Friday December 02, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

World economies are sliding as a result of eurozone debt problems and failure by European leaders to make the right decisions to resolve the crisis will have massive consequences for the global outlook, South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said. Gordhan reiterated during a debate recorded for the BBC World Service's Business Daily programme that the rapid flow of capital in and out of emerging markets as investors fretted over the crisis was having major disruptive effects on their economies and currencies. "What we are now having is the sinking developed world which is pulling the rest of the world down, rather than managing the situation," Gordhan said.

Egypt's ruling military painted a dire picture of the economy as election officials delayed releasing results of a landmark Parliamentary poll that Islamist parties looked set to win, saying votes were still being counted. They said first-round results would be declared today, a day when youthful protesters demanding an immediate end to army rule have called a rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square to remember the 42 people killed in clashes with riot police last month. Islamist success at the polls in Egypt would reinforce a trend in North Africa, where moderate Islamists now lead governments in Morocco and post-uprising Tunisia after election wins in the last two months.

South Africa, the host of UN global climate talks, is faced with a conundrum – it wants to wean itself off of coal-powered powerplants seen as primate culprits of greenhouse gas emissions and find a cleaner energy source. It is turning to nuclear power, despite the catastrophic environmental degradation the world witnessed after Japan's Fukushima plant disaster this year. The global climate talks that opened earlier this week in Durban are seeing a widening division on nuclear power, with many advanced economies moving away from it after Fukushima and emerging States heavily reliant on fossil fuels embracing it as a cleaner way to power their development.

Also making headlines:

The UN led appeals for calm in the Democratic Republic of Congo as vote counters pushed ahead after elections marred by chaos, violence and fraud claims.

President Jacob Zuma has launched the new National Strategic Plan for HIV and Aids, which promises to do much more to tackle TB and issues of violence against women.

And, in a blow to President Jacob Zuma, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that his appointment of Menzi Simelane as head of the National Prosecuting Authority was invalid.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.