After eight years of unprecedented economic growth and equity and bond market strength, investors have started to question whether emerging markets will be able to maintain their positive momentum. Annual inflows into emerging market funds reached record levels of more than $15-billion last year.
The unit trust industry has had another bumper quarter with the most inflows ever received. The industry took R19,7-billion of new investments, of which R13-billion came from retail sales, which are from individual -investors. However, this is not an indication that South Africans are starting to save more, writes Maya Fisher-French.
"They have no voice, no jobs; poverty is excruciating, slavery is there. They are just suffering." This was the sobering assessment of Namibia’s indigenous San community, delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Libertina Amathila last September after a visit to the north-eastern Otjozondjupa region where the majority of San live.
Michelle Wie, the hottest thing in women’s golf, will be the star draw at next week’s SK Telecom Open where she will bid to make her first halfway cut against men in eight appearances. The teen prodigy will be the third high profile woman golfer after Laura Davies of England and Japan’s Ai Miyazato to feature on the Asian Tour.
Idan Halili, just 19 years old, has written a feminist critique that has astounded established feminist voices around the world. Her analysis takes the form of a letter sent to the Israeli army asking for exemption from compulsory service, based on a feminist rejection of militarism.
Nepal’s royal regime cracked down on protesters recently in an attempt to stifle further disruption after two weeks of demonstrations aimed at toppling the country’s monarch, King Gyanendra. Security forces shot dead at least two people in the south-east of the country and announced a shoot-on-sight 18-hour curfew in Kathmandu, in a clear attempt to scuttle opposition plans.
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Six people died on the East Rand after they were thrown from a moving train by suspected security guards targeting scab labour during a protracted strike, police said on Tuesday. Police were alerted late on Monday that ”people were being thrown off the train” between two stations at Benoni, about 20km east of Johannesburg, spokesperson Eugene Opperman said.
Adidas, the German sportswear manufacturer, is suing the tennis Grand Slams and the sport’s governing body in a dispute over their three-stripes trademark, the Wimbledon organisers said on Tuesday. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTCC) said it would vigorously defend the action, which is set to go to court in May. Papers were served against the club last week, chief executive Ian Ritchie said.
Iraqi prime minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki said on Tuesday that he expected to have his Cabinet line-up ready for approval in two weeks as hectic lobbying began for key ministerial posts. ”I believe that in the next 15 days we can have a new government and present it to Parliament,” Maliki told state television.