Tag: Durban

China, Brazil drop Dollar

China and Brazil agreed to trade in each other’s currencies just hours ahead of the BRICS summit in South Africa.

The deal, which extends over a three-year period and amounts to an exchange of about $30 billion in trade per year, marks the latest effort among two of the world’s largest emerging economies to shift the dynamics of international trade that have long favored the U.S. dollar.

“Our interest is not to establish new relations with China, but to expand relations to be used in the case of turbulence in financial markets,” Brazilian Central Bank Governor Alexandre Tombini said, Reuters reported.

By shifting some trade away from the U.S. dollar, the world’s primary reserve currency, the two countries aim to buffer their commercial ties against another financial crisis like the one that resulted from the collapse of the U.S. housing market bubble in 2008.

“Trade ties between China and Brazil are of great importance to the two countries’ economies amid global woes and the member states’ economic stability is vital for the BRICS mechanism,” said Zhou Zhiwei, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Xinhua reported.

Trade between China and Brazil has exploded in recent years from $6.68 billion in 2003 to over $75 billion in 2012, and in 2009, China replaced the U.S. as Brazil’s main trading partner.

The trade deal comes before a summit of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Durban, where the group of five is expected to discuss the establishment of an international development bank.

“BRICS Development Bank will make the global financial sector more democratic,” said Brazil’s Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel, according to Xinhua.

China and has touted the proposed bank as an alternative to international financial institutions like the World Bank, which funds infrastructure and development projects in emerging economies around the world.

With a combined GDP of over $14 trillion, the BRICS is looking to expand its economic influence throughout African countries in particular.

“We are creating new axis of global development,” Anand Sharma, India’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Xinhua reported. “The global economic order created several decades ago is now undergoing change and we believe for the better to make it more representative.” – IBT

Four big Brics announcements awaited

Four concrete deliverables are expected at the 5th BRICS Summit at Durban March 26-26, 2013, that will take the process of the five-nation bloc forward to the next level, Indian officials said on Monday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived here on Monday evening, will join the leaders from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa for the summit, being held in the African continent for the first time.

The four deliverables expected at the summit are:

– The eThekwini Declaration, named after the alternate name for Durban to set the future agenda for the bloc

– The launch up of the BRICS Business Council on Wednesday at the breakfast meeting among leaders.

– A consortium of five think tanks from each of the five countries, with India represented by the Observer Research Foundation.

– Two pacts on BRICS Multilateral Infrastructure Co-financing Agreement for Africa and BRICS Multilateral Cooperation and Co-financing Agreement for Sustainable Development where India is represented by its Exim Bank.

Ahead of the summit, the prime minister had said in a statement that he looked forward to engaging with the other BRICS leaders on ways to spur global growth, sustain macroeconomic stability and push investments.

“At a time when the world is facing multiple challenges, the Durban Summit provides a useful and timely opportunity to consult and coordinate on a broad range of issues with our BRICS partners,” he said.

“We will discuss ways to revive global growth and ensure macro-economic stability, as well as mechanisms and measures to promote investment in infrastructure and sustainable development,” he said.

“India will also urge faster movement on reform of institutions of global political and economic governance. It is important that BRICS continue to consult closely on developments affecting global peace and security.” – ibnlive.in.com

Black doctor writes fake death certificate

Six people, including a doctor, will appear in a Durban court next week after allegedly faking a death to collect life insurance, police said on Saturday.

Spokesman captain Thulani Zwane said they used a stolen identity document, belonging to Mandisa Mkhwebula, without her knowledge, to take out death cover.

“After nine months of paying monthly premiums, they declared her dead and prepared the necessary documents with home affairs, a funeral parlour and a doctor to enable them to claim,” Zwane said.

Three sisters, Zodwa Ngcobo, Thulile Madondo and Zandile Linda, and their two accomplices, Sibongiseni Thabethe and Brian Khumalo, were out on R2500 bail each.

Thabethe, arrested in a pub in central Durban, and Khumalo, who was arrested in Pinetown, apparently provided most of the documentation used to commit the fraud.

The 47-year-old Isipingo doctor was alleged to have supplied the blank BI 1663 death notification form to the sisters.

“It is alleged that he sold blank BI 1663 to people who wanted to lodge fraudulent claims,” Zwane said.

The five people would appear before the Durban Commercial Crime Court on Tuesday, while the doctor would appear separately. – Sapa

Two black rapists ‘slaughtered’ their victim, ‘silencing the lamb’, says judge

Thousands of women are raped every day in South Africa, but sometimes such attacks end in gruesome killings too.

The Natal Mercury reports that the murder of a rape victim by slitting her throat was likened to “slaughter” and “the silencing of the lamb” by Durban High Court Acting Judge Sharon Marks, in sentencing the guilty to life imprisonment.

In the dock were Nkosingiphile Msomi, 24, and Lungelo Ngidi, 27, whom she convicted of the murder and rape of Thulisile Mkhize. She also convicted Ngidi of the rape of Mkhize’s 18-year-old friend.

Evidence before her, which she accepted in convicting the accused, was that the two women had attended a traditional ceremony and had later gone to a tavern in Inanda where they had shared a beer with Msomi and Ngidi.

They had given the two men “the slip” and had taken a short cut on a path, heading back to the main road.

Here, Msomi and Ngidi confronted them.

They attacked Mkhize, hitting her until she fell. They then kicked her until she became subdued.

They carried her by her arms and feet down to the river where Msomi raped her, while her companion was forced to stand by and watch.

When he was finished, Ngidi told him to kill Mkhize. He stabbed her six times in the back and then slit her throat.

The two men then threw her body into the river. Ngidi raped her companion who later managed to escape from them.

In passing sentence, Judge Marks said in using the word “slit” to describe what happened, she was being polite because it was obvious from the medical evidence that Mkhize had been “slaughtered”, a word used by state advocate Rea Mina.

She said it was obvious that the two men, after having a drink with the two woman, believed they were entitled to have sex with them, with or without their consent.

“Women have a right enshrined in our constitution and in any democratic society to enjoy themselves without the fear of this patriarchal notion that if they have a few drinks they open themselves up to unwanted and unwarranted sexual abuse,” she said.

She disagreed with their lawyers that they were youthful and were good candidates for rehabilitation, saying they were both in their mid-twenties and were “adults”.

She said both had pleaded not guilty and had not made a clean breast of things.

“Your conduct was a callous disregard for the dignity of the deceased. Not only did you toss her half-naked body into the river, but the evidence suggests that you wanted to go on to another party as if nothing had happened.”

Regarding the murder charge, she said while she was bound by the minimum sentence of life imprisonment, this was the sentence she would have imposed at her own discretion anyway.

She sentenced them both to a further 15 years for the rape of Mkhize while Ngidi was given another 10 years for the rape of her companion.

She ordered that the sentences run concurrently.