1 When Pakistan is awash in Chinese FDI (Cyril
Almeida in Dawn) Numbers sometimes tell a tale of their own. So, chew on these
figures a minute: $5.4 billion, $3.7bn, $2.1bn, $1.6bn, $820 million, $1.4bn,
$1.6bn and $710m. That’s the Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan for each
fiscal year from 2007-08 to the first nine months of 2014-15. Not very
impressive, is it?
Peak FDI was $5.4bn in 2007-08, the year after the
highest GDP growth rate of the Musharraf era of roughly 7pc. In the first nine
months of this fiscal year, FDI (basically, foreigners setting up or buying
businesses inside Pakistan) from every country of the world, including China,
was $710m.
Now, compare that to the figure you’re going to be
hearing a lot this week: $46bn. The Chinese are coming and President Xi is
bringing $46bn worth of surprises with him. $46bn is three times the total FDI
Pakistan has received from every country in the world put together over the
past eight years combined.
Even if a few of those already hyped billions ever
materialise, be pretty sure they will be flowing from the desperate braggart —
that would be us — to the shrewd rich guy — that would be the Chinese. Oh, and
every time you hear $46bn this week, do yourself a favour and think of $710m,
the wretched sum Pakistan has attracted from investors in every country of the
world combined over the past nine months.
2 World’ electrical waste at new high of 42m tonnes
(The Guardian) A record amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded
around the world in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that
pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said.
Last year, 41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste –
mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of
their life – was dumped, the UN report said. That’s the equivalent of 1.15m
heavy trucks, forming a line 23,000km (14,300 miles) long, according to the
report, compiled by the United Nations University, the UN’s educational and
research branch.
Less than one-sixth of all e-waste was properly
recycled, it said. In 2013, the e-waste total was 39.8m tonnes – and on present
trends, the 50-million-tonne mark could be reached in 2018. Topping the list
for per-capita waste last year was Norway, with 28.4kg per inhabitant. It was
followed by Switzerland (26.3kg), Iceland (26.1kg), Denmark (24.0kg), Britain
(23.5kg), the Netherlands (23.4kg), Sweden (22.3kg), France (22.2kg) and the US
and Austria (22.1kg).
The region with the lowest amount of e-waste per
inhabitant was Africa, with 1.7kg per person. It generated a total of 1.9m
tonnes of waste. Almost 60% of e-waste by weight came from large and small
kitchen, bathroom and laundry appliances. Seven percent was generated by
discarded mobile phones, calculators, personal computers and printers.
3 Xenophobia crisis for South Africa (San Francisco
Chronicle) South Africa's president Jacob Zuma on Saturday canceled a foreign
trip in order to deal with a wave of attacks on immigrants that have killed at
least six people. In the latest violence, mobs attacked shops owned by foreign
nationals in a poor area of Johannesburg.
There was a heavy police presence in the Alexandra
township of Johannesburg after rioters looted some shops, burned tires and
built street barricades overnight. Police fired rubber bullets in an attempt to
stop the unrest, the report said. Several shops and cars owned by immigrants
were torched in downtown Johannesburg in recent days.
Attacks on immigrants, many of them from other
African countries, in and around Durban have subsided after the deaths of six
people there, police said. Some 112 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal
province, which includes Durban, during the riots there, according to
authorities.
Some South Africans have accused immigrants of taking
jobs and opportunities away from them in a country with high unemployment. The
government has said it is addressing complaints about undocumented migrants,
while noting that many foreign nationals are living legally in South Africa and
contributing to economic development.
About 60 people died in similar unrest in South
Africa in 2008. In January this year, four people died during a week of looting
of foreign-owned shops and other violence in Soweto and other areas of
Johannesburg. Many immigrants are from neighboring Zimbabwe. Its president,
Robert Mugabe, said he was glad that the South African government had denounced
the violence. Mugabe is currently chairman of the African Union as well as a
regional group, the Southern African Development Community.
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