France swept the men’s Long Distance World Championships in Weihai with Bertrand Billard retaining his title as the fastest man across the 4km swim, 120km bike, 30km run course. Compatriots Sylvain Sudrie and Viennot Cyril joined him on the podium. “The organisation (of the race) is perfect,” Billard said. “I would like to thank the [...]France take Men Long Distance titles is a post from: Time-4-Sport



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The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has made an appeal to residents to use water sparingly as it experiences water supply interruptions in...

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After securing the 2nd spot on the podium at his IMPI Challenge debut in Cape Town early in April, the IMPI bug has bitten and as a result keen trail runner Christiaan Greyling will be seen chomping at the bit on Saturday, 27 September 2014 when he toes the line at his very first IMPI [...]Greyling feeds IMPI bug is a post from: Trail Running South Africa



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Auckland City Athletic Club showed good form leading up to the national road relay championships with a convincing win in the Auckland championship raced around the perimeter of Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday. Jono Jackson, fresh from competing at the world mountain running championships in Italy, led off well for the ACA team. Auckland Road [...]Auckland Road Relay Championships 2014 is a post from: Time-to-Run New Zealand



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The Auckland marathon has a new sponsor, ASB Bank, and will be using the harbour bridge for all the events associated with the marathon and half marathon. New Auckland Management Up till now the quarter marathon has run up and down Tamaki Drive to Okahu Bay but from this year’s event on 2 November it [...]New Sponsor for Auckland Marathon is a post from: Time-to-Run New Zealand



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New York - After a period of international crises, it is that time of the year again when Heads of State and Government from across the globe gather at the UN headquarters in midtown Manhattan, New York, to debate issues facing the globe. This year promises to provide an interesting debate.

The United Nations General Assembly, which began here last week, is an opportunity for Presidents and Prime Ministers to use their 15 minutes allocated time to participate in a debate on several topics in front of the General Assembly.

When the debate starts this week, many will no doubt use the platform to promote their countries’ national interests, but it is what leaders will eventually agree on that will define the success of these talks.

President Jacob Zuma, who arrived in New York on Sunday, will address the General Assembly on Wednesday, 24 September - the same day US President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak.

Today, a relaxed looking President Zuma, who is accompanied by First Lady Bongi Ngema-Zuma, was greeted by four of his Ministers at an up-market hotel in New York, where he had a brief meeting with a South African delegation including International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane.

Also there to welcome the President were Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, State Security Minister David Mahlobo, and Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as well as SA ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool.

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa was chosen as the President for the 69th Session and chose “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda” as the theme for the General Debate, which begins on Wednesday.

It’s a foregone conclusion that the threats posed by ISIS, the Islamic radical group in Iraq and Syria, and the crisis in Ukraine and Gaza will likely dominate this year’s talks in New York.

But South Africa said it’s participation at the summit will be informed by national interests and priorities, its regional and continental commitments, as well as its aspirations for a prosperous world at peace with itself.

“In this regard, the General Debate provides a platform for South Africa to advance its strategic priorities in the world’s pre-eminent multilateral forum,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said this week.

This year’s General Assembly is also crucial as it takes place against the rapidly approaching target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and the start of the intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda.

Observers say the UN is expected to use the General Assembly to rally governments and civil society behind its ambitious post-2015 development agenda. It also looks almost certain that the world body will use the momentum created by the MDGs to get countries behind the new development agenda.

MDGs

The UN says enormous progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. Global poverty continues to decline, more children than ever are attending primary school, child deaths have dropped dramatically, access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded, and targeted investments in fighting malaria, Aids and tuberculosis have saved millions.

The MDGs are a set of eight concrete, measurable objectives, adopted by world leaders in 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015. The eight MDGs -- which range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/Aids and providing universal primary education and healthcare -- have encouraged progress in some countries.

The MDGs have been seen as the most successful global anti-poverty push in history. The UN says the post-2015 agenda will reflect new development challenges and will focus on achieving a world of prosperity, equity, freedom and dignity.

