabaab, which is fighting Kenyan and other African soldiers who are part of a UN-mandated African Union force in Somalia, has repeatedly threatened more attacks on Kenyan soil if the country does not withdraw its troops.

Kenyatta wrote in an article published in Kenya's Sunday Nation newspaper that the country has seen the gains made from its defence forces’ assignment in Somalia. He said they must not betray Kenyans by suggesting that the work be abandoned uncompleted.

Also making headlines:

New initiatives from the US, Britain, France and other countries to help fight the Ebola epidemic that has been spreading exponentially in West Africa marked a "good beginning", former President Bill Clinton said on the weekend, but said the world will need to do more.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa will release a consultation paper in February next year outlining the possible regulatory framework for “distributed power generation” in South Africa, including how “prosumers” could be empowered to feed surplus electricity into the grid.

And, Sierra Leoneans on Sunday celebrated the end of a three-day lockdown aimed at stemming the world's worst ever Ebola epidemic, as authorities claimed the controversial operation had identified dozens of new infections and located scores of bodies.

Also on Polity:

An article published by The South African Civil Society Information Service discusses the battle for African seed independence, food security and sovereignty.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.