Tuesday October 11, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

South Africa ranked fifth overall in the 2011 Ibrahim Index of governance quality in Africa, but fared poorly in the area of personal safety, the latest index shows. South Africa's national security scored a high of 95 points out of 100 on the index released yesterday, but only 25 points out of 100 for personal safety. The scores show that South Africa's score for personal safety is lower than Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Rwanda and Swaziland.
The study, which uses 86 indicators to measure the effective delivery of public goods and services to African citizens, gave South Africa 71 points out of 100 for governance quality.

Food prices are likely to become more volatile in coming years, increasing the risk that more poor people in import-dependent countries will go hungry, says the UN annual report on food insecurity, published yesterday. The global food price indices hit record highs in February and were a factor in the Arab Spring of unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. Prices have since eased but the UN report states that economic uncertainty, low cereal reserves, closer links between energy and agriculture markets and rising risks of weather shocks are likely to cause more dramatic price swings in future.

South Africa will take an “African” position at the global climate change meeting in Durban later this year, says Environmental Affairs chief negotiator Alf Wills, while acknowledging that the continent is not united on some environmental issues. South Africa, which is the president of the seventeenth Conference the Parties (COP 17), has key trade partners within the Brics countries being Brazil, Russia, Inidia, China and South Africa and the Ibsa grouping of countries, including India, Brazil and South Africa, as well as strong relations with the US, particularly through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But Wills says the country’s position on climate change is aligned with the African position, pointing out that Brics is not a negotiating bloc.

Also making headlines:
African peacekeepers and Somali government forces flushed Islamist rebels out of one of the few pockets of the capital Mogadishu still under militant control, says a peacekeeping force spokesperson.
Wal-Mart and Massmart should increase their planned fund to support South African suppliers from R100-million to at least R500-million, says the country's largest service industry union.
And, the US called for restraint in Egypt after 25 people, most of them Christian demonstrators, were killed in the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak was toppled as president in February.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.