Tuesday November 22, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

Various human rights groups and media houses will be protesting the controversial Protection of State Information Bill when it appears before the National Assembly for a vote today. National Press Club (NPC) chairperson, Yusuf Abramjee, says the day will mark the start of a dark day for freedom of speech, freedom of expression and media freedom. He says they have received thousands of messages of support from across SA and it's time to get a loud and clear message to government that the media will not sit back and watch their Constitutional rights being infringed. The NPC asks people opposed to the Bill to wear black clothes, a black ribbon or a black armband.

Rights group Amnesty International accused Egypt's rulers of brutality, sometimes exceeding that of former president Hosni Mubarak, saying the hopes of protesters had been "crushed". The group says Egypt's Supreme Council of Armed Forces - which assumed control after an 18-day uprising toppled Mubarak in February - has made only empty promises to improve human rights. Recent crackdowns on dissent, including demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square over the past few days, has led to many deaths and injuries.

More people than ever recorded are living with the Aids virus but this is largely due to better access to drugs that keep HIV patients alive and well for many years, says the UN AIDS programme (UNAIDS). In its annual report on the pandemic, it states that the number of people dying of the disease fell to 1.8-million in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2-million in the mid-2000s. UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe says the past 12 months had been a "game-changing year" in the global AIDS fight. Much of the success has come in the past two years as the numbers of people getting treatment has rapidly increased.

Also making headlines:
Libya's prime minister-designate says that he is ready to name a government to steer the country to its first fully democratic election.

Al Shabaab militants have begun pulling out of at least two rebel enclaves in central Somalia after neighbouring Ethiopia sent hundreds of troops across the border.

And, more than a million people in Zimbabwe will require food aid between now and March 2012, says a UN agency, despite recent improvements in the country's grain production.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.