Submitted by Leonardo88 1 week, 6 days, 22 hours ago
Dr. Peggy Drexler: It all leaves me wondering. How did the heart of a nation's leadership selection turn into a predictable reality show, where damaged players arrive in a limo, melt down and get voted off? How much more of this can Republican voters take?
Over the past decade, African exports have boomed: total volume tripled to more than $330 billion. This is according to a new report published by Fitch. That growth, predicated largely on an ever-shifting global workforce of cheap labor, has largely been fueled by China.
During the period, Chinese demand has ramped higher than that of other purchasers. In 2000, just 5% of exports from the continent ended in a port or runway in China. Today that figure stands at 17%, nearing the same levels as U.S. and European purchases.
In a new report titled The Africa-China Connection, Fitch documents China's growing influence in the block.
"China?s engagement with Africa can be classified into three rationales: its dragon-sized appetite for resources, new export markets and new investment opportunities," says Fitch analyst Kit Ling Yeun.
The Pacific behemoth has used cheap credit, along with a special loan program, to incent development in the region ? as well as itself.
Federal direct investment has centered heavily around mining and manufacturing. FDI reached $11.1 billion in 2010, or about 4% of total investments. That is relatively low compared to other regions like Latin America, which accounts for 14% of Chinese direct investment.
But these federal investments have not kept pace with overall loans written. China's Export-Import Bank and the China Development Bank have underwritten billions in debt for African sovereigns.
Between 2000 and 2010, Fitch estimates that the Export-Import Bank provided $67.2 billion in debt financing for projects including infrastructure expansion, energy plants, telecommunication services and water supplies. The World Bank provided about $12.5 billion less over the same period.
The China Development Bank deployed the China-Africa Development Fund in 2007, which partners private Chinese ventures with African companies. The bank's mission is of "strengthening China's competitiveness and improving the living standards of its people." However, in doing so it has raised more than $1 billion for African industry, with expectations for that figure to quintuple by 2015.
The work has built a robust market for African goods, now representing more than 30% of Angola exports and 18% of Congolese exports. Below is data from the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, documenting the rapid growth in sub-Saharan Africa exports to China.
Fitch calls the Sino-Africa connection a "potential win-win situation," creating a strong export market for African countries while China gains a consistent commodity supply stream.
And the ratings agency is not alone. Deutsche Bank recently called it the new frontier, forecasting it to match a BRIC-like pace of economic expansion.
"Stronger linkages with China and other rapidly growing markets have also added impetus to growth," Robert Burgess, EEMEA Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank, says. "Almost half of sub-Saharan African exports now go to emerging and developing markets compared with less than one-quarter in 1990."
Risks remain when investing in the continent, as ethnic fighting and political instability heightens uncertainty. Fitch also noted that China may not always be good for the resource-rich continent.
"The challenge for Africa is to maximize the wider benefits in terms of growth, employment and transfer of expertise, while avoiding the risk of taking on too much debt and using it for consumption rather than investment," Yeun says.
IWAKI, Japan ? Fukushima was just emerging from the snows of winter when the disaster hit ? a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Japan's recorded history, followed by a tsunami.
The wall of water destroyed much of the northeastern coast on March 11. In the northeast region of Fukushima, a different disaster was brewing: Three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were melting down, irreparably damaged by the super tremor.
Now, as the snows are beginning to fall again, the government has announced the plant has attained a level of stability it is calling a "cold shutdown." As many as 3,000 workers ? plumbers, engineers, technicians ? stream into the facility each day.
The tsunami's destruction is still visible. Mangled trucks, flipped over by the wave, sit alongside the roads inside the complex, piles of rubble stand where the walls of the reactor structures crumbled and large pools of water still cover parts of the campus.
In the ghost towns around Fukushima Dai-ichi, vines have overtaken streets, feral cows and owner-less dogs roam the fields. Dead chickens rot in their coops.
The tens of thousands of people who once lived around the plant have fled. They are now huddling in gymnasiums, elementary school classrooms, bunking with friends, sometimes just sleeping in their cars, moving from place to place as they search for alternatives.
For those who lived on the perimeter of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, fliers used to come in the mail every so often explaining that someday this might happen. Most recipients saw them as junk mail, and threw them away without a second glance. For those who did read them, the fliers were always worded to be reassuring ? suggesting that although a catastrophic nuclear accident was extremely unlikely, it could require evacuating the area.
Never was it even hinted that the evacuation could last years, or decades.
At most of the shelters, food is doled out military-style, at set times. Personal space is extremely limited, often just big enough to fit a futon and the collective snoring at night makes sleep fitful, at best. Baths are public, cramped, dark.
The total amount of radiation released from the plant is still unknown, and the impact of chronic low-dose radiation exposures in and around Fukushima is a matter of scientific debate.
Recent studies also suggest Japan continues to significantly underestimate the scale of the disaster ? which could have health and safety implications far into the future.
According to a study led by Andreas Stohl the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, twice as much radioactive cesium-137 ? a cancer-causing agent ? was pumped into the atmosphere than Japan had announced, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl. The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety found 30 times more cesium-137 was released into the Pacific than the plant's owner has acknowledged.
