Archive for the ‘Top Stories’ Category
Botswana, one of Africa's most stable countries, is the continent's longest continuous multi-party democracy. It is relatively free of corruption and has a good human rights record.
''Unless they can return to their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die,'' says Survival, which has urged a boycott of Botswanan diamonds.
In the late 1800s Britain formed the protectorate of Bechuanaland, preventing territorial encroachment of Boers from the Transvaal or German expansion from South West Africa. In 1966 Bechuanaland became independent as Botswana.
Botswana was a haven for refugees and anti-apartheid activists from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, but had to tread carefully because of its economic dependence on the white-ruled neighbour, and because of South Africa's military might.
More recently, the country has seen an influx of illegal immigrants seeking respite from the economic crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Botswana, which once had the world's highest rate of HIV-Aids infection, has one of Africa's most-advanced treatment programmes. Anti-retroviral drugs are readily available.
However, the UN says more than one in three adults in Botswana are infected with HIV or have developed Aids. The disease has orphaned many thousands of children and has dramatically cut life expectancy.
Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds.
The government has moved to boost local business and employment by encouraging more value to be added to diamonds locally.
It launched its own diamond trading company – Diamond Trading Company of Botswana – in a joint venture with diamond giant De Beers.
"What we are embarking on is nothing less than one of the largest transfers of skills and commercial activity to Africa ever seen," said De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer. "The diamond industry's centre of gravity is shifting and tonight we see it shifting here."
Safari-based tourism – tightly-controlled and often upmarket – is an important source of income.
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The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) hosted the fourth Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting at the GCAA office in Dubai, UAE. GCC Member states from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman attended the meeting on Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) and discussed the establishment of a unified GCC SAFA program.
The GCAA introduced and adopted the National Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) Ramp Inspections Program in order to protect the interest of General Public who may be living in the proximity of airports or travelling onboard a visiting aircraft.
The GCAA has detected the need to effectively monitor the enforcement of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) regulation within the UAE and to mitigate high risk operators from operating in the country.
Since the establishment of the program in late 2009, GCAA conducted over 300 inspections on foreign operators resulted on large number of enforcement actions against the non compliant aircraft/operators.
H.E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA highlighted the need to work closely with the Gulf States to enhance the program and sharing the results effectively to be in line with the UAE government strategy to foster the cooperation between the Gulf States on all sectors.
Al Suwaidi cited a steady and gradual progress achievement since the task force formulated which optimistically indicates the willingness of the GCC member states to have common grounds and unified approach for the GCC SAFA program ref.
H.E. the Director General stated the progress of this initiative will be discussed during the upcoming executive committee meeting at the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of Gulf at the Secretariat General.
Within the framework of the team force, a number of processes were agreed upon to launch and implement the unified GCC SAFA program, including but not limited, the preparation of the draft legal framework for the proposed GCC SAFA unified program.
It was also emphasized by the member states the importance of providing training and workshops to the GCC inspectors to gain the required knowledge.
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Through the last 18 months, thousands of mid-career managers have hit an unexpected speed bump in their careers. These are people in their 40s and early 50s who have suddenly found themselves out of a job. Many will never regain their lost momentum; some will find themselves permanently off the executive career track.
![[Nitin Gupta]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-EL646_niting_D_20090916012227.jpg)
Nitin Gupta
There are thousands of younger executives, in their late 20s and early 30s, in the first 10 years of their careers, who face the same risks in 10 to 15 years’ time. In this column, I want to advise this group on how they can avoid the career bust that has been so widespread in the last two years. The trick lies in taking control and actively managing their careers, with the same passion and ferocity that they put into managing their businesses.
When I started my own career after my MBA, I was a sales manager and brand manager. I stayed in my first company for nine years. There was a bunch of friends who had joined the same company together, and we were all happy and comfortable in our relationships. We coasted along in our jobs, got married, set up homes, started families.
We were ambitious, but not overly so. None of us were thinking very much about what direction to take our careers in, and that’s an important reason why we stayed in one place for 10 to 15 years. In retrospect, some of us feel we became complacent and stayed too long. Once we left, all of us went on to diversified careers – everyone did very well professionally. But our career graph changed only when we started thinking about it actively, and when we took the initiative to steer our own careers rather than sit back and wait for our employer to offer “career development and growth.”
