BURUNDI :
RWANDA
UGANDA
TANZANIA:
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Ethiopian herdsmen kill Kenyan police officer The officer from the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) was killed late on Friday after 500 militiamen, from the Ethiopian Merille tribe, attacked the unit’s camp in Todonyang, a village abandoned since 1997 when the two ethnic groups fought. Six GSU officers who were said to have gone missing after the attack are now safe, said the Turkana Regional Commissioner Christopher Musambu. “We did not lose any other personnel apart from the senior GSU officer. Casualties on the militia side remain unknown,” he added. A Kenyan police officer has been killed by members of an Ethiopian tribal militia after a clash along the two countries’ common border, Kenyan media said on Saturday. On January 24, Merille herdsmen killed three people including an administration policeman and a police reservist in an attack took place at Todonyang village near River Omo, a tributary of Lake Turkana. The assailants killed a woman alongside two security men and abducted three fishermen during the attack. A security meeting between officials from the two countries would be held on Monday to discuss how to secure the volatile region that has witnessed cross border attacks in the recent past. The incident follows the killing of two army men and injury of six others early last month by Toposa militia at Nadapal region on the Kenya-Southern Sudan border. Kenya’s long borders with Sudan, Ethiopia and politically unstable Somalia care a constant source of security concerns. (ST) ANGOLA :
FMC awarded Angola contract by Total www.norwaypost.no/Mon, 01-Mar-2010 The systems will be manufactured and assembled at FMC’s facilities in Dunfermline, Scotland; Kongsberg, Norway; and Luanda, Angola. “FMC has supported a number of Total’s projects in Block 17, including Girassol, Rosa and Pazflor,” said Tore Halvorsen, FMC’s Senior Vice President of Global Subsea Production Systems, “and we are pleased to continue our support of their deepwater efforts with today’s announcement.” (Budstikka/Press release) Rolleiv Solholm SOUTH AFRICA:
Bidvest, BHP, Tongaat, Liberty: South Africa Equity Preview March 1 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close. South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 32.76, or 0.1 percent, to 26,764.61 in Johannesburg, snapping three days of losses. Bidvest Group Ltd. (BVT SJ): The company that operates catering companies and auto dealers said first-half net income fell to 1.54 billion rand ($200 million) from 1.59 billion rand. The stock gained 1.7 percent to 132 rand. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BIL SJ): Copper climbed the most in 11 months in New York and mining shares surged after an earthquake in Chile, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, forced Codelco and Anglo American Plc to shut mine operations. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, dropped 3.95 rand, or 1.7 percent, to 231.05 rand. Liberty International Plc (LBT SJ): The largest owner of U.K. shopping malls said Public Investment Corp., which is owned by South Africa, has raised its stake in the company to 5.71 percent, from less than 5 percent previously. Liberty fell 1.30 rand, or 2.3 percent, to 55.20 rand. MTN Group Ltd.: Phuthuma Nhleko, the company’s chief executive officer, said he will step down in March next year. MTN rose 90 cents, or 0.8 percent, to 111.90 rand. Sappi Ltd. (SAP SJ): The world’s largest maker of glossy magazine paper holds its annual general meeting. Sappi fell 3 percent to 29.51 rand. Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP SJ): The country’s biggest food retailer was cut to “underperform” from “outperform,” by Credit Suisse Standard Securities’ Johannesburg-based analysts Brendan Grundlingh and Roger Tejwani, which cited the stock’s 39 rally in the last year and growth from sales in Africa needed at about 30 percent to justify the stock’s gain. Shoprite rose 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 74.90 rand. Sun International Ltd. (SUI SJ): The hotel operator said its Monticello casino in Chile was damaged in the earthquake on Feb. 27. The stock rose 1.55 rand, or 1.7 percent, to 92 rand. Tongaat Hulett Ltd. (TON SJ): The South African sugar producer net income for the 12 months through December rose to 2.87 billion rand from 649 million a year earlier. The company also said it aims to boost sugar production to 1.9 million metric tons a year from the 957,000 tons milled in the 2009-2010 season. Tongaat gained 0.6 percent to 98.16 rand. Woolworths Holdings Ltd. (WHL): The food and clothing retailer was raised to “neutral” from “underperform” at Credit Suisse Standard Securities, which cited improved spending by higher income consumers. Woolworths advanced 22 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 20.61 rand. The following stocks will begin trading without the right to the latest dividends: Anglo Platinum Ltd. (AMS SJ); Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP SJ); BHP Billiton Plc (BIL SJ); Hulamin Ltd. (HLM SJ); Palabora Mining Co. (PAM SJ). Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows: Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) increased 1.5 percent to $18.16. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) advanced 1.1 percent to $36.38. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL US) rose 0.8 percent to $61.76. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) gained 2.2 percent to $6.06. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) added 0.5 percent to $11.49. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) was unchanged at $9.13. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) gained 3.9 percent to $24.50. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) slid 3.4 percent to $3.75. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) rose 1.7 percent to $36.63. –Editors: Susan Lerner, Antony Sguazzin Aggreko In £30 Million World Cup Deal By REUTERS/01/03/2010 LONDON (Reuters) – Temporary power producer Aggreko , has been awarded a 30 million pound contract for the supply of power to the soccer World Cup in South Africa, the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday. The company, who supplied temporary power, heating and cooling equipment for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, will provide broadcasting power in all 10 World Cup stadiums, FIFA headquarters and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), the paper said. “(W)e are delighted to have been selected by the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee to secure their broadcast power,” Aggreko’s Chief Executive Rupert Soames said. The firm, that was promoted to the FTSE 100 in the latest reshuffle, operates temporary power stations in countries such as Kenya and Uganda and rents out generators around the world to events including the Olympics and the Super Bowl. Aggreko plans to announce its preliminary results on Thursday. (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Diane Craft) David Bankier, Scholar of Holocaust, Dies at 63 By ETHAN BRONNER/www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01 JERUSALEM — David Bankier, who helped expand the contours of Holocaust research by examining the participation of ordinary Europeans in the extermination of their Jewish neighbors, died over the weekend after a long illness, Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem Holocaust center, announced. He was 63. Mr. Bankier, who was head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, focused his scholarly work on anti-Semitism, especially its use by the Nazis to promote and sustain a broader ideology. He was the author of “Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion Under Nazism” as well as a collection of essays, “Hitler, the Holocaust and German Society: Cooperation and Awareness.” Born in Germany just before the state of Israel was created, Mr. Bankier