Thursday, June 24, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday that the world has been suffering from an economic imbalance for years, and that South Africa will be pushing for a cure at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Canada this weekend.
Speaking at a briefing in Pretoria ahead of the G20 summit, Gordhan said that much of the world's foreign direct investment takes place in a very narrow zone, and that the potential of certain continents, such as the African continent which hosts more than one-billion people, has largely been ignored. He added that South Africa supports World Bank chief economist Justin Yifu Lin's view of creating a platform for multipolar growth where investment, job creation, poverty eradication and development must take place across the globe.
Gordhan noted that South Africa needs to do things differently to promote sustainable growth into the future. "It is important for South Africa to identify other nontraditional markets in which we can become more competitive, have more markets that we can reach out to and increase and create job opportunities in the country," he said.

African nations, led by Somalia, Mauritania and Sudan, have the most precarious water supplies in the world, while Iceland has the best, according to a survey that aims to alert companies to investment risks.
Compiled by British-based risk consultancy Maplecroft, the survey said that climate change and a rising world population means that stresses on supplies will be of increasing concern in the coming decades for uses from farming to industry. A "water security risk index" of 165 nations found that African and Asian nations had the most vulnerable supplies, judged by factors including access to drinking water, per capita demand and dependence on rivers that first flow through other nations. At the other end of the scale, rain-soaked Iceland has the most secure supplies, slightly better than Norway and New Zealand.
The study's author Anna Moss says that climate change will lead to greater strain on limited water resources in many nations. Water stress is not only a problem in poor countries, as even the US and Australia have regions that are at risk.

South Africa's so far successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has increased prospects that the continent's richest country may be in line to host the Olympic Games when bidding opens for the 2020 Games.
However, the biggest hurdle may not come from winning approval abroad. It may come from convincing people at home recovering from a post-World Cup hangover to spend lavishly again on another global sports event when the country is battling massive unemployment and poverty. Economic consulting firm NKC political analyst Gary van Staden says that the 2010 FIFA World Cup has brought a "short-term public relations boost for the South African government but after it is over, reality bites."
President Jacob Zuma said earlier this week that South Africa is up to the task, while South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee CEO Tubby Reddy says that momentum has been gathering for bringing the Games to African soil for the first time. The "world has taken notice that we can put on a world-class event," he said.

Also making headlines:

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that the world's $88-billion cocaine market is shifting towards Europe and severely destabilising West African transit countries.

South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says that affirmative action laws do not apply to foreigners working in the country.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme says that five developing countries will get grants totalling $224-million from a new fund set up to reduce global hunger and poverty.

And, Zimbabwe's Minister of Mines and Mining Development Obert Moses Mpofu says that the country will start selling Marange diamond stockpiles immediately, whether the Kimberley Process gives the go-ahead or not.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.