Tuesday, August 31, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

Striking South African State workers will vote today on an increased wage offer made by the government to try to end a nearly three-week-long strike, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said.
The government increased its offer to 7,5% and a R800 monthly housing allowance - compared with the union demand for 8,6% and R1 000 a month for housing - after being ordered back to negotiations by President Jacob Zuma, under growing political pressure over work stoppages.
Cosatu President Sidumo Dlamini says that "there has been a shift and [they] expect members to look at [the offer] critically."
Although its impact on currency, bond and stock markets has been minimal so far, that could change if the strike spreads to the broader economy. Cosatu has threatened a one-day sympathy strike by all members on Thursday if no deal is reached. "At this stage, the sympathy strike on Thursday is on hold," Dlamini said. "It all depends on our mandate from members."

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's invitation to hundreds of young women to convert to Islam overshadowed a two-day visit to Italy intended to cement the growing ties between Tripoli and Rome.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hailed Italy's relationship with Libya at an evening ceremony on Monday attended by some of the biggest names in Italian business, many hoping to pick up lucrative contracts in the energy-rich North African State. However, the Libyan leader attracted most attention earlier in the day by summoning busloads of young women hired by a hostessing agency to a meeting at a Libyan cultural centre near the Vatican and urging them to convert to Islam. The event, which repeated a similar operation on a previous visit to Rome last year, led to criticism from the media and opposition and embarrassment from many in Berlusconi's own centre-right camp.
Italian newspaper Il Messagero asked: "What would happen if a European Head of State went to Libya or another Islamic country and invited everyone to convert to Christianity? We believe that it would provoke very strong reactions across the Islamic world."

Trade numbers between two of the world's most ambitious developing countries, India and South Africa, are on the rise, with bilateral trade reaching $2,75-billion in the first quarter of this financial year, spurring hopes that the $10-billion trade target could be reached before the set date of 2012, said India Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Monday. He added that even though bilateral trade did take a dip in 2009, reaching around $7-billion, all indications were that if trade continues on its current trend for the next three quarters, the $10-billion target could be reached as soon as March 2011.
Speaking at the India Show in Johannesburg, South African President Jacob Zuma said that it is clear that South Africa's relationship with the world's largest democracy is starting to "bear fruit", especially after his official State visit to India in June. During the visit, over 200 business delegates accompanied Zuma and three different memorandums of understanding towards the strengthening of trade ties were signed.

Also making headlines:

A Ugandan opposition coalition aiming to unseat long-serving President Yoweri Museveni suffers a setback as the Uganda People's Congress pulls out over a disagreement.
South African Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel says, in a written reply to a Parliamentary question, that the boost to the economy from the 2010 FIFA World Cup should increase tax revenue by R1,5-billion a year.
The International Monetary Fund reports that Botswana's economy should expand by 8,4% this year, owing to higher diamond demand.
And, the US expresses deep concern over Equatorial Guinea's execution of four former military officers for treason after an attempted coup last year, saying that their convictions by a military tribunal failed to meet minimum human rights standards.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.