1 General Motors sets super-charged growth plan
(Khaleej Times) General Motors has outlined an ambitious plan for returning its
Europe division to profitability, boosting profit margins in North America and
growing sales in China, the world’s largest auto market. GM, in an investors
and analysts conference, pledged to drive its European unit into the green in
2016 and to increase profit margins in its core North American market to 10 per
cent in 2016, from 7.8 per cent in 2013.
The goal is to make GM “the most valued automotive
company,” chief executive Mary Barra told investors and analysts. Barra also
spoke of “a culture to win” defined by “candor and accountability at all
levels.” Barra largely steered clear of the ignition-switch scandal that caused
at least 23 fatalities, according to the latest estimate of independent
compensation fund chief Kenneth Feinberg.
GM Europe suffered an operating loss of $844 million
in 2013, the only region to record a loss in pre-tax profits. China remains at
the centre of GM’s growth plan, with the automaker targeting sales of 30.7
million in 2018, up from 24.3 million in 2014. The country represented more
than one-third of GM’s auto sales in 2013. China has accounted for 72 per cent
of all auto industry growth over the last 15 years and GM sees the country as a
“market that is rapidly maturing,” said GM president Dan Amman.
http://khaleejtimes.com/auto/inside.asp?section=auto&xfile=/data/auto/2014/October/auto_October2.xml
2 China as HK’s future – not enemy (Martin Jacques
in The Guardian) The upheaval sweeping Hong Kong is more complicated than on
the surface it might appear. It should be remembered that for 155 years until
its handover to China in 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony, forcibly taken
from China at the end of the first opium war. All its 28 subsequent governors
were appointed by the British government.
Although Hong Kong came, over time, to enjoy the
rule of law and the right to protest, under the British it never enjoyed even a
semblance of democracy. It was ruled from 6,000 miles away in London. The idea
of any kind of democracy was first introduced by the Chinese government. In
1990 the latter adopted the Basic Law, which included the commitment that in
2017 the territory’s chief executive would be elected by universal suffrage; it
also spelt out that the nomination of candidates would be a matter for a
nominating committee.
Hong Kong – and its relationship with China – has been
changing rapidly. Herein lies a fundamental reason for the present unrest: the
growing sense of dislocation among a section of Hong Kong’s population. During
the 20 years or so prior to the handover, the territory enjoyed its golden era
– not because of the British but because of the Chinese. In 1978 Deng Xiaoping
embarked on his reform programme, and China began to grow rapidly.
Much has changed since 1997. The Chinese economy has
grown many times, the standard of living of the Chinese likewise. If you want
to access the Chinese market nowadays, why move to Hong Kong when you can go
straight to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and a host of other major
cities? Hong Kong has lost its role as the gateway to China. If China needed
Hong Kong in an earlier period, this is no longer nearly as true as it was. On
the contrary, without China, Hong Kong would be in deep trouble.
Understandably, many Hong Kong Chinese are
struggling to come to terms with these new realities. They are experiencing a
crisis of identity and a sense of displacement. They know their future is
inextricably bound up with China but that is very different from embracing the
fact. Yet there is no alternative: China is the future of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is divided. About half the population
support China’s proposals on universal suffrage, either because they think they
are a step forward or because they take the pragmatic view that they will
happen anyway. The other half is opposed. The Chinese have persisted with what
can best be described as a hands-off approach. Strange as it may seem, the
Chinese are not involved in the cut and thrust of political argument. They will
need to find more effective ways of making their views clear and arguing their
case – not in Beijing but in Hong Kong.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/china-hong-kong-future-protesters-cry-democracy
3 Sexting ‘epidemic’ among South Africa school children
(Graeme Hosken in Johannesburg Times) Hundreds of children, some as young as
nine, are sexting pictures of themselves in the nude in an "epidemic"
that involves some of the most prominent schools in South Africa. The sexting
scourge came to the fore when photographs of 20 Pretoria high school boys went
viral this week after being posted on Twitter through a fake account.
But it is not the first or the worst case. Cyber
forensic specialists revealed yesterday that they had recently dealt with a
case in which more than 200 Johannesburg Grade 11 pupils were sending or
receiving images of themselves and classmates naked. "It's nothing but
child abuse," said expert Danny Myburgh. "The pictures being taken,
sent and received are disturbing, increasingly violent and incredibly
explicit."
Emma Sadlier, a social media lawyer, said: "It
is clear our children are being failed. They are given powerful tools
[cellphones] yet no one gives them the knowledge to stay safe. It's
terrifying." Myburgh said the speed at which technology was reaching people
was driving cyber crimes "Radio reached 50million people in 38 years, TV
in 13, the internet in four, Facebook in three. Cellphone apps take just 50
days to reach 50million people." he said.
Netsmartz.org, an educational programme of the
National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children designed to teach children
how to be safer, reveals that: 93% of teenagers go online; 75% have cellphones;
4% of cellphone-owning teens say they have sent nude/semi-nude pictures and 15%
say they have received sexually suggestive images of someone they know.
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