So here are a few tips on managing your career actively. I can vouch for their effectiveness, because I have practised most of these in my own career.
Tip No:1 – Take charge.
It’s your career – for the company it’s just another job. Never abdicate responsibility. Whatever happens, it will be because you did something, or did not do something. Behave like the CEO of You Inc.
Tip No:2 – Don’t stop thinking.
So you were fond of finance and accounting at B-school. And are now on track to be CFO of a midsize fast-moving consumer goods company. Are you enjoying the job as much as you enjoyed the classes? Are you good at this? What should you do in the next five years? And in the next 20? Should you consider switching to consulting , or venture investing , or private equity ? If one of these tracks appeals to you , what do you need to do to get ready to switch tracks? As you make long term strategic plans for the brand you manage, make sure you continuously refine your own career plan.
Tip No:3 – Think. Then don’t hesitate to act.
I started off as a sales manager like most freshly minted MBAs who want a career in a FMCG company. I did that for four years and then was terribly bored. There were 18 sales manager slots, and only three brand manager slots. I wrote directly to the managing director of the company and made a case for why I should be made a brand manager. I was given the job three months later. I don’t think I was smarter than the others. I just did something the others didn’t – I asked for what I wanted.
Tip No:4 – Make friends when you don’t need them
I learned the art and skill of building long term relationships from many people along the way. The trick is to create a network of relationships without any expectation. As long as possible, do things for others. Help people connect with each other, offer ideas, use your own network to help others. Create a bank of goodwill. When you really need help, you won’t need to ask. By the way, this advice applies to your connections with headhunters as well. They’re as human as anyone else. They remember when you’ve been of help in the past- as a source of names, a referee, a good client, or an advisor on industry issues. The best time to create relationships with headhunters is when you don’t need them.
Tip No:5 – Watch your “value equation” like a hawk.
At the end of the day, this is what matters the most. Your career graph will always trend up so long as the value you carry is (1) increasing over time and (2) higher than your cost. And your value is a function of many factors, all of which need constant thought, but most of which cannot be measured . Here are a few questions to keep asking:
–Are you adding different dimensions to your experience over the years? For example, if you’re a finance person, make sure you cover accounting, controllership, tax, compliance, financial planning, budgeting, M&A and other aspects of the function over time. Make sure you rotate across business units. And across geographies. And India and overseas. When it’s time for you to be considered for a CFO’s job, in your own company or in another company, you’ll be well positioned.
–Are you becoming too specialized? In the last two years, many people found they had become uni-dimensional and when they were made redundant, there were limited options outside. This can happen to anyone. If you’re a sales and marketing person, it may not be a bad thing to get experience in two to three different industries and markets so that your range of options remains wide.
–Are you making a measurable difference to the bottom line? Are others in the company aware of the value you’re creating?
–Are you creating “supporters” in the company? People who will vouch for your value when it’s time to decide who gets promoted? Or on whom the axe should fall?
At the end of the day its your career and your life . There’s only one way to handle it – from the driver’s seat!
—Nitin Gupta is an executive search consultant at Spencer Stuart India. The views expressed here are personal
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O diretor-presidente da Apple Inc., Tim Cook, quer que seu Mac se pareça mais com um iPhone.
Ele revelou ao The Wall Street Journal, numa entrevista na sede da empresa, uma nova versão do sistema operacional da Apple para o Macintosh que incorpora várias funções do software em que rodam os grandes sucessos móveis da companhia. Entre eles, o serviço de mensagens da Apple, aplicativos de avisos, centrais de jogos, recursos para compartilhar arquivos e integração com o iCloud, o serviço de armazenamento on-line da empresa — todos criados originalmente para o iPad e o iPhone, que usam o software conhecido como iOS.
Batizado de “Mountain Lion” — inglês para “Leão da Montanha” —, a nova versão do Mac OS X é o mais claro sinal da crença da Apple em que os mundos de aparelhos móveis, laptops e computadores de mesa estão destinados a convergir — e que a Apple quer ser o catalisador disso.
“Vemos que as pessoas estão apaixonadas por um monte de apps e funcionalidades aqui”, disse Cook, de 51 anos, apontando para seu iPhone. “Em todos os lugares em que isso fizer sentido, nós vamos transferir para o Mac.”
