Thursday March 17, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

South Africa is unlikely to stop its proposed nuclear expansion after Japan's crisis but is weighing its options more carefully because of it, a senior government official said. Africa's biggest economy has said it would like nuclear power to supply 14% of the country's energy mix by 2030. It wants to halve its reliance on coal at a time of fast-rising demand from an economy that is the world's top producer of platinum and a major supplier of gold. South Africa is also keen to avoid a repeat of a power crisis which shut the mining industry for days in 2008 and cost the country billions of dollars in lost output.

South Africa must use its unemployed to its advantage and develop labour intensive industries, the World Bank's chief economist said.  "South Africa is a labour abundant country. You have so many new young people coming into the job market," Justin Yifu Lin said during a lecture at the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus. Lin said building up labour intensive industries would have a number of economic spinoffs, such as narrowing the income gap between rich and poor.

The battle for control of rebel capital Benghazi looked just hours away after the Libyan army told peopTle to leave opposition-held locations and arms storage areas, but residents said the city was quiet. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said he did not expect a battle in Benghazi, seat of the insurgents' provisional national council, because Libyan people have been helping get rid of "al Qaeda" elements there. One of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, said Libya's second largest city would fall whether or not the international community agreed to impose a no-fly zone. "Everything will be over in 48 hours," he said.

Also making headlines:
Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was released from prison on Wednesday afternoon after being arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions, the Department of Correctional Services said.
Fighting erupted in a strategic town in western Côte d’Ivoire, killing at least two, but rebels who back presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara denied involvement.
And, after the Japanese nuclear disaster grabbed headlines around the world, South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said she was satisfied with the Koeberg nuclear plant’s readiness to cope with emergencies.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.