Friday April 29, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

South African motorists are in for a rough and expensive ride as petrol prices are set to breach the R10 per litre mark on May 4 this year, a level last seen in mid-2008. South Africa’s Department of Energy announced that pump prices for all grades of petrol in the main inland commercial region would increase by 29c a litre, or 2,9%, rising from R9,96 to R10,25 per litre.  Economist Mike Schussler said that there was still a good possibility of further price increases, owing to the wave of political uncertainties in the Middle East and North Africa.

Morocco said a bomb that killed at least 14 people, including 10 foreigners, in its busiest tourist destination was a terrorist act, the interior minister said.
The blast ripped through a cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square, a spot often packed with foreign tourists. Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui said 14 people were killed and 23 wounded in the deadliest attack Morocco has seen since 12 suicide bombers killed 33 members of the public in coordinated strikes on the business hub Casablanca eight years ago.

Food price hikes are hitting Africa's urban populations harder now than in 2008 and pose a serious challenge to some of the continent's leaders, who face elections this year, a World Bank official said. Policymakers across the globe are fighting rising food prices, currently 36% higher than levels this time last year and near peaks from 2008, according to the World Bank's food price index. "This time, because it is a more broadly based price increase, because it brings in fuel prices as well, the impact is more urban-based," Karen Brooks, the bank's Africa agriculture sector manager, told Reuters, citing increased pressure on wheat and maize costs.

Also making headlines:
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said he would not recognise South Sudan as an independent state if it claimed the oil-producing border region of Abyei, deepening a crisis ahead of the July split.
Libya's two-month civil war spilled over the border into Tunisia, provoking outrage in the western neighbour, while rebels in Misrata said only the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation could halt the bombardment of the besieged city.
And, action will be taken against Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka if he is found to have misused public funds and state resources, President Jacob Zuma said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.