grew up and was educated here, earning his doctorate in Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He held a professorship at Hebrew University and had served as a visiting professor in Britain, the United States, South Africa and South America. He spoke excellent English and Spanish, in addition to German and Hebrew. Divorced, Mr. Bankier is survived by three children. A rumpled, somber man who sought to understand the most bewildering aspects of genocide — how someone could play soccer with an acquaintance one day and assist in his murder the next — Mr. Bankier insisted both on the uniqueness of the Nazi Holocaust of six million Jews and on its applicability to other cases of mass murder. For anti-Semites, “Jews represent mysterious, mythic and evil forces,” he said at a recent lecture, “an omnipotence playing a sinister role in world history.” At another lecture he noted that for Hitler, “Nazism was a doctrine of world salvation to redeem humanity from the Jewish-Christian-Marxist doctrine. The acquisition and maintenance of total suppression of the German race, Hitler believed, must be through total war of Germans against the Jews.” At the same time, Mr. Bankier said last year in an interview with The New York Times that the work he was overseeing at Yad Vashem on the role of bystanders and neighbors in numerous smaller mass killings across the former Soviet Union in the early 1940s had important implications for contemporary genocide in Africa and other places. He argued that the world was a different place as a result of what the Nazis had done, that if genocide in far-off places shocked average people today it was partly because of their knowledge of the details of the Holocaust. In other words, Holocaust deniers aside, Holocaust awareness was central to contemporary sensibility. Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, said that with Mr. Bankier’s death, the world had lost one of its most important scholars in the field. He noted that Mr. Bankier, who had fought his illness over a long period, kept a regular schedule until his last day. Rough diamond fetches $40m 01032010 /www.smh.com.au A DIAMOND the size of a hen’s egg has sold for $US35.3 million ($40 million), the highest sale price on record for a rough diamond. The 507.6-carat stone was sold yesterday to Hong Kong gem company Chow Tai Fook. It was discovered in South Africa last year by Petra Diamonds Ltd at its Cullinan mine, east of Pretoria. The company said the Cullinan Heritage stone was found at the same mine as the world’s biggest diamond, the 3106-carat Cullinan, discovered in 1905. It was cut to form the Great Star of Africa and Lesser Star of Africa, set in Britain’s crown jewels. ”It has the potential to produce one of the world’s most important polished gems,” Petra chief executive Johan Dippenaar said ANC, government, South Africa: Who is in charge? www.thedailymaverick.co.za/2010-03-01 Every day brings more and more proof that our country is sinking into chaos. And while South Africa is in dire need of leadership, the ANC keeps fiddling. Jessie Duarte’s purported resignation from her position as chief operating officer in the presidency was planned to cause maximum hurt to her enemies by breaking it in the Sunday Times, but then it was said to never have happened. But the whole affair simply brings out into the open something everyone now knows. The ANC is in chaos. And it is killing our country, South Africa. There are plenty of reasons for this, but the first and the biggest is that there’s no sense of leadership. And leadership is a funny thing; it is difficult to define. As with good science fiction, it is something you point at and say, “That’s it. That’s true leadership”. People instinctively know what it is; they know when and who to fear. They know when to respect and when to listen. But in South Africa these days, they’re learning when to ignore what’s being offered as leadership. You see, there’s this thing called “political capital”. Politicians have great quantities of it when they are just about to start their first mandate. You can measure a politician’s success by the speed at which political capital is lost. Thabo Mbeki, Richard Nixon, George W Bush had just about none as they ended their terms in power. Accordingly, President Zuma had plenty of it when he replaced Thabo Mbeki as the ANC head in rainy Polokwane in 2007. Only 26 months later, it appears most of it is gone. His words may seem to be correct, his actions may even be correct. But his political capital gauge is way down, deep in the red. He is not feared and he sure cannot control the organisation anymore. (As for the tripartite alliance, that was a tough job to start with anyway.) How many times has President Jacob Zuma spoken about corruption? Virtually every speech we’ve heard him give (and there have been plenty) mentioned it. But behind him there were people laughing into their hands and clapping wildly. And then, shortly after each ceremony, leaping back into their Beemers and heading off to their provinces to continue doing things exactly the same way as they always have. (Think tenders and non-delivery. Think Al Capone if its Mpumalanga.) As a result, the disconnect between what Zuma says and what is actually happens is starker than ever. Corruption is one of the issues on which this country, like many before it, will stand or fall. And fail it will, if corruption succeeds in subverting the very essence of our society. That old saw, “for evil to prosper requires only that good men do nothing” is very close to becoming an absolute truth in Africa once again. And what is so weird about it is not that good men are failing in their quest to stop corruption. It’s that good men are simply doing nothing. Nothing at all. There’s no sense of drive, of vision or of simple decisiveness to get off one’s arse and make a decision to which everyone would stick. And when decisions are finally made, you can’t help but feel they’re being made only as a reaction to pressure. Pressure from morally corrupt individuals who take the tender and run. Pressure from the media, sometimes. Pressure from communities that threaten violence, and pressure from alliance partners to bring workers out on to the streets. The lack of leadership is a problem that is seeping down through our land. Just to prove it, think of any average parastatal. There’s roughly a one in two or three chance that it has an acting boss. This ineptitude and lack of delivery happens almost always because of internal fights. And yes, what is for them a food fight has real consequences for the rest of us. We’re quite a few locomotives short because of Transnet’s issues with Siyabonga Gama. “Chaos Manor”, better known as the SA Broadcasting Corporation, went through a very expensive phase in its battle with its former board, and now its former CEO – all as programme quality sinks to the Tajikistani levels. Eskom, the parastatal that can kill this country and take us back to the stone age, is still leaderless and may remain that way for ages. In some cases the acting guys have done reasonably well, and we pay tribute to that, but the fact is it’s much more difficult to lead an organisation when everyone knows you’re not there for the long haul and any decisions you make could well be overruled. It all boils down to one thing: internal politics within the ANC. Because that’s what’s really happening here. We’re seeing fights over power in politics as we see in power over resources. Forget the ideology, delivery, better life for all. It is all about power. It is all about money. It is also about not having confidence in the system you built and your own place within it. Therefore, it becomes necessary to amass as much as possible, as soon as possible. Some ANC leaders have said publicly that the ANC is South Africa. Zuma himself has said that every organisation in this country should think of the ANC when they take a decision, because the party is so central to everything that happens here. To