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military union said earlier this week that most of the 200 South African troops who were there have already been withdrawn.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.