Member states are reportedly currently discussing the possibility of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to complement or replace the MDGs.

For its part, South Africa has made inroads in meeting some of the goals and this includes progress the country has made in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger through its social security system in the form of grants and work opportunities linked to the Expanded Public Works Programme.

In education, South Africa introduced no-fee schools and universal primary education and compulsory schooling for the age group 7–15 years. Pretoria seems to have also met MDG 6 by recording major successes in the fight against HIV/Aids.

“We are happy that we have done a lot to move towards achieving the MDGs and our work continues to promote the key goals of education, health, women’s empowerment, improved quality education, including access for girl children and also in promoting public participation in governance,’’ President Zuma said in New York on Sunday.

He said South Africa has made significant progress in achieving the MDGs and will continue to work towards the 2015 deadline. Halving the share of the population earning less than $1.25 per person, per day has been achieved, while the share of those experiencing hunger has also been halved.

South Africa has attained MDG 2 of providing access to primary educational access for all.

On official international indicators, South Africa is doing well to promote and empower women (MDG3). On the improvement of health access, South Africa has recorded impressive progress through the expansion of health infrastructure and improved access to health services for all South Africans.

A statement issued by government this week said the post-2015 negotiations will be taking place in the context of the global rebalancing of economic power as a result of a loss of comparative advantage by developed countries (and made more pronounced by the global economic meltdown).

“This makes the negotiations of the post-2015 development agenda highly contested, with developed countries seeking to redefine development to support their economic recovery needs, while developing countries try to ensure that the outcome supports its own understanding of development.

“In this regard, the General Debate provides a platform for South Africa to advance its strategic priorities in the world’s pre-eminent multilateral forum,” said government. – SAnews.gov.za

Edinburgh - The "No" campaign won the Scottish referendum on Friday to keep the territory within the United Kingdom.

Chief Counting Officers Mary Pitcaithly and Sue Bruce for the city of Edinburgh announced that 55.42 percent of the Scots voted against independence while 44.58 percent voted in favour.

With a turnout of 84.48 percent, the votes counting started immediately after the polling stations closed on Thursday night. The referendum was overseen by the British Electoral Commission, an independent elections watchdog and regulator of party and election finance.

This is the first Scottish independence referendum in Britain's history and official figures showed that about 97 percent of those eligible to vote in Scotland signed up to vote in the referendum, which is set to be the biggest poll in Scotland's history.

If a simple majority of Scots voted for independence, Scotland would have become independent on March 24, 2016 after a period of negotiations with the rest of Britain, according to the whitepaper Scotland's Future published by the Scottish government on November 26, 2013.

As the "No" campaign has won, Scotland will have more power as promised by the leaders of the three main parties in London, namely, Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron, Labor Party leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg.

In October 2012, Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the ruling Scottish National Party, signed the Edinburgh Agreement, allowing Scotland to hold an independence referendum in the autumn of 2014.

It is also the third referendum for Scotland after the two previous ones held respectively in 1979 and 1997 on Scottish devolution.

The referendum in 1979 failed to gain the mandatory 40 percent of the electorate, while the latter succeeded with an overwhelming majority of voters backing devolution.

As a devolved legislature, the Scottish parliament was reconvened in 1999 with authorities over some limited areas of home affairs, and the parliament of the United Kingdom keeps "reserved" powers including the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish parliament. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua

Chambers Ireland has today (18/09/2014) welcomed the quarterly national accounts which show that the Irish Economy grew by 7.7% in GDP terms and by...

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The pound has hit a two-year high against the euro and a two-week high against the US dollar, as Scotland voted against independence. In early...

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When Scotland went to vote, there was a general response from the south, to the Scots even considering their right to determine their own destiny: ‘condescending, patronizing, supercilious, superior, snobbish, snobby, scornful, disdainful, lofty, lordly, haughty, imperious’ and therein lies the problem, however those who behaved in such a manner, will never notice this in [...]Scotland Referendum underlined one thing is a post from: All4Data



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