There was a hint, I thought, or wished, of a Russified Jack London in the childhood and adolescence of Mikhail Kalashnikov. The expanses of Siberia standing in for the Pacific north-west perhaps; there was an old rifle for hunting in the woods; the mysterious gift of an American Browning revolver, to be wondered at, taken apart and cherished; an artisan’s fascination with mechanical things, writes Nigel Fountain.
Global stock markets have lost about 6,5% from their peak in mid-July, with levels of volatility not seen since the 1997/98 emerging-market crisis and the credit-market crisis of 2002/03 led by the collapse of Worldcom and Enron. Just prior to this market fall-out, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised global growth expectations for 2007 and 2008 from 4,9% to 5,2% .
There is wide recognition that Africa, the region least responsible for generating the polluting "greenhouse gases" that cause global warming, will need significant financial aid to cope with its effects. Whether this money will be available is an open question. Africa is already struggling to find funds to lift its people out of poverty, and it has failed to attract investment in projects that will protect the African environment.
BEE, despite its redistributive intentions, has been doubly conducive to the interests of large-scale South African capital, says a new academic paper. It has largely served to entrench established interests, especially in the industrial fishing industry, with a few high-profile black partners receiving some of the cut while the risk is outsourced to black capital.
While everyone’s attention has been focused on the trials and tribulations of the life insurance sector, Sanlam has been quietly transforming itself into a diversified financial services company, focusing on home loans and money market accounts rather than life cover.
Eskom will decide by year-end whether it will proceed with a new 100MW facility powered entirely by the sun. Concentrated solar power is a relatively new technology worldwide, but it has the backing of the World Bank because it is the only zero-greenhouse-gas-emission technology that has the potential to rival coal-fired power as a low-cost solution to the energy crisis.
While many land claims in rural areas have been settled, land restored to communities has often failed to bring hoped-for jobs and income. But one Mpumalanga community has found a way to break the deadlock and use its land to start tourism ventures. The beauty of eastern Mpumalanga and the evident prosperity of tourism ventures disguises the endemic poverty in the area.
Last week we commemorated the brave women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against the discriminatory policies of apartheid. But, after the marchers have gone home and the banners are packed away, how free and equal are South Africa’s women really?
In its 60th year as an independent nation, India has just elected its first woman president. Yet the ascent of the demure Pratibha Patil may not necessarily be a victory for Indian women. Today, in India, "women’s empowerment" is a government slogan; it is a feature of every party manifesto. There is a ministry for women and child development.
A mid all the hoopla surrounding the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, almost nothing has been heard from Pakistan, which also turned 60 recently. Nothing, that is, if you discount the low rumble of suicide bombings, the noise of automatic weapons storming the Red Mosque and the creak of slowly collapsing dictatorships.