take his analogy slightly further, that would mean that when the ANC is healthy, so is the country. But when the party is not taking any decisions, when it’s paralysed, when its members cannot agree among themselves on anything, we all suffer. Every kid knows that when the teacher is away, it’s time to come and play. And you’ll play loudly, all the while knowing that the one thing you mustn’t do is annoy the teacher next door. But in this case there is no teacher next door, and there doesn’t seem to be much hope of a new one emerging anytime soon. What the ANC needs is a true leader who is not afraid of anyone or anything. It needs to realise that leadership involves pissing people off. Just ask Margaret Thatcher. Hated as she was, she never had qualms about telling the truth, no matter how politically inopportune it was. Or to go to war, if necessary. To get the country to a better place, a true leader must be ready to tell the truth, to name names, to lose friends if necessary. A leader’s job is to lead. Not all the time to be calculating how to stay in power. To make a better life for all, the true leader will think about the country, and not only about the circle surrounding him. Compare that with South Africa’s current reality. By Stephen Grootes (Grootes is an Eyewitness News reporter) AFRICA / AU :
Bob is ‘God’s gift to Africa’ Zanu-PF bootlickers, hangers-on and sycophants have been falling over each other to wish Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe many more years in power. The octogenarian, who on April 18 this year marks 30 years in power, has been compared to God in newspaper and television adverts. Mugabe, who turned 86 last Sunday, was feted at an exclusive bash in Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city, on Friday. Among the artists picked to entertain at the Bulawayo bash was Jamaican reggae icon Sizzla Kalonji. “I am honoured to be in Zimbabwe to grace birthday celebrations of a great revolutionary leader and Pan-Africanist who is fighting to uplift the livelihoods of marginalised Africans – President Mugabe,” the musician gushed to journalists. Other entertainers billed to perform for the occasion – at which Zanu-PF bigwigs had no qualms about showing off their designer clothes, cars and other bling – included South Africa’s Soul Brothers and Mzwakhe Mbuli. But Friday’s bash paled in comparison to the adverts praising Mugabe – which have been flighted since the beginning of February as Zanu-PF supporters, army, police and other securocrats spent thousands of dollars to sponsor colourful, slavish messages in support of the president. The parliament of Zimbabwe, whose secretariat is packed with Zanu-PF apologists, paid for an ad in which Mugabe was described as “a torchbearer of African self-determination, an embodiment of black empowerment who encapsulates true African values, an icon of emancipation of the black majority from the yoke of colonial oppression”. It continued: “Revered by friends and foes alike, the consolidation of the gains of revolution requires that we leave no room for complacency and that we emulate your illustrious life of dedication and commitment to justice.” Didymus Mutasa, the Zanu-PF secretary for administration and a minister of state in Mugabe’s office, described Mugabe as “a special gift God gave to Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole”. In a praise-singing article in one of the government newspapers, the Mugabe spin-doctor said the octogenarian had proved to be “a great visionary and revolutionary. He was an object of cynosure held in both veneration and reverence among other African leaders and in some international circles. “He has remained resolutely steadfast and as constant as the Northern Star. Under his astute leadership Zimbabwe has enjoyed a flourishing democracy, thriving on the corner stone of a multiparty system, tolerance and reconciliation around which egalitarianism is built … “No amount of hate speech or the smearing mudslinging can blinker and distract him from championing causes that add value to the world order.” While Mugabe is being applauded by his supporters, nearly two million Zimbabwean’s are dependent on food aid to survive. IRIN News reported that about 1.6 million Zimbabweans will be food-insecure between January and March 2010, with about 1.9 million receiving food aid. The report, based on an update compiled by several UN agencies, said at least 35% of children in Zimbabwe are severely malnourished. The report noted that Zimbabwe’s economic recovery was sluggish and that the provision of basic services is still problematic. The amount of foreign currency in circulation was also very limited. UN /ONU :
Al Qaeda Growing in Strength in North Africa The North African faction, which calls itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is still small and largely isolated, numbering a couple hundred militants based mostly in the vast desert of northern Mali. But signs of stepped-up activity and the group’s advancing potential for growth worry analysts familiar with the region. The rapid recent rise of the Al Qaeda group in Yemen — which spawned the Christmas airliner attack — is seen by U.S. officials and counterterrorism analysts as evidence that the North African militants could just as quickly take on a broader jihadi mission and become a serious threat to the U.S. and European allies. The Mali-based militants have yet to show a capability to launch such foreign attacks, but are widening their involvement in kidnapping and the narcotics trade, reaping profits that could be used to expand terror operations, officials and analysts said. Several senior U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials spoke about AQIM on condition of anonymity to discuss internal analysis. Those advances have set off alarms within the counterterrorism community, which watched as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula quickly transformed over the past year from militants preoccupied with internal Yemeni strife to a potent group recruiting and training insurgents for terror missions inside the U.S. That threat was underscored by the failed Christmas airliner attack, which officials say was planned and directed by Yemeni insurgent leaders. A key fear is that as AQIM expands, its criminal and insurgent operations will continue to destabilize the fragile governments of heavily Islamic North Africa, much as it has in Mali. The Maghreb includes the North African nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. As a result, the U.S. has been working to boost poverty-stricken Mali’s defenses. Last year, the U.S. gave $5 million in new trucks and other equipment to its security forces, and Pentagon funds also have been approved to provide training. Several senior U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials spoke about AQIM on condition of anonymity to discuss internal analysis. Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Center and a former CIA officer, said that the North African terror group has a larger area to operate in and a wider Islamic population pool to draw from, but has not launched the kind of large-scale attacks initially feared when it became an Al Qaeda affiliate three years ago. “Now, if it is beginning to reorganize, recruit and develop, because of this international potential, it could become a much more dangerous threat,” Riedel said. “And if there is a role model in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that is very disturbing.” Born as an Algerian insurgency in the early 1990s, the group was largely defeated and driven into a swath of ungoverned desert land — about the size of France — in northern Mali. