* Owing to technical difficulties there is no audio file to accompany today’s podcast.

Monday February 06, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The sanctions against suspended ANC Youth League president Julius Malema will only take effect after arguments in mitigation, SABC radio news reported yesterday. "You will know that the national disciplinary committee of appeal (NDCA) said that they have a chance to go and mitigate so until such mitigation has taken place the sanctions will not kick in," ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told the SABC. According to the SABC Malema was attending the ANC's national executive committee meeting in Pretoria as a full member yesterday. On Saturday, the NDCA rejected the attempts by Malema, ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu and four others to have their suspension from the party overturned.

Egypt's army backed government said it was preparing to move ousted President Hosni Mubarak to a Cairo prison hospital in an apparent bid to calm protests, but clashes continued with police firing tear gas at demonstrators hurling rocks and broken tiles. Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army fought police for a fourth day outside the Interior Ministry, which they accuse of failing to prevent the deaths last week of 74 people after a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said. Seven people have been killed in Cairo and five more in Suez in protests since then.

South Africa on Friday formalised a R350-million economic aid agreement with Cuba. At a ceremony in Pretoria, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Cuba's ambassador to South Africa, Angela Villa, signed a document that both said was aimed at stimulating trade between the two countries. The signing is a follow-up to President Jacob Zuma's State visit to Cuba in 2010, at which time he announced an economic help package to that country.

The package comprises two direct grants and a repayable loan.

Also making headlines:

Tunisia has started the procedure for withdrawing its recognition of the Syrian leadership under President Bashar al-Assad and for expelling the Syrian ambassador, the Tunisian President said.

And, South Africa denied that it had been pressured by MTN Group into backing Tehran's nuclear programme and aiding its military when the Johannesburg-based mobile operator was bidding for a telephone licence in Iran.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.