(Johannesburg) - The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League's attack on the party's deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, tells us two things. First, the ANC is more seriously divided than anyone imagined even after the Polokwane punch-up.

Second, the Jacob Zuma camp is working itself into a reckless frenzy as it realises its man's legal position is becoming more fragile.

The attack on Motlanthe was astonishing not only for its presumptuousness, with a bunch of youngsters having the gall to denounce the second most senior figure in the party for trying to discipline them, but also because they are all supposedly in the same Zuma camp. 

Click Below to Read On... 

Read more..

(Johannesburg) - The Beijing Olympics has had "an unexpected side effect", which is being felt locally in the form of serious shortages of generic medicines, Business Day reported on Friday.

Generic drugs supplies worldwide were affected when China decided to halt chemicals production in and around Beijing temporarily before the Olympics, the report read.

Stephen Saad, chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare, Africa?s biggest generic drug maker, said the situation had been worsened by rising prices of fuel and commodities such as starch, used in making many generic drugs.

These had led to the trebling of prices in some instances, which local drug manufacturers had to absorb.

The fixed exit price, which is set by government, did not take into consideration fluctuations in input costs.

This has led to some smaller pharmaceutical companies, supplying generic and original brand-name drugs, opting to discontinue ranges.

Sandoz SA said earlier this year that it had stopped making two drugs, an antibiotic and an allergy medication, as they were "no longer viable".

These factors had left South African pharmacists scrambling for medicine stocks including bronchodilators, antidepressants, diuretics, penicillin and even vitamin C, the report read.

This was a grave problem for the health department, which was promoting generics in order to make medicines cheaper for consumers.

Read more..

 Click Below to Read On...

 
Read more..

(Johannesburg) - Missed the Business, Poverty and Development conference 2008?  Heard something interesting, but couldn't quite remember who said it? Too engrossed with the excellent conference lineup of speakers or discussion to put pen to paper?

Human Rights expert Emily Keeble of Synergy Global Consulting has kindly donated her comprehensive notes from the session.  Emily has also formulated a series of interactive business and human rights dilemmas which pose ethical dilemmas to business leaders.  See if you're crafty enough to figure out the dilemmas.  Dilemmas can be accessed here!

 
 

Her notes can be downloaded by registered users of AfricaGrowth.net by clicking here. 

If you aren't already registered for AfricaGrowth.net please click here http://www.africagrowth.net/community

Read more..

(Accra) -  Developing countries may not achieve their Millennium Development Goals targets by 2015 unless they address climate change concerns, experts have warned.

And they are now telling these countries to urgently devise measures to cope with the adverse effects on climate.

Ms Maria Netto, United Nations Development Programme's Climate Change Policy Advisor, made these revelations and added that these countries would be severely affected despite contributing little toward global pollution.

She pointed out five MDGs at risk of not being achieved if these countries did nothing to curb the emissions of green house gases.

They include eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal education and promoting gender equality. Others are reduction in child mortality and ensuring environmental sustainability.

While addressing journalists on the sidelines of an International Conference of Climate Change in Accra, Ghana on Wednesday, Ms Netto said developing countries faced an imminent reduction in economic growth as a result of these threats.

"This means that food security will be seriously undermined...we have already started experiencing that. The countries will also experience a reduction in children's ability to participate in full time education, greater prevalence to vector and water borne diseases amongst others."

"We must therefore come up with concrete plans to curb climate change before it affects all of us in the developing countries."

More than 1,000 delegates including government representatives, business and industry, environmental organisations and research institutions participated in the talks in Accra.

The talks are part of the UN negotiating process that will culminate in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.

Read more..

Why many firms are taking a bigger role in promoting human rights

BY THE standards of any previous boss of Coca-Cola, Neville Isdell is remarkably enlightened. Under his leadership, the soft-drinks giant has adopted a strategy of extending access to water supplies in the developing world, especially in Africa, where Mr Isdell spent 26 years. It is an active member of several organisations committed to promoting human rights, including the United Nations Global Compact. Even so, Mr Isdell now finds himself accused by human-rights activists of "complicity" with one of the world's most prominent human-rights abusers--the government of China.

No doubt sponsoring this summer's Beijing Olympics once seemed like a good idea to Coca-Cola and a gaggle of other big companies such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, McDonald's and Samsung. The marketing benefits of the Olympics are believed to be huge, which is why Coca-Cola has been doing it continuously for 80 years.

