1 Economic troubles will be top risks of next decade (The New York Times) Severe income disparity and chronic fiscal imbalances are the top two risks facing business leaders and policy makers this year and over the next decade, the World Economic Forum said in a report. If these problems are not addressed, a result could be a “dystopian future for much of humanity,” according to the report. Signs of discontent with growing income gaps and economic problems stemming from the global debt crisis were already on the rise in 2011, as evidenced by the Occupy movement that began on Wall Street and quickly spread to other cities in the United States and around the world. Yet that might be only the beginning.
2 The danger in giving money to street kids (BBC) Travellers visiting poor and developing countries can get overwhelmed by poverty – specifically, by children on the street who are begging for money. But there are ethical implications in handing over a few coins to a child in need. Experts and experienced travellers often refrain from such acts of kindness because ultimately, they may do more harm than good. The general rule of Ryan Whitney, an international development specialist living in San Francisco, when travelling is to not give money to children on the street because often, particularly in India, the kids are being exploited by an adult – not necessarily their parent – who keeps the money. It’s “almost like slavery”, he said. “You don’t ever really know where this money goes.” ChildSafe International, a project that aims to protect children from abuse, cites evidence that street kids are vulnerable to exploitation, including by the sex tourism trade.
3 Orange juice price hits record (BBC) The price of orange juice on the global markets has hit a record high. Traders say the main reasons are safety concerns about juice from Brazil, the world's largest producer of orange juice, and cold weather in Florida. The US Food and Drug Administration said carbendazim, a fungicide, has been found in shipments from Brazil. Orange juice has risen by about 25% since the beginning of the year, to $2.12 a pound. In 2010-11, Brazil produced more than half of the world's orange juice, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture. The US is the second-largest producer of orange juice, with production mainly concentrated in Florida.
4 Is it time for rhino owners to poison horns in an effort to kill end users? (That’s a Johannesburg Times online poll, following the killing of eight rhinos at the Kruger National Park. Early results showed more than 90% in favour of the poison idea to save the rhinos.) Eight rhino carcasses have been found in the Kruger National Park, SA on Tuesday. Park spokesman Reynold Thakhuli said all the carcasses were of adults which had been shot and de-horned. Last year, about 443 rhinos were killed for their horns, with 333 killed in 2010.
5 A mother’s final moments. Stampede at University of Johannesburg kills a woman as crowds throng to enrol for medical course (Daily Herald) All Kgositsile Sekwena dreamed of was enrolling for a medical course at the University of Johannesburg. Instead, he watched helplessly as his mother died in his arms after being crushed in a stampede. Gloria Sekwena, 47, had, like thousands of parents and young school-leavers, queued outside UJ’s entrance for several hours in the hope of submitting late applications. But Sekwena – a professional nurse who had travelled on December 29 from London where she and her husband have worked for several years – would never see her elder son realise his dreams. Described as “avoidable”, Sekwena’s death sent shock-waves through the country and resulted in the university’s vice-chancellor, Ihron Rensburg, allowing about 6,000 more would-be students to submit their late applications. At the same time, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande scrambled for answers on how to deal with more than 180,000 first-year students this year.
(The Sowetan adds:) Gloria Sekwena's handbag containing her identity document, her passport, house keys, car keys and wallet had been snatched while she was lying unconscious on the ground at the UJ campus. Apart from having to deal with the grief of losing their loved one, the family of Gloria Sekwena faced a daunting task of trying to obtain official documents to start with her funeral arrangements.
6 Nigeria’s fracture lines (Khaleej Times) Tensions are running high in Nigeria’s streets, days after the removal of gasoline subsidies at the start of the year and two weeks after horrific Christmas Day bombings of several churches around the country by radicals. Yet the government of President Goodluck Jonathan is steering through these hazards, giving Nigeria a chance to cast off the instability, poverty and corruption that have long plagued this country.
At 155 million people and rising, Nigeria is the world’s eighth-most-populous country and one of the hardest to govern. The country is deeply splintered, with more than 250 ethnic groups, 500 languages, a stark and sometimes violent Muslim-Christian divide, and a population now evenly divided between urban and rural areas. If these fracture lines were not enough, corruption is rampant, income inequality is sky-high, poverty and disease are pervasive, and the youth population is bulging, with half of all Nigerians under the age of 20.
