January 24, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Megan Wait.
Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma backs South Africa at Davos.

The International Monetary Fund lowers South Africa’s 2013 growth outlook and forecasts a ‘gradual’ global upturn.

And, US as well as African leaders say military action in Mali counters the growing Islamist threat.

President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday that no one needed to be uncertain about the direction that South Africa is taking. He said the ANC's 53rd national conference had adopted the National Development Plan, which played a role in determining the country's policy direction.

Zuma, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that business, government, labour and the community sector needed to collectively tackle the three fierce enemies that are poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Zuma also said that South Africa was a country of many opportunities, and was a destination of choice for investors. He told delegates that South Africa was stable, friendly, resilient and able to solve its problems, and that its leaders are presenting a South Africa that is open for business and is open to providing entry into the African continent, which is a fast-growing region that is proving many Afro-pessimists wrong.

The International Monetary Fund (or IMF) has lowered its 2013 growth forecast for South Africa to 2.8% in its January World Economic Outlook (or WEO) Update. This comes after a projected growth of 3% in October last year.

The institution calculates that Africa’s largest economy grew by only 2.3% in 2012, as opposed to the 2.6% level it had previously expected.

In its latest WEO, the IMF made a modest 0.3% upward revision to its 2014 growth projection for South Africa, which it is now expecting to come in at 4.1%.

The IMF expects global growth to reach 3.5% in 2013, up from 3.2% in 2012, with emerging markets, developing countries and the US predicted to emerge as the main sources of growth for the year. It said that ‘global growth was projected to increase during 2013, as the factors underlying soft global activity were expected to subside’.

US and African leaders have thrown their full diplomatic weight on Wednesday behind a campaign to expel Islamist rebels from Mali. This comes as French air strikes harried the al Qaeda-allied fighters in their strongholds.

For nearly two weeks, French jets and helicopters have been hitting carefully selected targets around rebel-held Malian towns such as Gao and Timbuktu, while African troops gather for a planned ground offensive against the Islamist forces.

Voicing US backing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the internationally-backed intervention in Mali as a response to "a very serious, ongoing threat" posed by the regional affiliate of al Qaeda and its local allies.

African governments, critical in the past of what they saw as meddling by former colonial powers like France, are now embracing the French-led action as a way to avoid a broadening Islamist insurgency in Africa.

Also making headlines:

Former Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon says opposition power has decreased in South Africa.

The reasons for the withdrawal of fraud charges against former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli are revealed.

And, Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande establishes a committee to boost university transformation.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.