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the group reached out to Al Qaeda in an effort to survive. AQIM was officially recognized as an Al Qaeda affiliate by Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Both the U.S. and the European Union have designated AQIM a terrorist organization. The group has since absorbed some of Al Qaeda’s techniques for roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Occasionally it has issued videos and statements on jihadi Internet forums. In December 2007, for example, the group attacked the U.N.’s Algerian headquarters, killing 37 people, including 17 U.N. staff members. At the same time, AQIM has increased its recruiting efforts, drawing insurgents from Mauritania, Nigeria and Chad, officials said. The recruits are trained in small arms and roadside bomb construction, officials said, then return to their home countries to plan and execute attacks. The spike in recruiting and training, along with the increase in kidnappings and other crimes, has made the region more insecure and unstable in just a year, several officials said. The militants often partner with local criminals, who kidnap tourists then sell them to AQIM, which then demands ransoms, officials said. Those alliances cement contacts between the criminal groups and AQIM, broadening its reach and membership. The kidnappings have had mixed results. Last week, the group released French hostage Pierre Camatte after holding him for three months. The move was spurred by a Mali court decision that released four jailed AQIM members. Some hostages have been killed — including Edwin Dyer, a British tourist who was captured with three others including two U.N. envoys. Britain had refused to pay ransom to the group. So far, the group has not moved beyond kidnappings to push Al Qaeda’s global jihad aims, creating tensions between the offshoot organization and core Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, said Haim Malka, deputy director for the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East program. “They have not yet become more globally focused, they’ve stayed in the Sahara region and they’ve failed to make inroads in other parts of North Africa,” he said. Malka cautioned that the group’s broadening efforts to work with local criminal networks on kidnappings may give the appearance that it is expanding more than it actually is. Despite the group’s limited reach, British and American authorities have issued strong warnings against travel to northern Mali, saying there is a “high threat from terrorism” and from criminal acts and kidnappings. The concern, according to officials, is that the insurgents will gain strength, expand their scope across the region and destabilize other areas, much as they have done already in northern Mali. Somali insurgents ban WFP as four million go hungry 01 Mar 2010/www.telegraph.co.uk The Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab movement, which controls most of central and southern Somalia, said food distributed by the UN agency had undermined local farmers and accused it of acting with a political agenda. The group accused the Rome-based agency of distributing food that was past its expiry date, which had caused people to fall ill, and alleged that its operations was disguised support for the weak UN-backed transitional government. “Given the problems caused by the food WFP distributed, the movement of Shebab Al-Mujahideen banned the operations of the agency in Somalia generally starting from today,” the group said in a statement. “The contractors working with WFP must avoid collaborating with the agency otherwise anyone working with the agency will be seen as serving the interest of WFP,” the group said. The Shebab said they had received complaints from Somali farmers that the quantity of the WFP food aid prevented them from selling their own products at a fair price. Peter Smerdon, the WFP Africa spokesman, told AFP that the organisation remained determined to help up to one million people who are in need of food aid in southern Somalia, “as long as it is safe for our staff to do so”. The WFP announced in January that it was suspending its operations in southern Somalia citing months of attacks and extortion by insurgents. The United Nations said the agency hoped to restart work in the area in March or April, adding the suspension was over the post-harvest period when enough food was available. The WFP also said it would continue to send food aid to 1.8 million Somalians in other parts of the country. This included the capital Mogadishu, which is also mostly under Shebab control. The agency has insisted that its role in Somalia is “impartial and non political”. In November the Shebab imposed 11 conditions on UN agencies and nongovernment groups working in the country, including that they do not interfere with Islam and pay a tax of at least $20,000 (£13,000) every six months. A senior member of the Shebab confirmed the ban to AFP on Sunday. “We have already given (WFP) chances to operate in Somalia but after failing to comply with the conditions we put forward, we totally banned WFP operations in Somalia,” he said on condition of anonymity. The WFP’s website says famine in the country last August left Somalia “facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the famine of 1991/1992, with half the population – 3.64 million people – now in need of outside assistance”. Mired in almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of President Mohamed Siad Barre and plagued by recurring natural disasters, Somalia is often described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The Shebab, whose leadership has proclaimed allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, has been fighting the government and its African Union allies alongside Hezb al-Islam, a smaller and more political outfit. The UN estimates it will need $689 million (£454 million) to provide aid in 2010 to the Somali population, of which 43 per cent live on less than a dollar a day. Despite Risks, Net 1 UEPS Looks (Credit) Worthy | about: UEPS It’s been a while and for that I apologize. Truth be told, I had gotten my portfolio almost fully invested by mid-last year. And, as the stock intense rally we’ve seen in stocks through 2009 has turned flat since the new year, I’ve been much less aggressive with my personal portfolio and as such have had a lot less to say. Though, for those of you who follow my Covestor account, you’ll know that I have not been completely out of the markets. I’m increasingly interested in companies which do the bulk of their business internationally as I believe this is a good way to capitalize on foreign growth while being constrained with access only to U.S. exchanges. (By the way, does anyone know any good online brokerages which allow you to trade stocks internationally?) Universal Electronic Payment System (UEPS) As you may have guessed, Net1 does most of its business in developing countries, primarily South Africa, where it provides cards and point of sale equipment to governments which use the cards as a medium to distribute grants and other social welfare payments. Investment Strengths Proven, cost effective technology serving a large niche – Unlike traditional debit cards or credit cards, UEPS offers a proprietary technology which does not require always on connection to a primary host or even a bank account. Data is stored on the card and information transferred at the point of sale. Adoption reaching critical mass – The Company has long been used by the South African Social Security Administration to distribute entitlement payments to citizens and Net1 has recently leveraged this success into a national contract with Ghana as well as a roll out of its technology in Iraq. Operating leverage and free cash flow generation – The Company’s equipment and cards are generally paid for by national governments which have chosen its system. Further, as additional customers are enrolled and begin using their cards for payments, the Company generates incremental transaction fees without significant incremental investment. Operating margins in the transaction processing segment are near 60%. Investment Risks Exposure to South African Social Security Administration Contract – 65% of revenues are currently generated through five provincal contracts with the SASSA. This