7 What’s unique about the US? (Khaleej Times) If an American colossus like IBM can be turned around, can America itself? Are the “declinists” on the US, focused on hard power and America’s falling share of global output, missing something? The conspicuous failure of American hard power — in Iraq and Afghanistan — has tended to obscure the way American soft power has flourished over the past decade. For a while soft power was undercut because the US reputation was tarnished, but the Arab awakening has demonstrated how powerful American-driven social media are in opening up closed societies. At Harvard, Joseph Nye, the professor and former dean of the Kennedy School of Government, made an interesting point. He noted that a rising China has 1.3 billion citizens. But America at its best has seven billion in that it draws on the world’s talents, as its corporations and colleges demonstrate. I agree. That’s not because another American century is dawning — it’s not; nor because the power shift to Asia is illusory; nor because US problems of paralysed government, high deficits and inadequate schools are negligible. No, it’s because the defeat of American hard power has been overdrawn and the magnetism of American soft power underestimated.
8 Dangerous male fad: Manorexia (Sydney Morning Herald) Bodybuilding is all about sacrifice and size, but where do you draw the line in a world where body image is becoming ever more important? This is the tragic reality for an increasing number of young, vulnerable men whose response to societal pressure is to develop a dangerous condition called muscle dysmorphia – which drives them to bulk up to breaking point. Sometimes called "Manorexia", the condition is an "extreme form of wanting to be really, really big", said Stuart Murray, a psychologist who recently completed a PHD on muscle dysmorphia and male body image. Dr Murray said the rates of body dissatisfaction among men had tripled in the past 30 years.
But as young men clamour to follow their bodybuilding heroes to potential stardom, not all are able to maintain a healthy life balance. Amateur bodybuilder-turned-internet-sensation, Azyz 'Zyzz' Sergeyevich Shavershian was a case in point. He transformed himself from "skinny kid" into amateur bodybuilder and attracted a massive Facebook following, but died of an undiagnosed heart condition in Thailand in August last year. Dr Murray attributes the rise of Manorexia to the increasing number of men whose self-esteem is directly linked to their body.
9 When in doubt, spout! (Nadeem F Paracha in The Dawn) Every time he used to see a religious inscription painted or plastered across the back of a vehicle, a friend of mine used to say that the owner of the vehicle had doubts about his faith. “Alhamdulillah, I am a Muslim and a Pakistani.” How often does one come across statements such as this? But what does such a declaration really mean in a country where more than 95% of the population is Muslim – and, of course, Pakistani? Why do we keep hearing it over and over again? Do most Pakistanis have doubts about their religious and patriotic inclinations? Whom are they talking to? The reasons are rather simple. Ours is a country where there is no one cohesive understanding of faith or culture.
Though there is nothing wrong in being a diverse society (in fact the diversity should be celebrated), the problem starts when the state and certain intellectual and religious circles begin to shape and enforce a single concept of “correct religion” and “true patriotism.” When this supposedly correct version of religious belief and nationalism is given constant currency and propagation, an overriding social psyche starts to develop in which anyone criticising or even debating this version automatically becomes suspect and is likely to be accused of being “anti-Islam” and (thus) “anti-Pakistan.” Think about it. And by the way, I too must declare: I am a Muslim and a Pakistani. Just in case.
10 Germany may be on the brink (Bloomberg Businessweek) Germany may be on the brink of recession after the sovereign debt crisis caused the economy to contract in the final quarter of 2011. Europe’s largest economy shrank “roughly” 0.25% in the fourth quarter from the third, the Federal Statistics Office said in an unofficial estimate. Economists such as Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank expect gross domestic product to contract again in the current quarter. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.
Growth slowed to 3% in 2011 from 3.7% in 2010, which was the most since German reunification two decades earlier, the statistics office said. The economy last contracted in 2009, when it was in the throes of the global financial crisis. Unemployment at a two-decade low may bolster growth this year by supporting consumer spending.
11 Five businessmen who will watch Uttar Pradesh results closely. (The Economic Times) Manoj Gaur of Jaypee Group (Expressways, F-1 race track and thermal power project in UP), Anil Ambani (Dadri power project, two road projects in UP), Subrata Roy of Sahara Group (11 townships in UP), Ponty Chadha of Wave Group (manages entire wholesale end of Rs 60bn liquor trade in UP, 5 sugar mills, integrated township) and Kushagra Bajaj of Bajaj Hindusthan (presence in sugar, power sectors in UP).