Reuters
Tim Cook em evento da Apple em 2011 para apresentação do iPhone 4S.
Cook disse que a Apple estava oferecendo uma versão inicial do programa para desenvolvedores ontem e vai começar a vendê-lo para o público no segundo semestre.
Essas iniciativas da Apple ocorrem num momento em que a competição mais acirrada entre fabricantes de equipamentos os está levando a competir também na área de software, tentando dar aos consumidores uma sensação de familiaridade, ao permitir que usem dispositivos diversos com os mesmos recursos bem conhecidos. Isso está levando a uma convergência entre diferentes categorias de dispositivos, que pode se ramificar por todo o setor de tecnologia.
Cook disse que já pensa nos dois sistemas operacionais da Apple, o iOS e o OS X “como um só, com incrementos de funcionalidade”. Ele disse que o laptop e o tablet continuarão a coexistir, mas não descartou a possibilidade de que as duas tecnologias venham a convergir ainda mais. Quando indagado se o iPhone, o iPad e o Mac poderiam rodar com os mesmos chips microprocessadores, ele disse: “Nós pensamos sobre tudo. Não fechamos a porta para nada”.
A equipe do OS X para o Mac já tinha começado a tomar emprestado recursos do iOS e, em julho passado, lançou a versão “Lion” do seu sistema operacional que incorporava recursos do iOS, tais como controles avançados por gestos — tocando o touchpad do Mac, e não a tela — e a capacidade de ver aplicativos de desktop como ícones dispostos em grade na tela, como no iPhone.
Agora, a Apple está indo muito mais longe, chegando a mudar o nomes de aplicativos desenvolvidos internamente para o Mac para torná-los iguais aos correspondentes do iPhone. Por exemplo, a Agenda do Mac vai se chamar “Contatos”. O iCal se chamará “Calendário”.
“Demos um passo lógico em relação ao que o usuário vai experimentar ao usar esses produtos, de modo que tudo faça sentido”, disse Phil Schiller, vice-presidente sênior da Apple para marketing mundial, em uma entrevista separada. “Isso é mais do que as pessoas esperam.”
Com o Mountain Lion, o usuário verá a mesma tela de avisos que rola no iPhone, passando o dedo no touchpad. O novo software tem vínculos mais profundos com outros produtos da Apple, como o iCloud, que a Apple está integrando em seus aplicativos e no processo de registrar um novo Mac. Um novo recurso de segurança chamado “gatekeeper”, ou “guardião”, permite ao usuário especificar quais aplicativos, ou tipos de aplicativos, podem ser instalados em seu computador, incluindo uma opção para instalar apenas aplicativos da loja Mac App, da Apple.
O novo software para o Mac também irá aceitar um recurso chamado Espelhamento AirPlay, que permite ao usuário ver o que está na tela do seu iPhone ou iPad e em uma tela de televisão ligada a um Apple TV, o aparelho da Apple para conectar a TV à internet. A tecnologia é altamente estratégica para a Apple, agora que ela pesquisa novas tecnologias de vídeo para a sala de estar. O AirPlay, que já está disponível para iPhone e iPad, encontrou oposição de empresas de comunicações, temerosas de que o programa vá canibalizar a TV tradicional. Schiller diz que não acredita que as empresas de televisão farão qualquer objeção a que os clientes usem o programa a partir dos seus Macs.
O Mountain Lion chega num momento em que o Mac tem ganhado ímpeto, mas ainda tem pouca participação de mercado.
A Apple vendeu 5,2 milhões de Macs no trimestre encerrado em dezembro, um recorde e 26% a mais que no mesmo trimestre de 2010. Mas os Mac representaram 5,4% das vendas mundiais de computadores pessoais no quarto trimestre, segundo a IDC, frente a 4,5% no mesmo período de 2010.
Os computadores têm dado uma contribuição relativamente pequena ao desempenho financeiro recorde da Apple. Enquanto o faturamento da companhia saltou 73% no trimestre encerrado em dezembro, o porcentual dele originado pelos Macs caiu de 20,3% para 14,2%.