contract has been on one-year renewal terms for the last three years as SASSA attempts to bid the contract through a formal RFP process. The last RFP process ended almost a year ago without a resolution and Net1’s current contract in South Africa is set to expire on March 31, 2010. Exposure to South African Rand – The majority of the Company’s costs and revenues are denominated in South African Rands. While exchange rate fluctuations will not have a major impact on cash flow or liquidity, it can have a significant impact on valuation for USD investors. The Rand is currently trading at 7.65 per USD and has traded in a range from 6 to 12 historically. Political Risk – The Company’s growth plan relies on entering developing nations with sometimes tenuous governmental structures. Technological Risk – While the Company’s smart cards and other payment technologies appear to be quite forward thinking, the increasing availability of wireless communications infrastructure and cell phones poses a potential disruptive threat for a motivated competitor. Quick and Dirty Valuation Further, for a smaller, growing company, UEPS generates significant free cash flow. As defined as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures and investments, the Company has averaged approximately $110 million in free cash flow over its 2008 and 2009 fiscal years good for a 13.75% free cash flow yield. Put differently, at no growth and a 10% discount rate this would justify a stock price of ~$24.00/share vs. its current price of $17.65/share. Obviously, with significant headline risk involved in the Company’s 65% concentration in South African Social Security payments, this discount rate may not be appropriate. The Company, however, currently has ~$2.00/share in net net working capital and $3.35/share in cash on hand. Management has shown a willingness to redistribute value to shareholders having recently approved a $50 million share buyback to be funded entirely from cash on hand. Netting the entire value of cash out of the shares, the Company’s cash yield would actually be closer to 17%, enough to pay back shareholders in less than 6 years if fully redistributed. Is this worth the risk of annual renewals of the South African contracts? I believe so. Full disclosure: Author is long shares of UEPS at the time of writing. USA :
US eyes al-Qaida network in North Africa as it gains strength, recruits WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida’s terror network in North Africa is growing more active and attracting new recruits, threatening to further destabilize the continent’s already vulnerable Sahara region, according to U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials. The North African faction, which calls itself Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is still small and largely isolated, numbering a couple hundred militants based mostly in the vast desert of northern Mali. But signs of stepped-up activity and the group’s advancing potential for growth worry analysts familiar with the region. The rapid recent rise of the al-Qaida group in Yemen — which spawned the Christmas airliner attack — is seen by U.S. officials and counterterrorism analysts as evidence that the North African militants could just as quickly take on a broader jihadi mission and become a serious threat to the U.S. and European allies. The Mali-based militants have yet to show a capability to launch such foreign attacks, but are widening their involvement in kidnapping and the narcotics trade, reaping profits that could be used to expand terror operations, officials and analysts said. Several senior U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials spoke about AQIM on condition of anonymity to discuss internal analysis. Those advances have set off alarms within the counterterrorism community, which watched as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula quickly transformed over the past year from militants preoccupied with internal Yemeni strife to a potent group recruiting and training insurgents for terror missions inside the U.S. That threat was underscored by the failed Christmas airliner attack, which officials say was planned and directed by Yemeni insurgent leaders. A key fear is that as AQIM expands, its criminal and insurgent operations will continue to destabilize the fragile governments of heavily Islamic North Africa, much as it has in Mali. The Maghreb includes the North African nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. As a result, the U.S. has been working to boost poverty-stricken Mali’s defenses. Last year, the U.S. gave $5 million in new trucks and other equipment to its security forces, and Pentagon funds also have been approved to provide training. Several senior U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials spoke about AQIM on condition of anonymity to discuss internal analysis. Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Center and a former CIA officer, said that the North African terror group has a larger area to operate in and a wider Islamic population pool to draw from, but has not launched the kind of large-scale attacks initially feared when it became an al-Qaida affiliate three years ago. “Now, if it is beginning to reorganize, recruit and develop, because of this international potential, it could become a much more dangerous threat,” Riedel said. “And if there is a role model in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, that is very disturbing.” Born as an Algerian insurgency in the early 1990s, the group was largely defeated and driven into a swath of ungoverned desert land — about the size of France — in northern Mali. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the group reached out to al-Qaida in an effort to survive. AQIM was officially recognized as an al-Qaida affiliate by Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Both the U.S. and the European Union have designated AQIM a terrorist organization. The group has since absorbed some of al-Qaida’s techniques for roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Occasionally it has issued videos and statements on jihadi Internet forums. In December 2007, for example, the group attacked the U.N.’s Algerian headquarters, killing 37 people, including 17 U.N. staff members. At the same time, AQIM has increased its recruiting efforts, drawing insurgents from Mauritania, Nigeria and Chad, officials said. The recruits are trained in small arms and roadside bomb construction, officials said, then return to their home countries to plan and execute attacks. The spike in recruiting and training, along with the increase in kidnappings and other crimes, has made the region more insecure and unstable in just a year, several officials said. The militants often partner with local criminals, who kidnap tourists then sell them to AQIM, which then demands ransoms, officials said. Those alliances cement contacts between the criminal groups and AQIM, broadening its reach and membership. The kidnappings have had mixed results. Last week, the group released French hostage Pierre Camatte after holding him for three months. The move was spurred by a Mali court decision that released four jailed AQIM members. Some hostages have been killed — including Edwin Dyer, a British tourist who was captured with three others including two U.N. envoys. Britain had refused to pay ransom to the group. So far, the group has not moved beyond kidnappings to push al-Qaida’s global jihad aims, creating tensions between the offshoot organization and core al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan, said Haim Malka, deputy director for the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East program. “They have not yet become more globally focused, they’ve stayed in the Sahara region and they’ve failed to make inroads in other parts of North Africa,” he said. Malka cautioned that the group’s broadening efforts to work with local criminal networks on kidnappings may give the appearance that