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IN THIS ISSUE
1.
Business: Brain Drain from South Africa
2. Business: Can India overtake China?
3. Business: Employment comparisons between USA, Asia &
Europe
4. Business: New book on being an Entrepreneur
5. Business: South Africa receives help from the Oppenheimers
6. Business: Trade between South Africa and Kenya
7. Business: Trade between South Africa and the UK
8. Business: Trade in Africa
9. Business: US Firm are upbeat about the South African Economy
10. Business: Unemployment in the UK Drops
11. Environment: Global Warming
12. Environment: Beautiful Cape Town being polluted
13. Environment: Nuclear Power Plant to be built in the beautiful
Cape area
14. Immigration: Reform of L-1 Visa Program
15. Immigration: Latest result from the Green Card Lottery
16. Immigration: Moving to Canada
17. Immigration: Moving to England over 200 years ago
18. Immigration: London is now the immigration capital of the
world
19. Real Estate: Investing in Property
20. Real Estate: Property in South Africa
21. Real Estate: Subsidized Apartment Search
22. Travel: African Ceremonies
23. Travel: Airline Toll-Free Numbers and Websites
24. Travel: Hong Kong to Cape Town overland?
25. Travel: Take a Cruise on a Cargo Ship
26. Travel: Visiting the Vatican Museums
27. Travel: The Best Views of England
28. Travel: Visiting Yorkshires Mansions
29. Travel: Visiting the Natural History Museum in London
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1. Business: Brain Drain from South Africa
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More
than twice the number of people has emigrated from SA since
1994 than official figures from Statistics SA indicated, a seminar
on SA's brain drain heard yesterday.
William Blankley, chief research manager of the Human Sciences
Research Council, told a seminar on the Immigration Advisory
Board that Statistics SA figures showed that since 1994, 12,000
people had emigrated when in fact the number gleaned from the
top five destinations for SA emigrants had shown it to be 24,952.
To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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2. Business: Can India overtake China?
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What's the fastest route to economic development? Welcome foreign
direct investment (FDI), says China, and most policy experts
agree.
But a comparison with long-time laggard India suggests that
FDI is not the only path to prosperity. Indeed, India's homegrown
entrepreneurs may give it a long-term advantage over a China
hamstrung by inefficient banks and capital markets. To read
the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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3. Business: Employment comparisons between USA, Asia
& Europe
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This
chart book focuses on the labor market situation in countries
in the 1990s and the most current year for which international
comparable data are available.
Each
chart includes the United States and selected Asian-Pacific
and European countries. Statistical tables compare the gross
domestic product (GDP), labor market indicators, competitiveness
indicators for manufacturing, and other indicators such as hours
worked and taxes.
This report is from the United States Department of Labor. Visit
this site.
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4. Business: New book on being an Entrepreneur
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Eric
Parker, a founder member of Nando's Chickenland and a partner
in the highly successful chain of Seattle coffee shops, is South
Africa's acknowledged authority on small business and franchising.
He
has now put together an excellent how-to guide for all those
individuals who dream about being their own boss, making all
the decisions and keeping all the profits. This new guide is
called "BE A WINNER: Run your own business and make
lots of money." For a complete review of the book,
visit our NEWS
DESK link.
Editor's
Note: For a selection of books on owning your own business,
whether to buy a franchise, or go it alone, we suggest you visit
Delamere
Online Bookshop. Also visit our web page on being an Entrepreneur.
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5. Business: South Africa receives help from the Oppenheimers
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South
Africa's most powerful family dynasty, the Oppenheimers, have
committed themselves to speeding up black economic empowerment
and the transformation of the South African economy. To read
the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link.
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6. Business: Trade between South Africa and Kenya
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South
African President Thabo Mbeki has pledged to fix his country's
trade imbalance with Kenya, promising "greater flows of
investment" to his counterpart Mwai Kibaki.
"The trade imbalance between Kenya and South Africa is
rather big at 20-to-one in South Africa's favour."
"A great deal needs to be done to encourage greater flows
of Kenyan products into the South African market and greater
flows of investment from South Africa into Kenya," Mbeki
told reporters in Pretoria.
To read the full story, go to our NEWS
DESK link
Editor's Note: To find out how you can help to expand
trade in Africa, visit our web page on Global
Trade
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7. Business: Trade between South Africa and the UK
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The
UK exported around £1.6bn of goods to South Africa last
year, which is an increase of more than 4pc over the previous
year with key sectors being machinery, road vehicles, telecommunications
and sound equipment. The UK was also the largest export market
for South African goods in 2001 at over £2.9bn.
South Africa has experienced rapid change since 1994 and there
are many social and health challenges for the Government, but
with a stable and well-managed economy there are opportunities
for UK companies to do business there with a business environment
which enables South African companies to grow and develop into
world players.
To read the full story, go to our NEWS
DESK link.
Editor's Note: Visit our Global
Trade Page and especially the British
Isles for leads for trade and visiting tips.
