For those who missed finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s government budget speech this afternoon, here is a recap of the 2012 budget plan highlights:

(more…)

Singer Adele had TV executives running for cover on Wednesday over a middle finger gesture after her moment in the sun at British pop’s biggest awards was cut short for programming reasons.

The 23-year-old was midway through a brief acceptance speech at the packed O2 Arena in her native London when presenter James Corden stepped in to cut her short, prompting the “one finger salute”.

Speaking backstage after the two-hour show, Adele said she was upset by the interruption.

“I flipped the finger but it wasn’t to my fans,” she told the Sun. “I’m sorry if I offended anyone, it was the suits that offended me.”

Source: Reuters

An American and a French journalist were reportedly killed in an apparent mortar strike in Homs, Syria, on Wednesday morning, Syrian anti-government activists and a French government spokeswoman said.

The French officials said one of the slain journalists was American Marie Colvin, a legendary foreign correspondent from Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper who has also reported for CNN, the BBC and other media outlets. The other was Remi Ochlik, an award-winning photographer from France.

Read more here (via The Washington Post)

All eyes are on finance minister Pravin Gordhan today as he prepares to roll out the government budget plan for 2012.

According to Fin24, Gordhan is expected to unveil a widening of the 2012 deficit, while the final budget is rumoured to exceed a trillion rand due in part to a new infrastructure roll-out.
(more…)

Fears of Syrian humanitarian crisis grow, SA Finance Minister to present 2012 budget, and top Australian minister resigns. Here are the morning headlines you need to know:

(more…)

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe turned 88 today, vowing to stay in power despite talk within his party that he should hand over to someone younger. Watch The Telegraph’s interview with the controversial African leader here:

Read more here (via The Telegraph)

To read more latest news and interviews from the past week, pick up a copy of NewsNow magazine issue 23 – now on sale!

“If we remove the land question from the centre of the ANC’s agenda, we will be betraying what was the immediate challenge after the formation of the African National Congress. The dialogue must continue. It is happening and is catching fire every day.”

- ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on dropping the land reform question from the government’s agenda.

Greece secured its second major save on Tuesday as European finance leaders sealed a €130-billion bailout agreement to prevent a radical 14.5-billion bond default in March, Reuters reported.

(more…)

Eurozone leaders seal Greek bailout deal, the Red Cross negotiates aid ceasefire in Syria, and Gauteng premier unveils plans for the the province. Here are the morning headlines you need to know:

(more…)

A survey has revealed that the people of Libya may not be keen on democracy after all.

The “Arab Spring” has been celebrated in the Western world as a struggle of democracy against dictatorship. Often the implicit assumption was that what the revolutionaries who were trying to overthrow their authoritarian regimes wanted was a Western-style parliamentary democracy.

So when only 15 per cent of those surveyed in Libya say they want democracy established in a year, compared with 40 per cent who profess a preference for a “strong leader”, it’s a bit of a let-down for Western cheerleaders of the upheavals in the Arab world. Moreover, apparently only about a third of those polled wanted democracy even in five years’ time.

Read more here (via Al Jazeera)

Inception Park is pure fun, with theme park rides zipping between historic buildings in Buenos Aires, thanks to clever special effects. The video was directed by Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films.

(Source: theatlantic)

Do you want your NewsNow delivered to you a day earlier, at half the price, at the click of a button?

NewsNow announced this week that all subscribers to the print edition will get the digital edition of NewsNow delivered to them free every week, no matter where in the world they are. This means all new and existing print subscribers will receive the digital edition free every week in addition to the print product.

“Many of our readers are often on the road or abroad,” NewsNow editor Waldimar Pelser said. “Our digital edition will be delivered to them Thursday morning – a full day before the print edition goes on sale.”
(more…)

“50 percent of the American people do fall in the category of either stupid or ignorant as to what’s going on in this country.”

- Former GOP presidential hopeful HERMAN CAIN, who spoke to a crowd at Collins Hill High School while campaigning on behalf of former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

Decision day for Greek bailout, calls for Pieter Mulder to resign, and Levi scores big in New Zealand. Here are the morning headlines you need to know:

(more…)

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said on Sunday he will “definitely” call elections this year to end a fragile three-year coalition with the former opposition, while describing as “cowards” politicians who say polls cannot be held until well into 2013.

In an interview to mark his 88th birthday in the state media on Sunday, Mugabe dismissed objections to early polls.

“That is what cowards say. Elections can happen at any time … Definitely, yes,” this year, he said.

Mugabe turns 88 on Tuesday. Speaking to the loyalist Sunday Mail newspaper, he said money will be found in the embattled economy to pay for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Read more here (via The Mail & Guardian)

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has called on young people to fight for the “unbanning” of the youth league, SABC news reported on Sunday.

Addressing his followers in Bushbuckridge, Malema said he would continue to support the African National Congress even if he was expelled, the broadcaster said.

The ANC’s national appeals committee suspended Malema for five years and was considering pleas for leniency for his and other youth leaders’ sentences.

Malema said the youth should not be intimidated.

Read more here (via News24)

Africa in brief: 

• Somali pirates cost the world about R56 billion in 2011, including more than R15 billion for military operations and equipment to protect ships, Oceans Beyond Piracy said. The shipping industry carries 80% of the cost, government carries the rest – AFP
• Finland will assess human rights in countries requiring aid, particularly  in sub-Saharan Africa, international development minister Heidi Hautala announced. ”Development aid has been impotent when it has failed to take humna rights into account,” she said – Helsinki Times
• Twenty-nine Chinese construction workers seized in January by Sudanese rebels were released unharmed to International Committee of Red Cross. The incident exposed the risk of China’s investments in African regions – wsj.com
• Finance minister Kenneth Matambo projected a bleak future for Botswana as diamond sales plummeted by more than 70%. The minister is not promising any improvement in the economy should diamond sales continue to fall.

For more news updates from Africa and the rest of the world, pick up a copy of NewsNow issue 23 — now on sale!

A worsening scandal over masscirculation newspapers’ reporting tactics saw journalists, a police officer, a defence ministry official and a serving soldier in the UK held on suspicion of corruption.

Journalists of The Sun were suspected of having bribed the government officials for information.

The arrests followed the closure of the News of the World newspaper and government-appointed hearings into phone-hacking by journalists employed by NewsCorp, The Wall Street Journal (a News Corp publication) reported.

The latest arrests bring to nine the number of implicated serving and former staffers at The Sun. The newspaper, Britain’s top-selling daily, is owned by Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Imagine your NewsNow was delivered every Thursday morning wherever you are in the world. At home, at the office, camping in the Drakensberg or fishing at the coast. Even abroad.

That’s what we’re giving our subscribers from this week onwards — a free digital edition of NewsNow that can be read on your laptop or PC, smartphone or tablet, including Apple’s iPad.

A full day before we hit the shelves you will be able to read your weekly news wrap on the device of your choice using Media24’s MySubs digital store.

If you’re already a subscriber or if you want to subscribe now to make use of this special offer, contact our call centre at 0860 105 000 or email newsnow.subs@media24.com.

Some of you will already be reading this issue in a digital format, including our cover story on the awards craze that grips the planet once a year (pg 6), the Big One on President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (pg 6) and how we prefer the advice of strangers when we shop online (pg 29). And don’t miss Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s interview with Proteas captain AB de Villiers (pg 19)!

Waldimar

NewsNow editor,
@Waldimar