12 Indian bureaucrats worst in Asia (The Times of India and The Deepika) Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10, according to a report by a prestigious consulting firm based in Hong Kong. India fared worse than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11), said the report by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25), Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89). The report said India's inefficient bureaucracy was largely responsible for most of the biggest complaints that business executive have about the country.
"This gives them (bureaucrats) terrific powers and could be one of the main reasons why average Indians as well as existing and would-be foreign investors perceive India's bureaucrats as negatively as they do," said the report. But there were plus points when India was compared to countries within the economic development group. In the 2011-12 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, India ranked behind China but ahead of Russia and Brazil for the burden of government regulations as well as for the burden of customs procedures.
13 A 30-storey building in 15 days (The Times of India) The Chinese tycoon behind a 30-storey energy-saving building that went up in just 15 days said he intends to duplicate the model across the vast and heavily polluted nation. The prefabricated building, the five-star T30 Hotel at Dongting lake, Hunan province, that opens on January 18, became an internet sensation after time-lapse video posted online showed it being constructed by 200 builders in just 360 hours .
Zhang Yue, the billionaire chief executive of the Broad Group air conditioning company, said the speed with which his buildings go up reduces waste of materials and energy. He said the buildings, which feature quadrupleglazed windows and only use energy-saving lighting, would become his biggest business in 2013. "In 2013 we will build 20 buildings a month and by 2014, we'll be up to 50 buildings a month. And that's just from one factory," he said.
14 Is the Indian prime minister a teapot? (Business Line) Imagine: Mummy as Congress President and Sonny as Prime Minister. The world will snigger quietly. But the Congress — should it be so fortunate as to form the next government — will say it has solved the one-horse, two-riders problem. Bad people will wonder who the PM really is, just as they used to do about North Korea when Kim squared ran the country. For the record, it should be mentioned that just as Mummy has asked Rahul to earn his spurs in UP, Daddy (Kim Il Sung) asked Sonny (Kim Jong Il) to earn his spurs with the North Korean nuclear programme. That Great Leader took his time and after two-and-a-half decades, Kim Jr managed a bang in 2009. How long will ours take?
Jokes aside, the Prime Minister is an office of the Constitution, not a teapot to be passed on as a family heirloom. Indeed, the whole idea of the Westminster Model was to get away from monarchical practices. Yet, here, we are staring at the possibility of a Queen Mother and a King in just a few months' time. And it is only in the Congress — and that too at the level of the Prime Minister — that this inheritance thing works. No other party has managed to make a go of it, though the DMK (in Tamil Nadu) has been trying very hard, without much success. So, here's a suggestion for Team Anna and TV anchors: Let them ask every Congress MP under the age of 50 the following question: “In what way do you think you are worse than Rahul Gandhi?.” Not only will India's real scab (or scam) be scratched open, TRPs will also shoot up.
15 India’s investment pipeline is getting weaker (Financial Express) With Rs 1.39trn worth of projects on hand in December last year, it is obvious India has enough of a project pipeline to sustain a high level of investment for the near-to-medium term. But what is alarming, as CMIE’s latest CapEx data shows, there has been a 41% fall in the value of new investments announced in the December quarter, which means the pipeline is getting weaker. The value of new investments per quarter rose from Rs 667bn in FY94-FY04 to Rs 1.63trn in FY05-FY06 and Rs 5.14trn in FY07-FY09. It then started falling, to Rs 4.16trn in FY10 and Rs 4.09trn in FY11—for the June quarter in FY12, it fell to Rs 3.10trn, to Rs 2.27trn in September and finally to Rs 1.88trn in December.
Not surprisingly, the largest proportion of stalled projects are in the electricity sector, a combination of the problems various ultra-mega power plants as well as others are facing when it comes to coal and gas supplies as well as the sharp deterioration in the finances of the sector — annual power sector losses rose from Rs 270bn in 2006-07 to Rs 635bn in 2009-10 and the outstandings of state electricity boards rose to Rs 3.1trn in 2009-10.
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