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8. Business: Trade in Africa
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Johannesburg
- Africa appears to have missed the global trade expansion bandwagon,
with growth in imports and exports of both goods and services
lagging the world average, a World Trade Organisation (WTO)
report shows.
However,
the WTO said in its first annual world trade report that South
Africa, the continent's biggest economy, had done better than
the regional average.
Both
exports and imports grew between 2 percent and 3 percent last
year - about in line with the global 2.5 percent increase in
volumes. To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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9. Business: US Firms are upbeat about the South African
Economy
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Johannesburg
- American businesses operating in South Africa are more
confident about the country's prospects than they were a year
ago, according to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce.
Although
half the respondents felt the economic climate was either excellent
or good and only 5 percent thought it poor, the survey showed
US firms were concerned about business crime and personal safety,
overregulation of black empowerment equity, exchange controls
and labour issues.
Last
year 28 percent of respondents judged the economic climate to
be poor. To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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10. Business: Unemployment in the UK Drops
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Data
from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number
of people out of work in the three months to June fell by 42,000
to 1,458,000, leaving the jobless rate at 5%.
To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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11. Environment: Global Warming
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In
view of the recent heat waves in the USA and Europe many are
asking questions about global warming. Is it happening, is the
sea level rising, definitions of the greenhouse effect, the
relationship of El Niños and global warming, and sources
for more information?
These
are question answered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). Visit
this link.
Copyright
2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet
Editor's
Note: For more information on environmental issues visit
our web page on the
Environment, which outlines what you can do to help.
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12. Environment: Beautiful Cape Town being polluted
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A R1.6-million study has been launched in Cape Town to analyse
the physical and chemical composition of the brown haze there.
The study will advise the Cape Town Municipality in its choice
of corrective measures in this regard, with respect to air quality
management and planning decisions. To read the full report,
go to our NEWS
DESK link
Editor's Note: We have just received some excellent digital
photographs of the recent storms on the coast of Cape Town;
if you would like copies please contact
us.
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13. Environment: Nuclear Power Plant to be built in the
beautiful Cape area
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Cape
Town - The battle against plans to build a nuclear plant
in the Western Cape will rage until at least the end of the
year amid growing opposition and calls for explanations on why
the government has apparently favoured nuclear power over gas.
Environmental
affairs and tourism minister Mohammed Valli Moosa last week
extended by 30 days the deadline for the submission of appeals
against his decision to approve the favourable environmental
impact assessment evaluation of the experimental pebble bed
nuclear plant.
To
read the full story, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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14. Immigration: Reform of L-1 Visa Program
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At
a Capitol Hill hearing this week, the Information Technology
Association of America released a paper that urges reform
of the controversial L-1 visa program.
The
ITAA seeks to prevent misuse of L-1 visas, which
some IT workers say have cost them their jobs.
"The
L-1 program is critically important to U.S. multinational information
technology firms as they compete globally," ITAA President
Harris Miller said in a statement released along with the report
titled "Proposed Guidance on L-1B Specialized Knowledge."
To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link.
Editor's
Note: Visit our web page on how to use this
L-1 visa to enter the US.
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15. Immigration: Latest result from the Green Card Lottery
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It
is always with great interest that many of our readers and clients
scrutinize the figures related to the Green Card Lottery,
released by the US Department of State each year.
Some will be sad when they see that their name is not on the
list of 50,000 winners just released, but some are elated with
joy and excitement as they suddenly realized that they are a
winner in this "Lottery" and have been approved
to take up permanent residence in the USA.
Whether
you approve of the US Government scheme or not, it is planned
to continue, and now is the time to prepare for the placing
of your name in the next Green Card Lottery, due next year 2004.
The latest figures show that Africa had many winners, South
Africa receiving 413, but Kenya receiving a whopping 5,721 this
year, many of them readers of this Newsletter. To read the full
list, go to our NEWS
DESK link
Editor's
Note: Visit our web page on the Green
Card Lottery.
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16. Immigration: Moving to Canada
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For
many people, buying a property is an administrative and nerve-racking
nightmare. And you wouldn't expect any dispute about that from
Chris and Penny Stewart-Smith, who are in the process of emigrating
to Canada.
Their
move to Vancouver has taken months of financial planning, racked
up £3,000 in bills, caused sleepless nights and forced
them to assess their savings, jobs and home in a bid to present
a watertight case to immigration authorities.
To read the full story, go to our NEWS
DESK link.
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17. Immigration: Moving to England over 200 years ago
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Though
it can truly be said that during the nineteenth and most of
the twentieth centuries that "the sun never set on the
British Empire," the story of those who came to Britain
from various far-flung corners of the Commonwealth is sometimes
overlooked.
This
lovely archive of documents, images, and first-hand narratives
celebrates and explores why people came to Britain, along with
looking at the current experiences of these various groups today.
Culled
from over 30 local, national, and regional museums and libraries
around Britain, the site primarily looks at the Caribbean, Irish,
Jewish and South Asian communities. First-time visitors will
want to begin by looking at the migration histories area, which
contains detailed portraits of these communities, illuminated
by first-hand accounts, digitized primary documents, and sound
clips.
