Mine Shooting

The guards had fired rubber bullets into the ground in self-defence and contradicted the police tally, saying only two miners had been hit and three more injured in the commotion.

Vietnam Poaching

So far this year, South Africa has lost more than 290 rhinos, an average of at least two a day. Poachers have gone high-tech, using helicopters, silencers and night vision goggles to meet the growing demand for rhino horn in East Asia, especially Vietnam. Last year in Vietnam, rhino horn sold for up to $1,400 an ounce, which is about the price of gold.

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/05/14/181587969/Vietnams-Appetite-For-Rhino-Horn-Drives-Poaching-In-Africa

BK in South Africa

The company that gave America the Bacon Sundae opened with a big splash in South Africa – but no bacon. Burger King South Africa CEO Jaye Sinclair says people lined up for hours at the weekend launch in the coastal resort of Cape Town.But a few customers called Talk Radio 702 Monday to complain there were no bacon dishes and ask why the company was catering to a minority. Sinclair said the company respects South Africa's multicultural society and doesn't want to limit its customers.
Official South African statistics show that religious groups that do not eat pork here include 11 percent of the 48 million people who belong to the indigenous Zion Christian Church, Muslims making up 1.5 percent of the population and Jews 0.2 percent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/burger-king-south-africa_n_3268351.html

South Africa Losing against Corruption

South Africa is fighting a losing battle against corruption which sucked up nearly 1 billion rand ($111 million) in taxpayers’ money last year, according to a new report that contradicts government statements that efforts to stamp out financial misconduct are going well.
“Corruption is rampant,” the author of the report, financial forensics expert Peter Allwright, said Friday. “It’s out of control and the dedicated units that have been created to fight financial misconduct are in essence fighting a losing battle.”
South Africa has scandals about misuse of government money and power — in one of the latest, taxpayers forked out around 250 million rand (nearly $28 million) on upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s private residence in his home village, including three new houses, a sewerage treatment plant and an underground bunker.

"Africa." Washington Post. N.p., 03 May 2013. Web. 07 May 2013.

 

 

 http://ponderingpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Corruption-in-SA-Full-Report.jpg

BP invests in South Africa

British Petroleum will be investing billions into South Africa. They will be investing in Mozambique and South Africa over the next 5 years. "With the improving investment climate, especially policy stability... being presented in Southern Africa, BP has decided to invest significantly for the benefit of all of our stakeholders," BP refining and marketing chief executive Iain Conn told reporters in Johannesburg. They will be building new plants and renewing the old ones.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/migration_catalog/Reuters/2010/11/15/02-11-2010-12-11-01-218mdf51049.jpg/ALTERNATES/crop_630x400/02-11-2010-12-11-01-218MDF51049.JPG

Country Project 2

South Africa gained it's independence from the United Kingdom on May 31, 1910. South Africa has some of the oldest human history in the world, though. Human artifacts have been found in S.A. from 170,000 years ago. South Africa was found in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck.

What Shaped South Africa?

• England's culture carried on from the UK to South Africa. 
• Racial segregation caused blacks, whites, and asians to all live in different parts of the country.
• South Africa has a history of bad police situations, including mass murders performed by the police.

Two key historical South African Figures.

•   Jan van Riebeeck

• Founded South Africa and made a refreshment stand for ships passing by. The stand eventually turned into the Cape of Good Hope which turned into Cape Town. 

•  Nelson Mandela
•  Helped protest against the racial segregation and became president in 1994 to 1999.

South Africa has the largest and best economy in Africa.

GDP per capita is $11,035
Unemployment rate is high at 25%
One South African rand equals $0.11 
Inflation rate is 5.09%
Literacy rate is 97%
Republic Government

Mandela Released

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid member, was just released from the hospital from pneumonia. He was in the ER for 10 days, making all of South Africa very nervous. He is still an icon to the country and helps fight the racial separation that occurs in South Africa. He is in serious home care. He is in his lats 90s and pneumonia has taken lives of older Africans lately.




www.kidcyber.com.au


 http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/06/17629291-nelson-mandela-discharged-from-south-africa-hospital?lite

SA removes troops from warzone

South Africa will withdraw all of its troops from Central African Republic. 13 soldiers died here in march. Mabanga, a military spokesman, said the troops will pull out in line with a decision by South Africa's political leadership. He declined to say how many South African soldiers remained in Central African Republic and did not give a departure date.
South Africa's military union said earlier this week that most of the 200 South African troops who were there have already been withdrawn.
This will send workers back into their jobs after 6 years in war.
A South African soldier that will be sent home within the next week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/world/africa/south-africa-to-withdraw-troops-from-central-african-republic.html

South African Fines unbuckled people in cars

South Africa will now be issuing fines for cars stopped with unbuckled passengers inside. Over Easter holiday, a test was run to see how many cars had people unbuckled inside. 250,000 vehicles were stopped during the holiday, and 79,056 fines were issued. Altogether 1,039 licences were suspended and 1,024 vehicles impounded. Minister Ben Martin ran the whole project. “In most vehicles we stopped, we found that only the driver wears the seat belt. The majority of rear seat passengers simply do not utilise seat belts even when roadblocks are conducted,” he said. More people will survive crashes each year, including those working in factories.
Ben Martin

 http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/buckle-up-or-be-fined-martins-1.1497176#.UWLreK52C7s
 

South African technology company Tellumat has opened a fully modernised electronics factory in Atlantis north of Cape Town, following a multi-million rand investment supported by the Department of Trade. South Africa now doesn't have to rely on outside resources for electronics. This will cost less and strengthen their economy. According to Tellumat CEO Rasheed Hargey, the factory was modernised with new production equipment in 2012, enabling it to produce electronics for brands such as Sony, Mecer and HiSense.

http://www.southafrica.info/business/investing/tellumat-130313.htm#.UUCnF665K7s

This shows the inside of the building.

