Clipmarks | pascual's 'africa' clips

Congo's de-development

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:45:23 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: Telegraph

The normal laws of development are inverted ... the forest, not the town, offers the safest sanctuary, and it is grandfathers who have been more exposed to modernity than their grandchildren. (The chief had been school in Kalemie, and he could remember when cars used to pass through every few days. Now only bush tracks remain.)

Tags: africa, development, conflict

Millennium developmental goals update

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:20:55 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: sciam

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Here’s the basic donor arithmetic: The combined income of the donor countries (Europe, the U.S., Canada and Japan) is now around $37 trillion a year; the required $72 billion only amounts to around 0.2 percent of the donors' gross domestic product. Donors have long promised to increase their aid from the current level of 0.28 percent of GNP to 0.7 percent, so the additional 0.2 percent falls well within the aid levels already promised in pursuit of the MDGs.

Despite the major G8 countries' promise to double aid to Africa between 2004 and 2010, aid from the donor nations has scarcely increased. Rather than rising toward 0.7 percent of donor GNP as promised, actual aid in 2007 was $104 billion, a mere 0.28 percent of donor income. Among the donor countries, the U.S. actually had the lowest ratio of aid to GNP, at a mere 0.16 percent in 2007; its aid to Africa was a mere 0.04 percent of GNP!

Tags: development

on mandela

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:20:16 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: intellife

Clip Source: www.moreintelligentlife.com

a part

Machel observes no lingering pain from his incarceration, aside from his guilt at missing his children as they grew up. "He developed a selective memory and he cherished the good things. Maybe it is of him having decided not to be bitter, so he talks of the positive side." Bill Clinton tells of asking Mandela if he was angry about the years lost to jail. Mandela said that he felt furious until the night before his release, when he decided to quash his emotions, because "if I stay bitter, then they will still have my mind in prison."

Tags: africa, society, conflict

resource wars?

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:54:08 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: ft

Clip Source: www.ft.com

riots in Mexico last summer, after sharp increases in the price of maize flour; mass protests in Indonesia this month, provoked by the rising price of soyabeans; a deadly stampede in western China last November, caused by a rush for subsidised cooking oil; a food-price freeze in Russia, introduced just ahead of the parliamentary elections in December; gas and petrol rationing in Iran; blackouts in Argentina and South Africa.

Tags: economy, globalization

tech 4 africa

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:56:28 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: projectsyndicate

Clip Source: www.project-syndicate.org

Americans do-gooders like Nicholas Negroponte, with his $100 laptop, have identified the right problem: Africa is way behind technologically and rapid leap-frogging is possible. But Chinese and Indian scientists argue that Africa can benefit from a changing of the technological guard.

Tags: globalization, technology

on EU global influence

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:13:18 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: ecfr

Clip Source: ecfr.bluestatedigital.com

Of all the great powers, it is the European Union whose influence is most desired by world citizens. More than a third of respondents (35%) see an increase in its power as key to the development of a better world, whilst only 20% want to see its power decline. India, South Africa, and Brazil also polled well (27%, 26%, and 23% wanted their power to rise, while 20%, 18%, 17% wanted it to decline).

Tags: politics, europe

global arms trade

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:57:10 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: le monde

Clip Source: mondediplo.com

Provoked by US dealings in the Middle East, Syria and Iran may turn to China or Russia, which are both now a force in the market. Niger is worried about France’s “gifts” to Libya – which has recently claimed about 30,000 square km of oil- and uranium-rich Niger territory. The White House favourite, Israel, is no longer content to import and is now the number one supplier of arms to Colombia. And Colombia’s firepower, combined with US hostility, is a source of concern to Venezuela, which is turning to Russia for help in modernising its armaments. Other suppliers are emerging: India, South Korea, South Africa. The sector has never seen so much activity. By the end of 2006, expenditure on military equipment had reached an unprecedented $1,058.9bn (5).

Tags: conflict, globalization

sachs and poverty

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:46:20 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: vanityfair

Clip Source: www.vanityfair.com

The W.H.O. report lays out the facts in stark terms. Every day, 22,000 people on the planet die of poverty. Spending money on health care in the world's poorest countries is more than a humanitarian imperative, Sachs's report argues; it is also the key to driving economic growth. Co-opting the rhetoric of corporate America, cunningly, the report manages to transform a health catastrophe into a business proposition: saving lives can offer huge returns to investors. With an annual investment of $66 billion, the report states, we could be saving eight million lives a year and generating economic benefits worth $360 billion a year.

Tags: mdgs, africa

responsible competitiveness

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:12:45 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: accountability

Clip Source: www.accountability21.net

Sweden is the world’s most responsibly competitive nation. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the UK, Norway, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, and Canada represent the rest of the top 10 in the index. Strong performers outside Europe include Chile, South Africa and the Republic of Korea.

Tags: globalization, sustainability

on suicide

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:21:44 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: economist

Clip Source: economist.com

In most rich countries, though, rates have been falling for the past two decades, especially among the elderly. In poorer places the picture is more mixed. In most of Africa no reliable data are available; elsewhere, especially in places where traditional roles are undergoing rapid change, suicide seems to be increasing. Worldwide, indeed, suicide rates have increased by 60% in the past 45 years. About 1m people a year die at their own hands. Too many of these deaths are avoidable.

Tags: society

NEwRICesforAfrica

Thu, 03 May 2007 23:03:06 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: time

Clip Source: www.time.com

A native of Sierra Leone, Jones is the revered plant breeder who developed NERICA, the New Rices for Africa, a set of high-productivity rices adapted to West Africa's growing conditions

Tags: africa

Rebuilding Rwanda

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 02:43:10 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: NY review of books

Clip Source: www.nybooks.com

He runs a "Millennium Village" project in a rural part of the country that serves as a laboratory for the development strategies of Columbia University economist and anti-poverty expert Jeffrey Sachs.

"I've worked in fifty countries," he told me, "and I think this is the only country on the planet that stands a chance of migrating from extreme poverty to middle income in the space of the next fifteen years."

Tags: development, africa

worldwide airports ranking

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:51:14 GMT

clipped by: pascual
clipper's remarks: ACI rankings of world airports in 2007

Clip Source: www.iht.com

At the customer service awards, Incheon International Airport was named "Best Airport Worldwide," with Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur coming in second and third respectively — the second year in a row that all top three are from Asia-Pacific. On a regional basis, Zurich came top in Europe, Dallas Fort Worth in the Americas, Abu Dhabi in Africa-Middle East and Incheon in Asia-Pacific.

Tags: travel, international