South Africa

What water rationing looks like, minus the anger (source).by Gaius PubliusEarlier we wrote about the extreme water shortage in Cape Town, South Africa.

How is that highly schooled people, those who have risen to positions of authority and influence within the west’s higher education systems, so often behave as if the bit of their brain governing rational thought has turned to mush whenever the issue of Israel is raised?
The post Academics who serve as Israel’s useful idiots appeared first on BSNEWS.

How is that highly schooled people, those who have risen to positions of authority and influence within the west’s higher education systems, so often behave as if the bit of their brain governing rational thought has turned to mush whenever the issue of Israel is raised?

Roadside sign in Cape Town, South Africa, from February 2017 (source)by Gaius PubliusIn Cape Town, South Africa, they're calling it the day the water taps could be turned off. They're also calling it, not an impending crisis, but a "deep deep deep" crisis now. It's also a vision, perhaps, of the future of California and the American Southwest.

Major cities in Brazil, China and India are witnessing rapid urbanization [Xinhua]
The Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur will next week host the Ninth Session of the World Urban Forum to discuss the challenges societies as more people move to the cities.
The forum titled, Cities 2030, Cities for All: Implementing the New Urban Agenda, will focus on the efforts of major countries, such as China, India, and Brazil to overcome the challenges posed by rapid urbanization.

Sales only rose by 0.8 per cent y/y in the first half of the year 
File photo: The Mall of Africa in Midrand, near Johannesburg, South Africa [Xinhua]
In another sign of the recovery in the South African economy, real retail sales soared by 8.2 per cent year-on-year (y/y) in November after a revised 3.5 per cent (3.2 per cent) y/y gain in October according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).

Opinion — One of the most under-reported aspects of security policy in the Middle East is Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
The apartheid state is estimated by the U.S. government to have somewhere in the region of 200 nuclear warheads. The secret program to develop these weapons of mass destruction started in the late 1950s and eventually bore fruit – under the tutelage of French companies – when, in 1968, Israel went fully nuclear.

Economic growth forecasts for 2018 have been ratcheted higher as data exceeds expectations
Growth rates in BRICS nations such as China and Russia have exceed expectations of the IMF and other forecasts [Xinhua]
The news that China’s GDP growth in 2017 was 6.9 per cent as opposed to the government target of 6.5 per cent and the January 2017 international Monetary Fund (IMF) projection of 6.5 per cent is merely the latest in a sequence of economic data releases that has pushed economists to play catch-up with economic reality.

Coal is the largest contributor with a 29 per cent share  
South Africa ranks as one of the richest countries in natural resources from gold to iron ore [Image: Archives]
South African mineral sales jumped by  14.3 per cent year-on-year (y/y) in October to a record R42.6bn according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). Coal was the largest contributor with a 29 per cent share followed by platinum group metals (PGMs) at 18 per cent, gold at 17 per cent and iron ore at 11 per cent.

The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape has called for greater solidarity with the Palestinian people while urging South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Comrade Ayanda Dlodlo, to re-evaluate the country’s visa policy with Israel following the decision by the government in Tel Aviv to blacklist BDS South Africa along with dozens of other organisations.