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Tuesday, October 7, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is set to elect the African National Congress chairman in the province, Paul Mashatile, as its new premier on Tuesday.

He will succeed Mbhazima Shilowa, who resigned last week out of protest against the decision to oust former president Thabo Mbeki.

The ANC announced on Friday that Mashatile had been recommended for the job. Mashatile is also the Gauteng MEC for finance and economic affairs,

The provincial legislature will convene a special sitting on Tuesday morning to officially elect him.

The World Bank's chief economist for Africa said on Monday that the financial crisis in developed economies threatens to slash capital investment flows that have driven Africa's economic growth in the last half-decade.

Shanta Devarajan said that Africa's financial sector is generally not exposed to the same leveraged credit derivative products that have driven several US and European banks to bankruptcy in recent weeks.

He said that now there's a risk that if there's a difficult financial crisis in the US and Europe and risk aversion rises, it's possible these capital flows which have fuelled growth in Africa will fall. It will be a very serious problem for the continent.

Diamond miner Petra Diamonds revealed on Tuesday that a 39,19-carat special blue diamond had been found at its Cullinan mine in South Africa.

The historic mine, which yielded the British crown jewels, was recently acquired from diamond giant De Beers.

The rare stone would be included in the company's upcoming tender in Johannesburg.

Also making headlines:

The World Bank says a new steering group must empower rising economies
Energy efficient building standards begin to emerge
Scientists flock to save the flamingos on a soda-ash prospect
Platinum miner closes a $7,4-m private placement
Waratah Coal urges no action on an 'opportunistic' bid
And, the Implats/Mvela deal worries Angloplat over its BEE status

In political news:

South Africa says there is no need for panic over a killer illness
A survey shows that governance is improving in most of Africa
A UN food agency says the world needs to rethink biofuels
And, the MDC says that the Zimbabwe talks are deadlocked and that mediation is needed.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit engineeringnews.co.za, miningweekly.com and polity.org.za