Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, said on Thursday he would give up the daily running of Microsoft by July 2008 to concentrate on his foundation’s work tackling health and education problems. The Microsoft co-founder wanted a two-year transition "to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities", Microsoft said in a statement.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to a selection of African countries next week highlights the growing importance of resource-rich Africa to the world’s most voracious consumer of any commodity that can fuel industrialisation. His June 17 to 24 visit will take in Egypt, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
The current world economic volatility should be no cause for concern for emerging markets investors. That is according to Rejane Woodroffe, an economist at Metropolitan Asset Managers. Woodroffe spoke to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> as markets endured their second rough week.
So today we will again sing and dance and listen to speeches extolling the virtues of a generation, a township and an uprising. The young people in Bafana Bafana should not have been here; instead they should have been at the soccer World Cup in Germany. But that is beside the point.
Lord Browne, BP’s chief executive, held out the prospect of a big drop in crude oil prices to a barrel as he dismissed views that petroleum was running out very fast. His optimism came despite a 1c rise in the price of Brent crude for July delivery to ,49 a barrel in morning trading in London, as traders continued to fret about tensions in the Middle East.
Africa’s representation in the 2010 World Cup, to be staged in South Africa, looks endangered, with world governing body Fifa likely to reduce the number of the continent’s qualifying participants from five to four. Two years ago, Fifa’s executive committee concluded that future demands for more representation would be based on results, with the rule being “the worse the results, the fewer the participants”.
In the vast indoor Olympic swimming pool in northern Baghdad, sectarian differences are submerged after a commute which is equally dangerous for all the swimmers. Here, amid the overwhelming smell of chlorine, Hamza Hamid and his disabled swimming team colleagues are preparing for an upcoming competition.
Want to save the planet? Wear your jeans two days a week, wash them every fifth day, and let them dry by themselves. Or better still, don’t wash them at all. And don’t even think of ironing them. This is the conclusion of a report commissioned by France’s environment agency on the ecological impact of a pair of denims.
By taking to the streets with courage and a strong sense of defiance, those brave young people involved in the Soweto uprisings helped to bring down apartheid and usher in the democracy we enjoy today. Although young South Africans can stop focusing on liberation and enjoy more freedom of expression than ever before, the problems they face are as serious to them as apartheid was for the youth during the protests.
A group of men sits huddled around a two-plate stove. They rub their hands, trying to stay warm; one eats porridge with a wooden spoon straight out of the pot. This is the end of the line for Johannesburg’s homeless, and every night between 500 and 800 people bed down in the halls of the Central Methodist church in Johannesburg’s inner city.