Wednesday November 23, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Tracy Hancock

Making headlines:

South Africans have the right to bring the Protection of State Information Bill before the Constitutional Court if they feel it is impinging on their rights, former Constitutional Court judge Kate O'Regan said. O'Regan was speaking at the annual Helen Suzman memorial lecture in Johannesburg. She said the Constitutional Court was unique in that it provided a system whereby it could check the constitutional validity of legislation, while still being held accountable.
Currently all policy must comply with three constitutional restraints: compliance with legality, rationality and the Bill of Rights.

The European Union (EU) is short of warships for its counter-piracy mission off Somalia and is unlikely to fill the gap until March given economic constraints, the top EU military officer said on Tuesday. Swedish General Hakan Syren, chairman of the EU Military Committee, said the shortage would be a "problem", without going into further details. An EU military official later played down the challenge, saying the shortfall would coincide with a period when pirate attacks normally declined and the bloc would be able to sustain the mission.

Egypt's army chief, seeking to defuse street protests that have left 37 dead, promised a swifter handover to civilian rule but failed to convince thousands of hardcore demonstrators, some of whom battled police through the night. One man was killed in clashes early today in Egypt's second largest city Alexandria, one of several towns that saw unrest. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who has run the ruling military council since mass protests unseated his long-time ally Hosni Mubarak in February, made a faltering televised address yesterday in which he promised a civilian president would be elected in June, about six months sooner than planned.

Also making headlines:
Sudan's army said it captured a rebel-held town and seized tanks and other military equipment in the Blue Nile state yesterday, another setback for insurgents in the volatile border region.
And, Tunisia's Constitutional Assembly, elected after a revolution that inspired the "Arab Spring" uprisings, held its opening session, described by officials as an historic step towards democracy.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.