Monday January 30, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

South Africa’s empowerment legislation is about to get new teeth to address issues such as fronting and local content procurement, besides others. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) states that the proposed changes to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill are aimed at making this the overarching legislation on BBBEE matters. Minister Rob Davies says that the DTI is elevating the concept of a balanced scorecard from the Codes of Good Conduct to the current Act. Further, the department plans to establish a BBBEE Commission, which, besides others, will be tasked with establishing an institutional environment for monitoring and evaluating issues pertaining to BBBEE.

More than one-million children in the Sahel are at risk of severe malnutrition and urgent action is needed to avert starvation akin to that in Somalia, Unicef has warned. The agency appealed for $67-million for eight countries in the region where it said instability fueled by increasing activities of al-Qaeda and Boko Haram was compounding humanitarian needs. They are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and the northern regions of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal. "In the Sahel we are facing a nutrition crisis of a larger magnitude than usual with over one-million children at risk of severe, acute malnutrition," Rima Salah, acting Unicef deputy executive director, said.

Standing on what was once Ethiopia's oldest maximum security prison, the new African Union headquarters funded by China is a symbol of the Asian giant's push to stay ahead in Africa and gain greater access to the continent's resources. Critics point to an imbalance in what they see as the new "Scramble for Africa". But the prospect of growing Chinese economic influence is welcomed by African leaders, who see Beijing as a partner to help build their economies at a time when Europe and the US are mired in economic turmoil. "The future prospects of our partnership are even brighter," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said at the new headquarters' multi-storey amphitheatre.

Also making headlines:

Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule clashed with rivals in civilian clothes outside central Cairo's State media building, the same place where 25 people were killed in a demonstration in October.

And, DRC President Joseph Kabila's ruling party has lost seats to rivals but will remain the largest bloc in Parliament, according to partial election results.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.