South African Man Gives To Charity

Global Post Article Link

This week a South African man, Patrice Motsepe, promised to give half of his fortune to charity.  A foundation called The Giving Pledge has challenged the "wealthiest individuals and families in America ... to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy."  The program allows the individuals to choose the charities they donate to.  Obviously this program is expanding and Motespe, who is the first billionaire in Africa, represents the first African to make The Pledge.

He announced that he would be giving his wealth to The Motsepe Foundation. This organization was established 10 years ago by Motsepe and his wife, during which time they have been working to "fight poverty and improve the social and economic conditions of the poor, unemployed and marginalized persons and communities." They hope that their contribution will help the poor, as he believes "that it is important for successful South Africans to help the less fortunate." I think all those who took the pledge, including Mr. Motsepe, are such admirable people for seeing outside of themselves and being willing to give to those who are in need.

15,000 Crocodiles Escape in South Africa

http://lifeissavage.com/2013/01/25/15-000-crocodiles-on-the-loose-after-escaping-from-south-african-farm-pic/

Global Post Article Link

In the last several weeks many countries have had problems with flooding.  According to this article 3 were killed in a cyclone that hit Australia this last week, 35 have been killed in Mozambiqu flooding problems since October,  and there has been extreme rain in the Philippines and Indonesia. However on a unique note, in South Africa 15,000 Crocodiles escaped into the wild due to flooding.

Apparently the flooding forced the Rakwna Crocodile Farm to open the the gates to prevent the enclosures from bursting. Most of them headed for the river and they were able to recapture about half of them.  The article does not say there were any deaths from the crocodiles, although 12 have died from the flooding.

I was so surprised that they kept so many crocodiles together.  15,000!  I hope they are able to get them all back to the Farm and that no one gets hurt.

Germany Brings 674 Tons of Gold Home

Link to Article
Currently two thirds of Germany's gold is stored outside of Germany.  This is equal to about 183 billion dollars.  Recently a decision was made that a transition would be made to bring some of the gold home to be stored in Germany.  Half of the gold stored in the United States will be returned to Germany, in small increments over the next several years.   They will also be taking some from the reserves stored in London and Paris.

While this is a controversial in the public regarding what it means about the economy, it seems like a pretty smart move for Germany to me.  You can't always be making your decisions based on what is best economically for the rest of the world. The purpose of having gold is for backing in time of crisis and if there is a crisis it would be difficult to move it quickly.  While it is smart to spread things out so they couldn't all be stolen or destroyed all at once, it seems that gold should be accessible in time of need.  Hopefully the transportation goes smoothly.

Syrian Airstrikes

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1309986--fighting-rages-around-strategic-syrian-military-air-base

New York Times Article Link
This article discussed how the Syrian government has launched several airstrikes to  counter the rebellion occurring in their country.  They apparently claim there attacks are geared toward "armed terrorists", however many civilians have been killed.  On Sunday January 13th there was an attack in the middle of a market.  Many families were out, including children.  There have been 20 children killed total.  The article seems to be inferring that the government is not targeting the terrorists as it claims it is, but rather is targeting civilians.

I always have a hard time with violence, as I'm not a very violent person.  It seems crazy to me that people would want to kill people without any understanding of who you are targeting.  I guess it is suppose to send a broad message, but it is pretty crazy to kill innocent people just to send a message.  Kind of a high price to pay.