Under a detailed roadmap, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will remove the melted nuclear fuel, most of which is believed to have fallen to the bottom of the core or even down to the bottom of the larger, beaker-shaped containment vessel, a process that is expected to begin in 10 years.
All told, decommissioning the plant will likely take 40 years.
(Reuters) ? Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger expects to play in Sunday's regular season finale against the Cleveland Browns, as long as he can cope with the pain in his sprained left ankle.
The former Pro-Bowl selection suffered the injury on December 8 in Pittsburgh's most recent game against the Browns and he missed Saturday's crushing 27-0 victory over the struggling St. Louis Rams.
"As long as I can deal with pain, I'll be out there," Roethlisberger told reporters after a practice session on Thursday. "I don't want to let the guys down, so I'll do what I can to be out there.
"I'd like to play just because I like being out there. It would be nice to get another week of rest, but I prefer to play."
Asked how the ankle had responded after two straight days of training, Roethlisberger replied: "It's a little sore today because I worked out on it yesterday. We will see how tomorrow goes and keep plugging away."
Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was impressed by Roethlisberger's improved mobility.
"He moved around good today, even better than yesterday," Arians said. "I want him out there (on Sunday) but not at the risk of injuring himself.
"If he can't move around and get out of the way, then there's no sense of getting him out there. We will play him if he's healthy and ready to go."
The Steelers (11-4), last season's Super Bowl runners-up, are already in the playoffs and so will likely be cautious over any players with injuries.
However, Pittsburgh can win the AFC North and claim top seeding in the conference if they beat the Browns on Sunday while the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots each lose.
"You'd like to have everybody out there because of the value of the game and we want our best players out there playing well," said Arians.
Charlie Batch threw for 208 yards in a solid performance in place of Roethlisberger against the Rams and the 37-year-old is again on stand-by for the Browns game.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
Ford Motor Company offered on Thursday a taste of some advanced technology that will be featured in the all-new Fusion, which is scheduled to be introduced at the Detroit auto show in January. The technical tidbit is a tracking system that can help prevent drowsy or inattentive drivers from wandering out of their lane. While similar technology has previously been offered on some automobiles, Octavio Navarro, a Ford spokesman, said in a telephone interview that the Fusion will be the first affordable nonluxury vehicle to offer this type of system.
Fusion?s Lane Keeping System monitors the vehicle?s position with a windshield-mounted digital camera that can track lane markings. If the car drifts close to the edge of the lane without the turn signal on, the driver will be notified by a vibration in the steering wheel that feels much like the pulsing caused by rumble strips in the road. A system that Ford calls Lane Keeping Aid can steer the car back toward the center of the lane if the driver doesn?t respond to the warning.
If the Lane Keeping System calculates that the driving pattern over a period of time suggests that the driver is drowsy, a chime sounds and a coffee cup icon warning appears on the instrument panel. If the driver continues to nap, a second chime is issued.
According to a Ford news release, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 reported accidents are caused annually by drowsy drivers, resulting in 1,500 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary loses.
The system must be turned on by the driver, who can choose to employ just the alert function without the steering assist. The intensity of the warnings is also driver selectable. The switched-on system becomes active at speeds over 40 m.p.h. when lane markings are visible.
?Fusion?s Lane Keeping System combines a digital imaging sensor with our own state-of-the-art control software to process images and determine what level of warning or assistance to provide to the driver,? Michale Kane, Ford development engineer, said in a media release.
The all-new Fusion is a very important car for Ford, because it will determine how big a role the automaker plays in the large and lucrative midsize marketplace. Few will be surprised if more details are disseminated before the big reveal at Detroit?s Cobo Hall.
MEXICO CITY ? A Mexican anti-poverty official has been fired after posting a comment on social media sites suggesting that poor people smell bad.
Mexico's anti-poverty agency says Carlos Talavera has been fired as director of outreach brigades in the western city of Uruapan after a Facebook posting of his was re-tweeted on social media sites.
The original comment appears to describe an event attended by poor people and reads roughly "truth is this smells impressively bad, poor things."
The social development department said Tuesday that it "roundly condemns" Talavera's comment.
Talavera also apologized on his Facebook account, saying "I accept my error."
About 47 million of Mexico's 112 million people live in poverty.
Aerosmith?s Steven Tyler is rumored to be engaged after a massive ring was spotted on his girlfriend?s finger. Did he actually pop the question? Love could be in the air for one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Sources claim that Tyler and his girlfriend Erin Brady are more than just a creepy older couple. In fact, word has it that they are set to be married. TMZ broke the story earlier today that the 63-year-old singer did in fact propose to his 38-year-old girlfriend. I have to admit that he won me back a little bit with his work on Idol. I think he is a good fit for the show and doesn?t really come off as old and washed up as I thought he would. See the photos over at TMZ. What?s it like to be a princess at Christmas? Check out these photos to find out ? Pop Sugar. Here are some nice pics of the new upcoming Spiderman movie ? Celebuzz. Okay this is weird. Here are some old pictures of Khloe Kardashian as a blonde ? RadarOnline. This is fake, but awesome anyway. Taylor Lautner coming out as gay on a faux-PEOPLE Magazine [...]
