Thursday, September 23, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) will elect a new leader in 2012, but jockeying for the country's top job has already begun with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe seen as favourite.
Although the question of who will become the next party leader - and almost certainly South African President in 2014 - is not on the agenda of the ANC's policy review National General Council this week, ANC officials and party sources say that lobbying has already started. ANC officials say that it is unlikely that President Jacob Zuma will be elected for a second term. He has alienated the two blocs that helped push him to power - the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the ANC Youth League. Zuma's colourful personal life and lingering reports of cronyism could also further rule out a second term.
Motlanthe was South Africa's caretaker President for seven months after the ANC sacked Zuma's predecessor Thabo Mbeki. He has said that he is not interested in doing the job again, but senior ANC leaders are backing him and analysts say that he would be welcomed by investors. Nomura International emerging markets economist Peter Attard Montalto says that "apart from Motlanthe, [he] thinks Tokyo Sexwale will still be in the frame".

United Nations (UN) secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday launched a $40-billion global strategy to save the lives of 16-million women and children over the next five years, as part of efforts to reduce global poverty, hunger and disease. The drive aims to make headway on the slowest-moving sectors of the Millennium Development Goals.
World leaders from 140 countries are expected to endorse a declaration that calls for stepped-up efforts to achieve the goals by 2015. The world body agrees that the goals of halving poverty and hunger are within reach, but more is needed to meet those on improving education and maternal health, reducing child mortality, combating major diseases, promoting gender equality and protecting the environment. The UN argues that investing in the health of women and children reduces poverty and stimulates economic growth. In addition to saving lives, the global strategy would seek to prevent 33-million unwanted pregnancies by 2015, the year in which the development goals are set to be completed.
A UN statement said that more than $40-billion had been pledged by governments, foundations, businesses and nongovernmental organisations.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says that violence and intimidation by the military are hindering attempts to write a new constitution and that he intends to discuss the problem with the President.
The fragile unity government set up by Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe last year after disputed 2008 elections, is drafting a new charter to replace the independence document drawn up in 1979, in a process expected to lead to a fresh vote. Public consultations on the constitution have highlighted continued tensions between Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party. At the weekend, clashes became so violent in Harare that officials suspended the process.
Tsvangirai said that the current process "fails to pass the test of legitimacy, credibility and people-drivenness."

Also making headlines:

The African National Congress's media and communication commission says that it is not a question of if a media appeals tribunal should be set up, but a matter of when it will happen.
World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy says that world leaders could give the nine-year-old Doha Round of world trade talks a much-needed boost when the Group of 20 developed nations meets in November.
The ruling African National Congress is to debate policies to address a rand currency that is at two-and-a-half-year highs and how to tackle widespread unemployment at the party's National General Council meeting.
And, Egypt hits out at Israel for questioning its commitment to regional nuclear nonproliferation, underlining tension between the Jewish State and Arab countries at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.