it is expanding more than it actually is. Despite the group’s limited reach, British and American authorities have issued strong warnings against travel to northern Mali, saying there is a “high threat from terrorism” and from criminal acts and kidnappings. The concern, according to officials, is that the insurgents will gain strength, expand their scope across the region and destabilize other areas, much as they have done already in northern Mali. Anti-racists turn up the heat at UCSD March 1, 2010/socialistworker.org A NOOSE hung to intimidate African-American students at the University of California San Diego (UCSD)–the latest in a series of outrageous racist incidents–has spurred new activism ahead of a day of protests, strikes and other actions against budget on March 4. When the noose was found February 26 in UCSD’s Geisel Library, Black students and their allies at UCSD had already been involved in more than a week of demonstrations following a racist “party” held by a fraternity. In response to the discovery of the noose, students converged on the administration building, and 150 occupied UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s office as faculty guarded the perimeter. About 500 to 600 students maintained a presence around the office for the duration of the day. In an electrified mood, students hung protest banners all around and chanted. Sympathetic departments and faculty cancelled classes so students and faculty could participate in the protest. The students presented a list of demands to the administration, but were disappointed by UCSD officials’ response. Students refused to be a part of administration-led “leadership bodies” that administrators proposed as a mechanism to discuss “solutions” to racism on campus. Stating that this “is a tactic to divide student leaders from the student movement,” activist students and supportive faculty are demanding mass meetings to put power directly into the hands of the students themselves. Meanwhile, protests were also held on other UC campuses, showing solidarity with the UCSD students, and echoing their demands. “They handed us over a bullshit-ass document,” BSU Vice Chair Fnann Keflezighi said. “Basically, it said everything that we already knew–no concrete things on how they’re going to implement anything. They’re dumber than we thought they were.” – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – THE STRUGGLE at UCSD took off after the now-infamous off-campus party organized by the PIKE fraternity called the “Compton Cookout” on February 15–a crudely racist mockery of Black History Month. Anti-racist students responded with protests, but were met by further outrages as the editor of a student “humor” newspaper, The Koala, appeared on student-run Koala TV, supported the racist party and called protesters “ungrateful n—ers,” dumb and “ghetto.” The Black Student Union (BSU) responded by declaring UCSD to be in a “state of emergency” and organized a march for February 19, which led to an impromptu meeting with administrators. There, it was learned that in the search for a taped copy of the broadcast at the television station, a piece of cardboard was found with the words “Compton Lynching” written on it. These events gave urgency to the BSU’s demands that the administration take dramatic and meaningful steps to encourage Black and other minority enrollment and to fund programs to support these students on campus. While many demands were quickly agreed to, the administration still claims to have no ability to punish the offending students or implement far-reaching minority recruitment. Affirmative action in state institutions was repealed by the Proposition 209 ballot initiative in 1996. To try to deflect criticism, the administration decided to host a teach-in on February 24, intended to promote tolerance. Some 2,000 attended, overfilling the main hall and spilling over into other, nearby rooms, where a live video feed could be viewed. Following some long and mostly irrelevant speeches by administration officials, BSU students Fnann Keflezighi and Jasmine Phillips took the podium to denounce the event, saying “a teach-in is not what is needed right now. Real action is needed.” Keflezighi read: The university and the community will not be restored through a two hour teach-in only to be accessible to a small part of the campus community, but through the administration’s implementation of our demands and the recommendations that have been made to Chancellor Fox since 2006 to improve the environment for underrepresented students on this campus… Teach-ins are strategies for the powerless, not for people in power; the Chancellor has a wide range of powers and more than a few resources to commit to improve the campus climate. A teach-in organized and controlled by the administration reflects the hierarchical approach the university has taken to address the issues of racism and misogyny on campus and their failure to take our experiences, needs and demands seriously… Racism, class-ism, sexism and homophobia that is our campus climate is a direct reflection of the racism and class-ism the institution continues to practice. The university does not just need healing, it needs the type of institutional transformation that can only come by finally listening to those who it has continuously ignored and silenced…Change is not produced through the bureaucracies of inaction, but through the empowerment of students, because this is whose university? [crowd response: Our university!] If you truly care about our university, if you want to stand in solidarity, you will join me in walking out of this teach in and joining us in our teach-in! And with that, most participants got up from their seats and marched out, chanting, “Real pain, real action,” “Hey hey, ho ho, racism has got to go,” and “We’re fired up! Can’t take it no more.” Next, 1,500 students filled the outdoor Price Center for a student-organized teach-in, which reaffirmed the idea that the institution needs structural change and not weak-kneed appeals for “tolerance.” – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – BUT FOLLOWING this highly successful and inspiring rally, the campus was thrown into shock once again on the morning of February 26 as news spread that the noose had been found. A female student turned herself in, claiming that she and two others hung the noose as a piece of ironic “performance art.” But activist students interpreted the act as a sign that a threat still looms on campus. Although anti-racists have seized center stage through their actions, the initial reaction of many on- and off-campus commentators was to say that racism at UCSD was being blown out of proportion, and that the organizers of the “Compton Cookout” had the rights of free speech. The issue here isn’t free speech–it’s racism. In reality, the fact that people attended this party shows that a portion of the UCSD student body thinks that mocking African Americans is “funny.” And the fact that students would defend that racism on Koala TV, make signs about lynching, and hang nooses on campus shows that there is a right-wing element on campus that is not joking around. Latina student Melanie Leon told the San Diego Union Tribune, “I’m in awe that people can be so hurtful and so vicious. I don’t know if that is their idea of a joke or not, but those of us that are being affected by this, we take this very seriously.” The struggle at UCSD has dramatically shifted and deepened the politics of the student movement. Another demonstration is planned for March 1 at the chancellor’s office, although it is unclear whether there will be another occupation, since students want to avoid arrests before the March 4 protests. But it is clear that demands for racial justice must and will rise to the forefront of the student movement as tuition hikes and budget cuts hit low-income, Black, Latino and other oppressed students the hardest. Although the population of San Diego is 6 percent Black, African American students comprise only 1.3 percent of UCSD students. It’s this institutional attack on African Americans that has allowed a climate of racism to develop on campus–and it has to be challenged. Justin Akers-Chacon and Marcos Perez contributed to this article. CANADA :
