The Arctic is expected to become more important in the coming decades as climate change makes natural resources there available and new global transport routes more accessible, alleviating bottlenecks like the Suez Canal. It could also impact on the shipping route around the Cape to Asia.

For some time now Mozambique has been a source of good news in Southern Africa. In recent years expectations have been high that the country is on the brink of a bright and prosperous future. But these dreams have lately been shattered by a number of deadly attacks, allegedly committed by members of Renamo.

President Barack Obama has returned home after his trip to Africa, having announced a “new partnership” with the continent in which South Africa, as its biggest economy, is to play a pivotal role. But the continent, and South Africa, will do well to remember from history that for any American president the interests of America will always come first.

When US electronic surveillance whistle-blower Edward Snowden recently revealed how US and British intelligence agencies had monitored the communications of South African and other nations' politicians and diplomats as well as those of private citizens, South Africa reacted with outrage and demanded action. The irony is that South Africa probably does the same or even worse.

Globally, young people have been at the centre of political and social upheaval in the midst of the lingering economic crisis that has hit them particularly hard. The phenomenon of the dumping of human faeces in public places might just be the tip of the ice berg of what awaits South Africa.

The widely divergent views in South Africa on the role of labour brokers in a never-ending and the often acrimonious public debate clearly illustrates how one person’s absolutely firm beliefs can be another’s heresy. This phenomenon, known as relativity, or relativism goes way back in history.

When the South African cricket team is selected for the tour to Sri Lanka during the coming week, don’t expect significant changes to the test team who dominated the global game the past eighteen months, with Dean Elgar remaining part of the squad as an automatic replacement for the injured Graeme Smith.

The Bulls have virtually sealed their home semifinal spot in the Vodacom Super Rugby competition by thrashing the whipping boys of South African Super Rugby, the Southern Kings, by 48-18 on Saturday. And, courtesy of the Sharks the Toyota Cheetahs remain in the mix.