Monday November 21, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The outcome of the upcoming United Nations climate change conference, the seventeenth Conference of Parties (COP 17), should be balanced, fair and credible, President Jacob Zuma said. COP 17 will begin at Durban's Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC on Monday and finish on December 9. "To achieve this outcome, the conference approach must be informed by the basic principles that underpin the UN climate change negotiations," said Zuma. He said these principles should include multilateralism, environmental integrity, fairness and the honouring of all international commitments and undertakings made in the climate change process.

At least 12 people were killed in clashes between security forces and crowds protesting against Egypt's ruling military council in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. With just a week before voting in the first free Parliamentary election in decades, the confrontations in the capital Cairo and other cities raised worries about how smooth voting will be. Egyptians elect a new Parliament in a vote that starts on November 28, but even when the assembly is picked, presidential powers remain with the army until a presidential poll, which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013. Protesters want a much swifter transition.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj has shrugged off allegations of unlawful conduct that he and his wife Zarina received millions of rands from French arms company Thales. Maharaj said the Sunday Times, despite publishing an extensive report over two pages, had not found the space to publish his three-sentence emailed response to the paper in full. Instead, it had selected parts of his response for publication, and this had consciously limited the public's awareness of what he had said.

Also making headlines:

Libya stood firm over the trial of Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, saying its courts could judge him fairly, defying the International Criminal Court, which says it is its right to try him at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Thousands of Moroccans protested in cities across the country calling for a boycott of a Parliamentary election later this week which they say will not be truly democratic.

And, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been accused of changing the youth wing's constitution to discredit the findings of a disciplinary hearing.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.