The international news scene is strongly dominated by the financial problems of Europe, which we are told will become the problem of all of us, no matter how far removed we are from the land where the sun sets, if they do not manage to sort it out. Whether this is true or bulldust is hard to tell bat there is plenty of bull associated with Europe.

Business in South Africa has been forced to go it alone and train for its own needs because of the lack of work-ready graduates coming out of the country’s higher education institutions (HEIs). What the country needs, however, is partnerships on a large scale – between a university and a business, or business sector, or professional association, says a private-sector training expert.

With the euro zone debt crisis seemingly worsening and European leaders scampering about like cats on a hot tin roof looking for solutions, there has been increasing talk of cutting development aid to Africa and other developing regions. But would that be all bad, one might ask. Not if a newly released report by CONCORD (the confederation of European development NGOs) is to be believed.

Vulnerable, mediocre and a team that might be overwhelmed even by a South African A-team, is the judgement of Kepler Wessels when approached about the qualities of the Sri Lankan touring side coming to our shores in December and January. But then we also heard the former South African captain, endorse a widely held belief just a few weeks ago that the Proteas would hold the upper hand against Australia.

The battle between Ryan Chapman and Benni McCarthy could be the highlight of the 2011 Telkom Knockout final on  10 December between Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits, with both having played a key role in their respective team’s success this past weekend.

 The economic crisis in the West holds some important lessons for South Africa’s attitude to debt and the culture of easy money that breeds it. In short, “failing to deal with the culture, system and incentive structures that create excessive debt and leverage, and then simply kicking the can down the road has prolonged the crisis and increased the pain experienced,” argues Glenn Silverman.

East Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing regions on the African continent over the next few years, with two of the countries – Tanzania and Ethiopia – even anticipated to be among the top 10 fastest-growing economies in the world in the 2011-15 period. Although the region has historically been Africa’s stepchild in terms of collecting foreign direct investment (FDI), this picture is starting to change, writes Thalma Corbett.

Nowadays there is seldom good news coming out of the kingdom of Swaziland. The trend seems to continue and with the latest setback many Swazis will probably experience a bleak and unhappy festive season, with emotions running high since some newspapers reported on an official memo stating the government might be unable to pay its 35 000  civil servants their November salaries or will pay them late.

There is growing evidence that the financial markets have discovered the huge opportunities presented by agricultural commodities, writes Norman Girvan. The consequences are devastating, as speculators drive up food prices and plunge millions of people into poverty.

The long-standing debate about whether a downturn in the economy leads to an upturn in crime seems like being settled in the streets of Athens. European Union-imposed belt-tightening measures in exchange for a sovereign debt bailout has seen the income of the average Greek-household drop by 50% and suicide and crime rates are on the rise.

The question in South Africa at present is not whether the nationalisation debate will continue or not, but rather what form it will take and whether suspended ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema will still be able to influence it in any way. While Malema and his ANC Youth League (ANCYL) firmly put the debate on the agenda, it is certainly not limited to their views.

A compromise is mooted at the COP17 conference on climate change, which started in Durban yesterday, as pessimists predict that the earliest a new global deal on reducing carbon emissions is likely to come into force is 2020 – eight years after the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end. According to some reports, one of the proposals, as set by the European Union, would see COP17 parties agreeing to a road map that would provide mandates for different countries up to 2015.

A messy, disorderly and globally extremely serious economically disruptive disintegration of the eur zone and the collapse of its currency, a scenario some commentators call eurogeddon, is no longer just the talk of alarmists. At least two European governments have started working on contingency plans for such an eventuality, which would leave very few if any economies in the world untouched by the fallout.

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