Friday April 20, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The IMF’s bid to win a big boost in funding to handle the eurozone debt crisis hit a speed bump when Brazil demanded more power at the IMF for emerging economies as a condition for lending it extra cash. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega laid out the terms for a deal after a meeting with fellow Brics nations Russia, India, China and South Africa. "We are not ready to set a figure, because there are preconditions that have not been fulfilled by the countries – whether they will comply with the agenda of reforms," he said. Support from China, Russia and Brazil is critical to strengthening the firepower of the IMF.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon termed South Sudan's seizure of a disputed oil field in Sudan an "illegal act" and called on both countries to stop border clashes spiraling into war as the US warned of a "worrying" escalation in rhetoric. Clashes along the ill-defined border between the former civil-war foes has led to a standoff over the Heglig oil field after it was seized last week by troops from South Sudan, which declared independence last year. Mounting violence since Sudan split into two countries last year has raised the prospect of the two sovereign States waging war against each other openly for the first time since Ethiopia fought newly independent Eritrea between 1998 and 2000.

The ongoing debate about the tolling of Gauteng’s intra-provincial highways has highlighted the urgent need for South Africa to invest in its public transportation system, Nobel-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz argues. The Columbia University professor, who is in South Africa to participate in a conference organised by the Economic Development Department, says there is “no excuse” for the country not to have a fully functioning public transport system. Financing such public transport infrastructure, he acknowledges, will always entail a “difficult balance”, as not charging a user that can pay locks up resources that could be used elsewhere.

Also making headlines:

Egypt's military rulers have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether top officials from Hosni Mubarak's era can run for the presidency, a judicial source said, after the Islamist-dominated Parliament passed a law banning them.

And, the World Bank and the African Development Bank suspended millions of dollars of aid to Guinea-Bissau, stepping up pressure on the leaders of a military coup in the West African State to hand back power to civilians.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.