Cook disse que o Mac continua sendo uma parte “incrivelmente importante” da empresa e que já está se beneficiando do sucesso do iPhone, particularmente na China, onde as vendas de Macs dobraram no ano passado. “Eles conhecem a Apple”, disse o executivo. “Então eles vão atrás e procuram o Mac.”
Embora a Apple aposte no efeito de sua aura, seus concorrentes estão tentando seguir sua abordagem. A Microsoft Corp. está lançando uma nova versão de seus sistema operacional Windows que tem uma nova interface capaz de receber comandos por toque e que lembra seu software para celulares.
“Eu não acho que o que a Microsoft faz pressione a Apple”, disse Cook, segundo quem a Apple está concentrada em fazer o melhor produto e a pressão na companhia é “autoinduzida”.
Cook não quis comentar sobre planos futuros para as máquinas Mac. Mas ele expressou orgulho no laptop MacBook Air. “O setor em geral está tentando copiar [o Air] de um jeito ou de outro, mas eles vão ver que não é tão fácil”, disse ele.
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Dubai: The Federal National Council’s (FNC) policy regarding the enhancement of media legislations in the country was discussed by an FNC committee.
The Education, Knowledge, Youth, Media and Culture Committee, chaired by Muna Al Bahr, reviewed the difficulties facing the media sector and the need for a unified legislation to organise the sector. The committee discussed Emiratisation policy in the media and the obstacles faced by Emiratis in the media, as well as the role of satellite TV channels in supporting national issues.
The committee members stressed the importance of Emiratisation of media in its different activities and outlets — audio, visual and electronic — and also the importance of Emiratisation of the administration in these establishments. The committee pointed out the increasing significance of setting up clear media strategies and attracting and educating media and journalism students which will eventually supply the sector with the requisite expertise.
The committee also called upon specialists in the field to re-evaluate the work of the draft law on organising media activities.
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SÃO PAULO (Dow Jones)–La firma minorista farmacéutica Brazil Pharma SA anunció su segunda adquisición en menos de cuatro meses, en el marco de sus planes de expansión anunciados cuando realizó una oferta pública inicial.
Brazil Pharma, firma controlada por el banco de inversiones brasileño BTG Pactual, informó el lunes que acordó adquirir una participación del 70% en el competidor local Sant’ana S.A. Drogaria Farmacias por 347 millones de reales (US$260,5 millones).
En noviembre, la compañía anunció la adquisición de Grupo Big Ben por 453,6 millones de reales, y en junio, recaudó 414 millones de reales mediante una oferta pública inicial en la bolsa local.
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The government must ensure new welfare assessments planned for disabled people are "accurate and fair" before they are rolled out nationally, MPs have said.
"The government needs to be certain that the new assessment procedure is accurate and fair before it is introduced," said chairwoman Dame Anne Begg.
"Otherwise, there is a risk that people with serious disabilities and health conditions will lose the money they rely on to meet the additional costs incurred as a result of their disability – costs such as maintaining wheelchairs, using specially adapted cars, or paying for help to ensure they can live independently."
The committee wants a national roll-out of the assessments only after a limited regional trial had proved successful.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: "Under the current system there are hundreds of millions of pounds of overpayments and underpayments and 70% of people get the benefit for life without systematic checks to see if their condition has changed.
"We are replacing DLA with Personal Independence Payment and introducing a new face-to-face assessment and regular reviews to make sure people are getting the right levels of support."
She added that discussions with disabled people and organisations had already resulted in "significant changes … improving the assessment and making it fairer".
PIP is contained in the controversial Welfare Reform Bill, which has suffered repeated defeats in the House of Lords.
Disability campaigners welcomed the MPs' report.
Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said: "The government wants to create a more targeted payment. But if it goes ahead with the proposed assessment there is no guarantee that support will go to the people that need it."
Simon Shaw, of deafblind charity Sense, urged the government "to change the way it assesses people while there is still time".
"Blind, partially sighted and other disabled people must not find themselves forced to go through lengthy, costly and stressful appeals processes to get a fair outcome," said Steve Winyard, head of policy and campaigns at RNIB.
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DUBAI: The Dubai Land Department has urged investors "not to neglect the legal mechanisms that guarantees and safeguards real estate rights from fraud and misconduct".
The warning comes after a January 12 XPRESS report on the plight of a Dubai resident who returned from a business trip to find that his Dh690,000 apartment had been sold to someone else.