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/images/stories/INDUSTRY/Tellumat_AAD_400x300.JPG

South Africa Police Drag

Eight South African Policemen were caught dragging a taxi driver by there police van. The eight officers were charged with murder on Friday, three days after the fatal incident.
They did not appear in court on Monday. A formal bail application is expected to be filed on Friday.
Mr Macia,  the taxi driver, was reportedly detained for parking his vehicle in a way that blocked traffic.
The video, recorded by a bystander on a mobile phone, shows a large crowd watching as policemen tied him to the van, dragging him as they drove away. The police force was already under intense investigation after officers shot dead 34 striking miners last August.
In the past few months, many incidents that involve the police have occurred. Many companies, including ones in the USA, may see this as bad security in South Africa which could cause less companies to want to ship their products into the country.

 Polgreen, Lydia. "Outrage in South Africa After Police Drag Man Behind Truck and He Dies." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.


 This picture shows the taxi driver getting dragged by the police van. (http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/zMSEDopt92a9qv0eo_ooiw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MjExNztjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2)

South African police open fire

South African police opened fire Thursday on a crowd of striking miners that charged a line of officers trying to disperse them, killing some and wounding others. The police state that the miners opened fire on the police first with the guns they stole from the police earlier that week.
Police declined to offer casualty figures after the shooting at the Lonmin PLC mine near Marikana, a town about 40 miles northwest of Johannesburg. However, police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi said late Thursday some of the miners there had been killed as more police and soldiers surrounded the hostels and shacks near Lonmin's shuttered platinum mine.

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57494613/s-africa-police-shoot-striking-miners-18-dead/

South African Train Crash

A commuter train crashed into a parked train in Soweto, South Africa. The moving train hit the stationary one from behind, throwing passengers from both trains out of the windows. They found people laying up to 200 meters away from the train with broken legs and other injuries. Metrorail, the runner of the trains, said that the collision caused 857 injuries. People were crawling over each other in attempt to escape the trains in case of fire. Luckily, only 25 of the injured are still in the hospital. The others left with minor injuries.



"Soweto, South Africa, Train Crash Injured Hundreds." BBC News. BBC, 20 May 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.

Social Media

I believe that eventually social media systems will take over our lives. More businesses and regular people are using social media websites to contact each other and advertise. Twitter has an average of 1 million new accounts made everyday. It also is expected to make over 500 million dollars off of advertising by 2014. I found that college students that use social media systems like twitter and facebook have an average of .5 better GPA than college students that don't. I found this to be interesting because it seems like most people use the social media systems to contact friends, which seems like it could be a distraction to their study's.
I found a post that shows how the main disadvantage of social media systems can be stalkers and bullying. On almost all social media systems you can change your privacy settings, but many people have found that this still isn't enough to keep private. The other disadvantage is cyber bullying. There are many advantages to social media too. People can contact each other without having to call or send a letter or text. It is also a good way for businesses to contact other businesses out of the country.
Social media is good in the classroom to contact teachers for questions on online courses. Smart phones are used more than ever in colleges. In one picture i found on Pinterest, it shows that over 75% of college students not doing school work are on their smartphones. Less than 1% percent of the students with smartphones don't use them during break. The other 24% answered that they are sometimes on their phones during break. I think that once I reach college it will be up to 95% of the students using smartphones during break.


 "Edudemic." Edudemic. Edudemic, 28 June 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.

 "Twitter 2012." Infographic Labs. The Blog Herald, 2 June 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.

Online Research

Google: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130205/af-south-africa-congo-m23/?utm_hp_ref=media&ir=media

South African police caught 19 suspected members of the Congolese rebel group who were accused of planning to overthrow the government. The police statement said those arrested would face charges of violating South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act. This act prevents people from plotting coups or mercenary activities in foreign nations. Authorities offered information Tuesday about whether those arrested belonged to M23, which seized and later withdrew last year from Congo's eastern city of Goma. Local media initially reported the South African Police Service identified those arrested as belonging to M23.The M23 is a group of Congolese and rebel soldiers that have assaulted and raped many women in late 2012. They also have used children as soldiers and conducting summary executions.

I find it interesting how the police are able to find a secret group. I wonder if someone turned them in or if they were caught in the act. I'm most suprised about how the Congo rebels are still using children as soldiers. 
                                                                                      
                                                                                     This is a picture of a child put into                                                                                      the Congolese army.
 

Gambrell, John. "South African Police Arrest Alleged Congo Rebels." HuffingtonPost.com. Huffington Post, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2013.

Picture:  http://spineafricaproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/child-soldier.jpg