1 Guardian on South Africa resisting the march of Walmart. On the face of it, Walmart’s decision to take South Africa by storm via the acquisition of a controlling stake in Massmart, a leading supermarket chain, looked like a canny deal. In one fell swoop, it gave America's biggest grocer, and one of the largest companies in the world, a beachhead into the expanding markets of Africa. But Walmart, which owns Asda in Britain, faces increasing opposition from a coalition of local unions, politicians and anti-capitalist campaigners. Walmart's acquisition of 51% of the Johannesburg-based company for about 17bn rand (£1.6bn) is viewed as a test of South Africa’s willingness to allow unimpeded foreign investment. And all this as the ruling African National Congress is being pressed by its radicalised youth wing to adopt a more protectionist stance. Unions fear that as many as 4,000 jobs could be lost from industries such as general merchandise – including clothing and footwear – and in food and beverage production if Massmart were to shift just 1% of its procurement from local to imported sources. (I have read earlier about other nations fearing ‘Walmartisation’.)
2 BBC on first ever fall in global TB numbers The number of people falling ill with tuberculosis has declined for the first time, according to the World Health Organization. New figures show the global death toll has also fallen, to its lowest level in a decade, with major headway made in China, Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania. But the WHO warns that a lack of funds threatens progress, especially in relation to multi-drug resistant TB. The number of people who died from tuberculosis peaked at 1.8 million people in 2003; by 2010 this had declined to 1.4 million. Spectacular progress was made in China, said the WHO, where the death rate fell by almost 80% between 1990 and 2010.
3 Johannesburg Times on a Facebook rapist. A man believed to be the "Facebook rapist" is expected to appear in Durban Magistrate's Court. The man -- best known as "Thomas Bester", one of his numerous aliases --was arrested last week. He allegedly sent women e-mails saying international modelling scouts were interested in them. He also allegedly targeted women by meeting them in person, then befriending them on Facebook. He is suspected of having committed a string of crimes in Cape Town, Durban and Gauteng, including the murder of a model in Milnerton last month.
4 Johannesburg Times story, ‘Crook in line for top cricket job’. A convicted fraudster is about to become president of Eastern Province Cricket Board, and Cricket South Africa says it has no objections. Rajan Moodaley, who was found guilty of fraud in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court seven years ago, was last week the only nomination for president of the Eastern Province Cricket Board. If his nomination is approved and he is elected he will automatically become a member of the board of Cricket SA. Asked how a convicted fraudster could be nominated for the presidency of Eastern Province cricket, an official said: "Approving nominations is based solely on the cricket knowledge and contribution made by the nominees - nothing else. (Quite befitting cricket’s modern era.)
5 Khaleej Times story, Ten more years in Afghanistan? The First World War lasted four years, the Second World War six years, the Vietnam war eight years, the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan nine years and thus far the American war in Afghanistan ten years. Last Friday General Stanley McChrystal, who commanded US troops in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010 said that the US and its NATO allies were “a little better than half way to achieving their military goals”. He went on to make the most searing self-criticism ever heard from a top military officer engaged in Afghanistan: “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough. Most of us- me included- had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” The first law of holes is that when one is in a hole, stop digging. Another 10 years, the implication of General McChrystal’s remark, is 10 years impossibly long.
6 Straits Times on New York protestors marching on billionaires’ homes. Several hundred people marched up Manhattan to take the Occupy Wall Street protest literally to the doorsteps of some of the richest tycoons in the United States. The demonstrators took a route through the Upper East Side past the homes of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and conservative industrialist David Koch. 'JPMorgan, you're no good! People need a Robin Hood!' some chanted outside the luxury apartment block that is home to JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon. Hedge fund managers and real estate developers were among the other billionaires along the route.
7 Dawn on the burden of bans. As September gasped its last, something unprecedented happened in the French town of Meaux, about 25km from the heart of Paris. In this town, whose previous claim to renown had been its cheese and a special variety of mustard, the first fine was imposed on two women who had been found wearing the niqab, or the full-face veil, in public. The women were ordered by the municipal court judge to pay fines of 120 euros and 80 euros respectively. They vowed to appeal against the court’s ruling in the European Court of Human Rights. France was thus inducted into the dubious fellowship of the afraid, which include — amongst others — the Saudi state that sends men with sticks after ‘inadequately’ covered women and the Chinese state that imprisons bloggers that try to tweet against the government. Like the majority of the French, who would emphatically endorse the municipal court’s actions, most Chinese and Saudis apparently see no problem with their bans — after all, order and stability must be protected and who better to do the deed than the state under the imprimatur of law.
Bans catalogue a nation’s worst fears, enumerating acts which many believe would — if left unchecked — instigate a devastating loss of identity. It is a proximity to existential terror that creates justifications for the existence of bans —for the French, cafes spilling over with veiled apparitions; for the Saudis, a cavalcade of untamed tresses streaming out from convertibles; for the Chinese, virtual revelations of the peasants felled to make way for skyscrapers.
8 Sydney Morning Herald on the underpants bomber. One of the most significant al-Qaeda plots in years collapsed to the cry "hey dude your pants are on fire" as explosives in the underwear of a Nigerian man failed to detonate aboard a packed US-bound airliner. The humiliation was far from over for the allegedly failed suicide bomber aboard the Northwestern flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, a court heard in the first day of his high-profile trial. His trousers were around his ankles when four passengers pulled him from his seat, exposing his badly burned genitals and what remained of his underwear. He faces life in prison if convicted of eight terrorism related charges, including attempted murder of the 289 other people on board.
9 Wall Street Journal story, ‘Count even less on China now’. China is headed for a much bumpier landing than the global economy would like. For months now, the hope has been that lower Chinese inflation would provide the scope for lower interest rates and a way for Beijing to escape a nasty pop in the country’s property bubble. But, as the bubble starts to burst and the economy starts to shake, high food prices and the need to preserve social stability could well prevent the People’s Bank of China from easing policy and securing a soft landing. A measure of just how large a threat the property sector now poses to the economy as well as to the country’s banking system came with the news that China’s sovereign wealth fund has been instructed to buy the shares of major Chinese lenders.
10 The Hindu’s page 1 photo of Sushma Swaraj, LK Advani and Nitish Kumar, and its caption, ‘An Anna for their thoughts’.
11 Times of India and Financial Chronicle for their stories on how how interest rate hikes will increase home loan burdens by Rs 6,000 crore.
12 Mint writing on Bellary’s truck owners not answering calls any more. The mining ban in Bellary has dried up incomes of commercial vehicle owners, who now struggle to pay loan instalments. There are about 10,000 trucks in the district.
13 Mint’s Small Picture caricature, on India’s new poverty line.
14 International Herald Tribune on the vanishing businessmen in China’s Wenzhou city. Over the past few months scores of them have disappeared because of mounting debts. Some have gone into hiding; others have fled overseas. In recent weeks three have jumped off high rise buildings in suicide attempts. There reason is that Wenzhou entrepreneurs are facing bankruptcy, struggling to cope with inflation, rising prices for raw materials and a government credit crunch that has made it increasingly difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to borrow money.
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