About a dozen veiled women, some with only their eyes visible, stare at a large flat screen flashing stock prices inside a female-only dealing room at the Dubai bourse.
Motivated by a desire to make some quick money, share their husbands’ passion for stocks or simply fill in time, many housewives in the United Arab Emirates have been lured into a bubbling stock market over the past year.
Harmony CEO Bernard Swanepoel has emerged as something of a consumer champion after his recent testimony against steel producer Mittal at the Competition Tribunal. "I’ve been flooded with letters of support from smaller businesses that cannot afford to pick a fight with Mittal because they are too intimidated," said Swanepoel.
”I think I have discovered the clinching argument for closing the United Kingdom’s House of Lords. It is the presence in that chamber of a peer called Lady Jenny Tonge. Last week the baroness opened a debate about Botswana with an attack on the Gana and Gwi Bushmen of the Kalahari,” writes George Monbiot.
The Western Cape Department of Education will appoint 500 teaching assistants as part of its literacy and numeracy strategy. Children and teachers in the foundation phase are set to benefit from the pilot project, which aims to improve the reading and mathematics skills in the vital first years of formal schooling.
As one of Charles Taylor’s closest advisers warns of ”bloodshed and chaos” if the former Liberian president is extradited, analysts say the international community must act quickly to prevent his supporters from re-arming. Taylor, currently in exile in Nigeria, faces 17 counts of crimes against humanity brought by an internationally backed special court in Sierra Leone.
Shortly before the first Gulf War the recently retired chairperson of the United States joint chiefs of staff, Admiral William Crowe, went for lunch with his successor, Colin Powell. In words that resonate today, Crowe warned Powell that ”a war in the Middle East … would set back the United States in the region for a long time”.
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Legal papers would be served on President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday informing him that Billy Masetlha, the former director general of intelligence, is contesting his sacking, Masetlha’s attorney said. ”The papers were issued on Monday and would like be served on the president in the morning,” said Imran Haffajee.
South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Moss Mashishi conceded on Monday that South Africa does not have anywhere near the level of cash resources injected into sport by the Australians. ”Between the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the 2004 Athens Olympics, Australia invested Aus-million [R3,6-billion] in their athletes.”
Heads of state and government of eight French-speaking west African countries met in Niamey, Niger on Monday to discuss an emergency plan to combat lethal bird flu and choose a new head for the central bank of west African states. The summit opened with grim statistics on the danger that could face the region’s poultry if the H5N1 virus, which first hit the region in February, is not contained.