DINNER PARTY INTEL...
The topics you have to be able to discuss this week
1. Saffa is sexy
South Africans have the second sexiest accent in the world, according to a global travel website poll of 1.5-million readers. Big 7 Travel says: “Afrikaans is a hugely popular accent with many people, thanks to their unique tones and Saffa slang.” Only New Zealand keeps SA from the top spot. Readers describe the Kiwi dialect as “outrageously charming”. Third place goes to the “lilting” Irish accent, followed by Italian:
“Any word in Italian sounds sexy.” Australian is fifth, and the top 10 is rounded out by Scottish, French, Spanish, southern US and Brazilian Portuguese. “English” English, having been voted tops in another poll, makes only 12th spot in this one.
“Whether we behave well because we’re rich or whether we’re rich because we behave well, we’ll never know” Warren Buffett, 88, chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and the third-richest man in the world, worth $86bn, when asked in a Financial Times interview whether investors and regulators will have concerns when the company is no longer led by the most famous and trusted of US capitalists
2. Capital to move
Indonesia is moving its capital city away from Jakarta, home to over 10-million people, and sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world, says the BBC. The country’s planning minister said the president, Joko Widodo, had made this “important decision”. The new location is not yet known, though state media report that one of the frontrunners is Palangkaraya, on the island of Borneo. Jakarta is said to have the world’s worst traffic congestion, costing the economy $6.8bn a year.
3. Kenneth’s threat
Despite having been downgraded after winds weakened, Cyclone Kenneth is expected to bring 600mm-800mm of rain over Mozambique — twice the amount that fell over 10 days when Cyclone Idai devastated Beira and killed more than 900 across three countries last month. Kenneth made landfall further north in Cabo Delgado with winds of 220km/h, having killed three people in Comoros. Aid agencies warned of flooding and landslides in Mozambique, which evacuated 30,000 people from affected areas. Tanzania ordered schools and businesses in the south to close. Zimbabwe put its disaster management agencies on alert.