South Africans Unite In Solidarity With Palestinians During International Israeli Apartheid Week PRESS RELEASE 25 February 2010 The first week of March 2010 marks the International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) which began in Toronto, Canada in 2005 and now includes a wide range of activities which differ from one country to another as, according to the international committee of the campaign, “An important aspect of IAW is that activists in each city decide what IAW should look like in their city”. The week of international solidarity aims to create awareness of the injustices perpetrated in Palestine and to go beyond discussing the daily violence and brutality of the Israeli Occupation to focus on other critical dimensions to the Palestinian crisis which includes “discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel and the dispossession of Palestinian refugees, both consequences of Zionism’s inherently racist structure and history”, the committee mentions. South Africa joins in this international week to encourage South Africans to intensify solidarity with the suffering people of Palestine and to isolate all organizations and individuals doing business with Israel and its supporters. We seek to ensure that no form of support is rendered by the South African government to prop up a country that stands for everything South Africans fought against. In this regard, the international committee has explained that “Israeli Apartheid Week takes its inspiration from the United Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, issued in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society and political organizations. The demands of this call include full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall, and the protection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194.” International solidarity to end apartheid played a significant role in supporting South Africans to win our freedom. It is important for South Africans to extend this solidarity to end oppression that still exists in other parts of the world today. South African activists highlight the parallels between the State of Israel and Apartheid South Africa. From racial identification through coded ID documents (pass books) to land expropriation, from controlled movement of cheap labour to the creation of Bantustans, from denial of citizenship, to detention without trial, including children, the comparisons are numerous. Activities: Friday, March 5: A march and the handing over of a petition to the Israeli Embassy together with prayers in Pretoria. AUSTRALIA :
SA man tells of quake terror George – A South African aviation engineer has been trapped in Santiago, Chile, after a devastating earthquake and aftershocks struck the area at the weekend. Gerhard Jordaan, 49, who has been living in Traralgon, Australia, was in a race against time to get out of Chile on Sunday night. He and his wife, Annelie, were due to leave Australia for a visit to South Africa. He was going to try to cross the Andes mountains in Argentina by bus, then fly to Buenos Aires in a light aircraft, from where he would board a plane to Australia. Jordaan’s story is one of many taking place against the backdrop of a crisis since an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale struck Chile, claiming at least 708 lives. Chile’s president elect, Sebastian Pinera, has warned that the death toll could rise. He said this is the worst earthquake to hit Chile in the past 30 years. Airport closed Jordaan spoke to Die Burger by phone on Sunday afternoon and said the city’s airport has been closed indefinitely. He had gone to Chile to have one of his Australian employer’s aircraft certified. Jordaan and his family moved to Australia about two years ago, after having lived in Bredasdorp, among other places. He said he was woken by the earthquake at about 03:30 on Saturday morning. Jordaan said it was terrifying to wake up like that, with the entire hotel shaking back and forth and a terrible groaning, creaking and banging. He couldn’t open the door to his room because the tremors had warped the building. Aftershocks After the main quake, he lay down on his bed to wait for aftershocks. “The aftershocks were almost worse – as soon as you think it’s over, there’s another one. “At first it’s just a gentle rattle which builds up systematically until the whole building is shaking and cracking.” He said the Chileans are very well prepared for such emergency situations. “There’s a sense of calm in the air and everything’s under control.” All the shops are closed and the streets of Santiago are quiet. In Mossel Bay, Jordaan’s mother-in-law, Barbara van der Westhuizen, crossed her fingers that her son-in-law would get to Australia in time. Jordaan’s brother-in-law Danie Gerryts, from Buffels Bay, Knysna, said he sent Jordaan an SMS at about 15:00 on Saturday. Jordaan replied that the earthquake was terrifying. Anglo American to Sell Five Coal Assets in Australia (Update2) (Adds analyst’s comments in fourth paragraph.) March 1 (Bloomberg) — Anglo American Plc, the owner of stakes in the world’s biggest diamond and platinum producers, offered to sell its holdings in undeveloped coal resources in Australia to focus on assets that are already in production. London-based Anglo American is seeking to sell the Bylong and Sutton Forest assets in New South Wales in addition to a 51 percent interest in the Taroom, Collingwood and Ownaview resources in Queensland, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. The miner said it remains committed to its operations in Bowen Basin and Hunter Valley in Australia. Anglo American may get more than A$500 million ($449 million) for the coal assets and complete the transactions in eight to 10 weeks, the Australian Financial Review reported today, without citing anyone. Last year, the company raised $2.4 billion from asset sales, mainly from its interest in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Africa’s largest producer of the precious metal. “Foremost in people’s minds would be the Chinese,” Nick Raffan, an analyst at Fat Prophets, said by telephone in Sydney. “Are they getting out near the top of the market? Probably not. But will they get out for a good price? I would assume.” The five coal assets aren’t part of Anglo American’s growth plans in the short- to medium-term, according to today’s statement. Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty is assisting in the sale of the coal resources totaling more than 1.1 billion metric tons. Last year, Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll cut more than 23,000 jobs and is selling a South African steel mill and zinc assets to focus on iron ore and copper demand in fast- growing Asian markets. –Editors: Ryan Woo, Jane Lee. EUROPE :
