Thursday February 24, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines:

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced in his 2011 Budget Review on Wednesday that an additional R4,9-billion will be allocated for housing and municipal services over the next three years.

The review noted that building adequate and safe human settlements raised people’s living standards and created job opportunities.

The document said that realising this outcome would require speeding up service delivery, eliminating regular patterns of underspending in certain provinces, and improving the efficiency of local government housing processes.

Gordhan has also set aside R5-billion over the next three years for the youth employment subsidy, which will be implemented next year.

World leaders condemned Muammar Gaddafi's bloody crackdown on a revolt that has split Libya, but took little action to halt the bloodshed from the latest upheaval reshaping the Arab world.

US President Barack Obama made his first public comments, condemning as "outrageous" and "unacceptable" the attacks on protesters that have killed hundreds in 10 days, and helped drive oil prices to levels that threaten global economic recovery.

Yet there seemed little cohesion and urgency in a global response, even as Washington and Brussels spoke of possible sanctions against a man whose 41 years in power have been marked by idiosyncratic defiance of the West.

Obama said that it was imperative that the nations and peoples of the world spoke with one voice. He said that the suffering and bloodshed was outrageous.

On Wednesday, Zimbabwe filed treason charges against dozens of political activists accused of plotting anti-government protests similar to those that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

Police said they arrested 46 people in Harare on Saturday as they watched videos of protests in the North African countries and discussed possible demonstrations in Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe has held power for 31 years.

The charge carries a possible death sentence.

Also making headlines:
Tunisia's new central bank governor said on Wednesday that the country is in talks with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other agencies on funding options, although the country's reserve levels are for now adequate to support the economy.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry accused Darfur rebels of involvement in Libyan violence as Muammar Gaddafi tries to quell a popular uprising.

And, two of Morocco's biggest political parties and human rights groups have joined calls by a youth movement for constitutional reform that could reduce the role of the king.

That’s a round up of news making headlines today.