No doubt sponsoring this summer's Beijing Olympics once seemed like a good idea to Coca-Cola and a gaggle of other big companies such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, McDonald's and Samsung. The marketing benefits of the Olympics are believed to be huge, which is why Coca-Cola has been doing it continuously for 80 years.

 Click Below to Read On...

Read more..

(Geneva) - The Red Cross said it will on Wednesday start distributing emergency food supplies across Zimbabwe to reach about 24 000 vulnerable people in the poverty-stricken country.

Trucks will leave warehouses in the cities of Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare later on Wednesday with 383 metric tons of food aid to provide almost 24 000 people with enough maize, beans and cooking oil for a month, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement.

The IFRC operates a food security operation worth 27,7-million Swiss francs ($26,8-million) in Zimbabwe destined to help a total of 260 100 people each month.

"This is a critical period for these communities," said Peter Lundberg, head of the IFRC's delegation in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

"They have already faced months without enough food and, for many families, the situation has deteriorated drastically in recent weeks," he added.

Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn for a decade with high unemployment and food shortages in a country where at least 80% of the population live below the poverty line and inflation is estimated at more than 11-million percent.

Read more..

AfricaGrowth.net and AICC are proud to present a new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.  Based  on some of the largest stakeholder consultation in ISO history - this project maps the materiality of the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a global survey of 59 SMEs, 37 social responsibility consultations and 16 National Cleaner Production Centres across the world.  It was commissioned by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to further investigate the underlying reasons why SMEs continue to be missing from the sustainable development agenda, and if and how the ISO 26000 could serve as a catalyst for their greater participation. 

Click Here to download the download the report

Click Here to share your comments on the report (you must be signed in)!

microsoft video studio Buy Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 2007 at cheap price nero 6 purchaseinteractive check boxes i adobe captivate Buy Microsoft Windows XP PRO Corporate SP2 at cheap price microsoft english reconizercorel graphik suite Buy Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Blue Edition EN at cheap price microsoft management organizingoffshore software development belarus Buy Adobe CS3 Master Collection Corporate at cheap price microsoft expression add-insadobe cs3 academic version Buy Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 v9.0 at cheap price mr step ahead aqhamicrosoft i r transceiver Buy Intuit QuickBooks Premier v2006 at cheap price microsoft wireless mouse problemsmicrosoft sql cal vla Buy Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Final at cheap price adobe photoshop cs3 collage templatesadobe premiere edit pixel Buy Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Pro at cheap price adobe epic app cannot continuemicrosoft mpeg4 codec version 3 Buy Adobe CS Production Studio Premium at cheap price cheap microsoft access soft waremicrosoft vista teamspeak Buy Adobe InDesign CS3 at cheap price adaware virus protection freeadobe print right click Buy Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium for MacOsX at cheap price successful project portfolio managementmicrosoft internet information system Buy Adobe Illustrator CS3 at cheap price open files without microsoftmicrosoft word advanced Buy Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Mac Osx at cheap price nero 7 ultra edition trialadobe reader 8 japanese language support Buy Adobe Premiere Professional v2.0 at cheap price biztalk services aptana tools microsoft's

Read more..

On a grey March morning three years ago Greg Regaignon, a human rights researcher, headed into New York City for breakfast at Tiffany?s. Michael Kowalski, chief executive of the world-famous jeweller, had invited him in to discuss its revised position on acquiring gems from Burma.

Their meeting followed a report in Professional Jeweler, a trade publication, that Tiffany planned to resume sourcing gems from Burma in line with a US Customs ruling that they were exempt from a ban on Burmese imports if cut and polished elsewhere. Mr Regaignon, New-York-based head of research at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, had spotted the article and sought confirmation from Tiffany. 

The centre, a non-profit organisation that raises awareness of companies? human rights impacts around the world, posted both the article and Tiffany?s response on its website and included both in its weekly newsletter. Thus alerted, the US Campaign for Burma raised concerns with Tiffany, Mr Regaignon says. Two days later Tiffany said it would not buy gems from Burma after all, a decision that drew plaudits from activists.

On the discussion with Mr Kowalski, Mr Regaignon says: ?We met in his office for an hour and it was plain he is extremely engaged in these issues. He was very concerned, probably not surprisingly given Tiffany?s brand equity, and it seemed to me he was personally committed to operating in a responsible way.? He says many big jewellers have followed Tiffany?s lead.

 Click Below To Read On...
 

 

Read more..

Sir Geoffrey Chandler charts the rise of the business and human rights movement over the past two decades

 Click Here To Read More...
 

 
Read more..