Reuters World News Highlights at 1800 GMT, Feb 26 TOP STORIES ———– ATHENS – Greece’s prime minister called on Friday for more solidarity from the European Union over the country’s debt crisis and announced plans to visit Germany, whose backing would be vital for any EU financial aid. – – – – ISTANBUL – Turkish media reported fresh arrests of military officers on Friday, reviving investor concerns over a potential showdown between government and the armed forces and denting a recovery in stocks and the lira. – – – – DUBAI/BAGHDAD – The speed at which Baghdad signed oil deals awarded last year has lulled big oil firms into lowering their perception of the risks posed by Iraqi elections to their freshly inked contracts. – – – – ISLAMABAD – Commentators in both India and Pakistan greeted on Friday the first official talks between their countries since the 2008 Mumbai attacks with a degree of cynicism even though no breakthrough had been expected. – – – – KABUL – Taliban fighters opened fire, hurled grenades and staged suicide bombings in central Kabul on Friday, killing at least 16 people in defiance of the Western-backed government and a NATO offensive. – – – – WASHINGTON – After a seven-hour healthcare summit that did little to change Republican hearts and minds, President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats face a challenge on Friday in deciding their next moves to reform the costly U.S. system. – – – – WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama filled out his commission to tackle the U.S. deficit on Friday, appointing the head of Honeywell International and a former Federal Reserve vice president to the bipartisan panel. – – – – BANGKOK – A Thai court on Friday seized $1.4 billion worth of assets belonging to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s family, about $900 million less than the maximum in a decision that could appease some anti-government forces. – – – – ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast’s opposition will call off violent protests that have rocked the West African nation since President Laurent Gbagbo dissolved the government and electoral commission on Feb. 12, a spokesman said on Friday. – – – – ABUJA – Britain offered public support to Nigerian Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday after the return of Nigeria’s ailing leader prompted concerns of a power struggle in Africa’s most populous nation. – – – – BOGOTA – Colombia’s Constitutional Court on Friday began final deliberations on whether to allow President Alvaro Uribe a chance to seek re-election or force the U.S. ally to step aside after eight years in office. – – – – LONDON – Suspected Israeli assassins have inadvertently given the world an unusual master class in clandestine killing in broadcast surveillance video of them going about their murderous trade. CHINA :
A Zambian View on Chinese Firms blogs.wsj.com/March 1, 2010 It’s been an active start to the year for economic ties between China and Africa. In January, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming visited Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania, while Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi touched down in Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. And last week the foreign ministers of South Africa and Zimbabwe as well as a Zambian delegation headed by President Rupiah Banda all arrived in Beijing for visits. Investors like China play a crucial role for resource-rich Africa as a way to get funds flowing, beyond the traditional donor money from multilateral agencies. In November, China Premier Wen Jiabao pledged $10 billion in preferential loans to Africa under a three-year action plan. Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer, is hoping to secure at least $1 billion of that sum, according to Zambian Trade Minister Felix Mutati. But Chinese businesses still face headwinds in Africa. In Zambia, labor and mine safety issues plague several Chinese state-controlled enterprises, including China Nonferrous Metals Co., or CNMC, which operates some of Zambia’s biggest copper mines, including the ones in Chambishi and Luanshya, and China’s Sinohydro Corp. which is mandated to upgrade the Kariba North Hydro power station, Zambia’s largest hydro power station. Zambia’s Mutati, in an interview last week in Beijing, offered some thoughts on the state of relations. He estimated Chinese investors account for about 15% of the investments in Zambia’s copper sector, but in the small-scale mining industry the Chinese are a majority. Mutati said the very nature of small-scale mining means many miners cut corners and since Chinese firms dominate the sector, incidents more frequently involve the Chinese, which tends to hurt the reputation of Chinese firms across the board. But the case is different with the big Chinese firms, Mutati said. Below are excerpts from the interview: About 18 months ago the Chinese workers and Zambian workers had a big fight. And one of the reasons that they fought was that the Zambians felt they were being overworked. You guys can work 12 hours, 15 hours without complaint but they are used to eight-hour shifts. So when they were stretched beyond what they are used to, they rioted. But what that has done over the time is the fact that the mentality shift, the attitude shift is now taking place in the minds of the Zambians because they can earn a little extra by working over and above their normal expected standards. We had a mine called Luanshya, which is also run by CNMC. … When CNMC was purchasing this particular mine there was a lot of resistance by the public that ‘We do not want Chinese to buy it because our workers suffered from low pay and so on and so forth’ – these perception issues. As government we’re stuck…We eventually sold the mine to CNMC. Basic comparisons: For the workers, are they getting less than they used to get when they were under the previous owners?…They are not getting any less. Do they have safety [gear that is] worse than they had previously? The answer is no. Three, are the suppliers to the mine getting delayed payment compared to previously?…They found that the payment with the Chinese is even faster. [The workers] had their misgivings about the Chinese. [But] for the first time they have seen real physical investment going into the mine. The previous guys were just scratching around. These are the people on the inside who are saying that what they are seeing now is much more what they have seen before. So these guys are happy. The guys on the outside of the fence keep singing the same song about the Chinese. So we think that over time as reality spreads itself…these perceptions obviously will not be eliminated, but its weight will be reduced considerably. That is what is critically important. For our people to say, ‘I’m not getting any less money. I’m getting my uniforms. I’m going home in a new bus. I’m going to the hospital and there is medicine now’ — those are the things that really matter to us. … You find that on average (the big Chinese companies) are generally above average within the [mining] sector when you compare company to company [in terms of pay]. Issues of safety–you get the statistics for the big companies and you find that there is nothing that distinguishes the Chinese investment with the others in terms of whether it’s worse for safety … The reason we come [to China] is because [China has] the liquidity. That’s number one. Number two, the pace of decision-making is quite quick…when they are committed. They are not so much into scenario analysis…if they think it smells good, they move. I’m not saying there is no downside, but it’s quicker and it’s creating the jobs that we so desperately need. –J.R. Wu Chow Tai Fook buys 507-carat diamond for HK$275 mln Mar. 1, 2010 /(China Knowledge) – Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-based jewelry company, has announced that it has purchased a diamond for US$35.3 million or HK$275 million at an auction, and that the diamond, which is called The Cullinan Heritage, weighs 507 carats and was discovered in Cullinan Mine in South Africa. The large diamond was found in September 2009 alongside three other diamonds weighing 168 carats, 58.5 carats and 53.3 carats, respectively. Chow Tai Fook Jewelry purchased the 168-carat diamond for US$6.28 million in November 2009. Cheng YuTung, chairman of Chow Tai Fook Group, the parent of Chow Tai Fook Jewelry, said that the diamond is very rare and exceptional. Chow Tai Fook Jewelry currently owns more than 1,000 chain stores in China and Malaysia and hopes to have more than 2,000 stores by the end of 2020. The firm’s annual total sales exceed HK$30 billion and its market value exceeds HK$100 billion, sources reported. INDIA :
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 01 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,01/03/2010 |
BURUNDI – AFRICA / INTERNATIONAL : 01 MARS 2010 [Somali insurgents ban WFP as four million go hungry]