Indian businessman Mohammad Waliullah Sameer, 30, bought the one-bedroom apartment in International City’s England Cluster from Kyrgyz national Emil Ryskulov in May 2008. He got it furnished and moved in with his wife and children in April 2009, but did not register the property. Following a "comprehensive investigation" into the case, the Land Department has blamed the victim himself.
Registration must
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De la redacción
El precio promedio de los bienes que ingresan a Estados Unidos registró un ligero aumento el mes pasado.
Los precios de los bienes que importa el país crecieron 0,3%, después de marcar una caída modesta en diciembre, anunció el Departamento de Trabajo. El aumento fue impulsado por un alza en los precios del petróleo, que hoy se ubican en 23,7% por encima de su nivel de hace un año.
Excluyendo el crudo, los precios de las importaciones se mantuvieron sin mayores cambios, lo que sugiere que las presiones inflacionarias se mantienen a raya.
En otro plano, los estadounidenses elevaron su gasto en compras minoristas apenas 0,4% en enero frente a diciembre. Los economistas anticipaban un aumento del doble de ese nivel.
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Story By: by John Asante
Asante visits a market in Ghana to buy souvenirs from jewelers, artists and musicians during his two-week vacation.
I grew up knowing that I’m Ghanaian-American, from the food to the customs to the languages, which I actually understood and spoke a bit as a child. Yet my sense of being Ghanaian only went so far. To bridge that distance in my soul, I knew I needed to connect with my roots. And in late September, after months of planning, I made my first trip to Ghana.
Unforeseen circumstances prevented my mother and sister from accompanying me on the journey. We had planned to pay tribute to my father, John Kofi Badu Asante Sr. He passed away 21 years ago, when I was just 3 years old. So I made the trek to Accra alone.
I met loads of relatives who showed me unconditional love from the moment I stepped inside their modest homes. I was offered my favorite foods: fufu, kenke, jollof rice, the works. I traveled through the markets of Accra, and I tried to take in all this West African nation had to offer during my two-week vacation.
While I confronted all of my perceptions of Ghana that had been shaped by what I saw in family photos and on TV, and heard from my mother, I still had a bit of culture shock. Even though Ghana is a pretty progressive country â the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence, mind you â I was still startled by the haggling system when taking a cab, the hawkers on the street selling plantain chips and maps of the country.
Complicating matters, I didn’t speak the Twi and Fanti languages used by the people around me well enough to get by. So the second I opened my mouth, my natural camouflage was of no use. I never felt like I was in danger, especially with my cousins and uncles serving as tour guides.
But I did feel defeated. I guess you only recognize just how American you are when you’re in another country.
The biggest difficulty I faced was dealing with the reason I went to Ghana in the first place: to learn more about my father. Here’s what I knew: He grew up in a small village in the eastern region of Ghana, immigrated to New York City in the late ’70s, and earned a degree in accounting from Baruch College. He worked as an accountant by day, and ran his own laundromat in the Bronx by night. Along the way, he met and married my mother, and started a family. And then he was gunned down by a young drug dealer one cold, dark night in January 1991. Four kids and a young wife were left without the patriarch of the household. His body was then returned to his native land.
So when I made the lengthy, rocky five-hour car ride with my uncle and aunt to my father’s birthplace of Soabe, I would also see his resting place. Many people get to visit where their parents grew up while their mother and father are still alive. I just felt fortunate to finally see where he’d been buried for the past two decades.
But when I arrived at his grave, the tears didn’t flow like long rivers the way they did from my relatives’ eyes. I was silent. My heart was beating fast.
Joined by other family members in Soabe, we formed a circle around the ornate 7-foot gravestone made of concrete and pebbles, and my uncle led a group prayer. Then I read the inscription my mother had placed beneath my father’s name: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. Rest in peace.”
Though I was sad, I was at a loss for expression or emotion. Perhaps we came upon the grave so quickly that I couldn’t prepare myself. But how do you prepare for that moment? It’s something I still think about today.
My mother offers encouragement, telling me that I “made the effort,” and “that’s all we can ask for.”
Now, when people ask: “So, where ya from?” I tell them, without hesitation: “I’m from Ghana.”
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