Tuesday, June 8, 2010

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

Making headlines:

South Africa will benefit from the infrastructure developed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and should use the sport as a unifying force for years after the tournament, said President Jacob Zuma on Monday.
Speaking at a FIFA welcoming banquet in Midrand, Zuma took a swipe at those who doubted South Africa's ability to hold one of the world's most watched sporting events, saying that the spectacle was a celebration for fellow African States that had helped in the fight against white apartheid rule. "South Africa has come alive and will never be the same again after this World Cup," he said.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter added that the tournament would inspire trust in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

Delegates at a meeting of countries signed up to the International Criminal Court (ICC) neared a deal on Monday, allowing the tribunal to prosecute crimes involving countries that invade or attack another.
The compromise at the Kampala review conference of the ICC on crimes of aggression centres on the United Nations (UN) Security Council's role in determining whether an act of aggression took place. Delegates also spent time discussing the definition of the crime of aggression, one of four grave crimes over which the ICC has jurisdiction, but one that it is yet to tackle owing to political sensitivities.
The crime of aggression is broadly defined as the use of force that manifestly breaches the UN charter and includes: an invasion, a bombardment, a port blockade or a country allowing a State to use its territory to attack a third nation. Legal experts say that what is at stake in an extended ICC mandate is the impact on the use of force, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations's bombing of Kosovo in the 1990s or more recently, Colombia's raids in Ecuador against rebels.

African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema is facing a possible genocide charge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
An unidentified Rustenburg farmer and his family left South Africa last week for safety fears after deciding to lay the charge against the ANCYL leader. Their lawyer said that the accusations against Malema were sent in writing to the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands on Monday.
The charges relate to Malema singing "shoot the boer", which the Rustenburg farmer interpreted as inciting youth league supporters to commit genocide against Afrikaans boers.

Also making headlines:

The Department of Energy is in negotiations with industry on new measures to cut electricity consumption from 2011, when supply is expected to be tight.
US Vice-President Joe Biden says that he is working with Egypt to deal with the problems facing the Palestinians in Gaza as a result of the Israeli blockade.
President Jacob Zuma argues that a sitting President is not susceptible to criminal prosecution in opposing papers to the Democratic Alliance's application to review the dropping of charges against Zuma.
And, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay calls for an impartial inquiry into attacks by the Ugandan army on northern villages.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.