DIAMOND giant De Beers said on Thursday that sales of rough diamonds through its Diamond Trading Company slumped 255% in the first half of 2001 to $2,62-billion. The group blamed the slowdown in the global economy for sluggish demand for polished diamonds, particularly in the United States, which had a knock-on impact on rough diamond […]

DAVID MACFARLANE, Johannesburg | Friday SIZE does count – and that’s official. District councillors around the country have been seduced by the argument that because South Africans “are generally big people”, they are more susceptible to “deep vein thrombosis” if they fly economy class. Shortly before setting off on an investment mission to China in […]

Kampala | Thursday AFRICAN political and business leaders plan to publicise positive aspects of the continent’s investment environment in order to attract investors, they said on Wednesday. Nine African presidents and captains of industry who met for four days at an international investment conference that ended here on Tuesday called for “more attention to techniques […]

VISITING Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday invited African countries to share the cost of the launch and use of his country’s third satellite in 2004 to boost South-South cooperation and to promote the continent’s image worldwide. Speaking at the end of the four-day Global 2001 Smart Partnership International Dialogue in Kampala, Mahathir said […]

MALAWIAN President Bakili Muluzi has ruled out placing a ceiling on the price of maize after costs on the staple product trebled earlier in the week due to a food shortage. “(There is) nothing the government can do to intervene on the prices,” Muluzi told reporters on arrival from an investment conference in Uganda. On […]

THE Nigerian government has sacked four more directors of its ailing national carrier, bringing to five the number of senior officials removed in under a week, officials said on Tuesday. The government on Friday removed Nigeria Airways’ managing director, Abayomi Jones, saying he was not doing enough to prepare the airline’s privatisation. In a statement […]

Feminist icon Doris Lessing says men are the new “silent victims” in the sex war. Yeah right BODY LANGUAGE Jeanette Winterson Men have found a new champion. Feminist icon and world-class novelist Doris Lessing has told the girls to lay off. She used her Edinburgh festival appearance to lament the cultural divide between men and […]

A SECOND LOOK Jaspreet Kindra The South African government last week announced there will be no limits on foreign ownership when the first of its parastatals Telkom goes up for sale. There has not been a whimper of protest from the anti-globalisation movement or those in the government who not so long ago professed to […]

Community Projects Award Finalist: Built Environment Support Group’s Msunduzi Project Niki Moore The “little boxes” springing up in their thousands as part of the government’s low-cost housing masterplan are often a major headache for municipalities.?Services and maintenance are expensive and very often the residents can’t, or won’t, pay. When services break down, the rows of […]

Schumacher joins Ascari in Ferrari book of greats, writes Richard Williams Tradition was not the first thing on Michael Schumacher’s mind when he signed his contract with the Scuderia Ferrari back in 1996. In fact it was not on his mind at all. He professed to know little and seemed to care less about the […]