An investigation into the consumer credit insurance industry has found that remuneration by some insurers to motor dealerships and furniture retailers was in excess of the capped commissions stipulated in both the Short-Term and Long-Term Insurance Acts. It also found that there have been undesirable practices by intermediaries selling credit policies.
They still pray for Madeleine McCann in the little whitewashed church in Praia da Luz, a small but faithful clutch of 15 or so locals and ex-pats who stumble down the little cobbled hill to the church every Friday evening for a "service for missing children".
The battle for control of the R70-billion private healthcare industry has been ratcheted up as the regulator of medical schemes turns to the Constitutional Court to define its jurisdiction and the minister of health releases draft price-control regulation.
Not very long ago, the growing of vegetables in the United Kingdom was commonly dismissed as a minority interest for eco-eccentrics and crumbly old allotment holders. But concern for the environment, worries about healthy eating and the credit crunch have led to packets of veg seeds flying off the racks, with sales reportedly rising by up to 60% on last spring.
South Africa considers controversial cluster bombs to be legitimate weapons of war that should not be banned, but rather be regulated to prevent “unacceptable harm” to civilians. South Africa and Egypt were the only two countries to object to a total ban on the munitions at a continent-wide summit a few weeks ago.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said this week that it has begun to cut the provision of school meals to the world’s poorest children as the global crisis over food prices worsens. Josette Sheeran, the WFP’s executive director, said the price of basic foods was rising so rapidly that a shortfall in financing for its food relief programmes had grown from -million to -million in less than two months.
”Making a birthing choice is not a simple affair. I made my choice halfway through my pregnancy and I’m still not sure it’s the best one, but it feels right. During my research I was bombarded with advice about the pros and cons of going natural, ” . Yolandi Groenewald looks into the issue of child birth choices and what effects these have on women.
Civil society organisations from across the continent are flexing their muscles to draw the attention of the world to Zimbabwe this Africa Day. Organisations from countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and Senegal are planning marches and public speeches in the run-up to May 25 to keep the political crisis in Zimbabwe in the public mind.
Hidden deep inside the jungle-covered Karst Mountains of northern Laos lies a secret cave-city where revolutionary leaders survived nearly a decade of United States bombing during the Vietnam War. Now, over 30 years since the conflict ended, the communist country has opened up the remote wartime hideaway to tourism.
There is no question that the struggle over land and power in Zimbabwe has brought the country to a grim pass. Nearly a decade after the takeover of white-owned farms and the rupture with the West, economic breakdown, hyperinflation, sanctions and Aids have taken a heavy toll. With the expectation now that a second round of elections, mired in claims of fraud, may after all keep President Robert Mugabe in power, the prospect must be of continued economic punishment and crisis.