Without
a doubt, the most moving part of the site is the stories section,
where fellow travelers have submitted their own personal migration
stories, accompanied in many cases by family photographs and
other visual materials. Visit
this site
From
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003
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18. Immigration: London is now the immigration capital
of the world
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London
has become the immigration capital of the world, according to
a report in the Economist.
The
study states that migration to London rose from about 25,000
people a year in the early 1990s to 125,000 last year. Meanwhile,
migration out of London increased from about 50,000 a year in
the 1990s to 100,000.
In
2001 migration to London amounted to 28 people per 1,000 inhabitants,
compared with 12 to New York and 26 to Los Angeles.
Editor's
Note: The Economist article is online (subscription required)
click
here
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19. Real Estate: Investing in Property
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Depending
on what you do, you can make money by owning property directly,
while the value of stock exchange investments are influenced
by trends beyond your control.
This was the message from Francois Viruly, a property economist,
at a recent meeting of the NBS/Independent on Saturday Investors
Club in Durban. To read the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
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20. Real Estate: Property in South Africa
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Residential
property price increases have been higher in KwaZulu-Natal,
the Eastern Cape and the Free State than in the rest of the
country.
Average house prices rose by 19% annualised - 10.3% in real
terms - to about R418 300 during the past quarter, after recording
an increase of 16% in the first three months of the year.
And
they're likely to continue rising at around 18% per year for
the rest of 2003.
The
bad news, however, is that at the top end of the market luxury
home prices slumped 5.7% in value in real terms, though they
nominally rose 1.7%.
This
emerges from Absa Bank's residential property market quarterly
report, which is calculated on the basis of the total purchase
price of houses in the 80m²-400m² size category, valued
at R1.5m or less, for which Absa has approved mortgage finance.
Figures for the luxury end of the market are based on mortgages
for R1.5bn plus approved by the bank.
Top
performers were: KwaZulu-Natal where annualised prices rose
36.7%, with Durban Pinetown prices up 35.6%; the Eastern Cape
at 25.2%, with Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage prices up 23%; and Free
State where the average home increased 20.9% in value. To read
the full report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
Editor's Note: Visit our web page on Buying
and Investing in Property.
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21. Real Estate: Subsidized Apartment Search
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The
housing choice voucher program is the USA federal government's
major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly,
and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing
in the private market.
This
site provides a searchable database of subsidized housing units,
also known as Section 8 housing. Search by location (state,
county, city), housing type, and number of bedrooms. This service
is from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Copyright 2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet
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22. Travel: African Ceremonies
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Photographs
of Sacred Rituals in Tribal Cultures. Carol Beckwith and
Angela Fisher's lifelong commitment to photographing the vanishing
rituals and customs of tribal African cultures culminates in
their monumental masterwork, African Ceremonies.
This
site features a gallery of photos from the book, as well as
information about related African charities and foundations
developed by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher to assist nomadic
pastoral peoples during times of drought and to fund research
about African ceremonies.
Many of our readers who follow African ventures and travel will
enjoy this site. Visit
this site.
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23. Travel: Airline Toll-Free Numbers and Websites
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This
is a useful travel tool, which is an alphabetical list of domestic
and international airline Web sites.
Most
links also include a toll-free 800 number. In addition, over
a dozen links provide many resources for domestic and world
travelers needing information on exchange rates, travel warnings,
airline meals and seats, flight tracking, and other tidbits.
Visit
this site.
Editor's
Note: This useful travel tool is placed on our Travel
Page along with other excellent tools, which makes travel
that little bit easier. Visit our Travel
Tools page.
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24. Travel: Hong Kong to Cape Town overland?
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"Journey
to Forever" is a pioneering expedition by a small,
mobile NGO (Non-Government Organization) involved in
environment and rural development work, starting from Hong Kong
and traveling 40,000 kilometers through 26 countries in Asia
and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa.
We
shall keep you up to date with the progress and interesting
incidents of this journey of a lifetime. To read the full account,
visit
this link
Copyright
2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet
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25. Travel: Take a Cruise on a Cargo Ship
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One
of our agents in New Zealand recently enjoyed a marvelous cruise
on a cargo ship from Australia to Europe and they had an experience
of a lifetime. Read the full report; go to our NEWS
DESK link.
For
more information on Cruises, visit our Travel
web page, or contact us by e-mail at mailto:DelamereTravel@delamere-international.com
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26. Travel: Visiting the Vatican Museums
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Vatican Museums. With some of the most exquisite frescoes
in Europe, the Vatican created this Web site that highlights
some of their remarkable holdings, many of which are situated
within the various rooms of the Apostolic Palace.
As many travelers may be unable to wait in the seemingly endless
lines that are a hallmark of visiting the Vatican, the site
offers a nice overview of some of the works that have been commissioned
by different popes over the past five hundred years.
In
the "Vatican Museums Online" section, visitors
can browse through the various rooms, including the Sistine
Chapel, the Ethnological Missionary Museum, and the Gregorian
Egyptian Museum. Visitors may also take a virtual tour of each
room, aided by a Java interface that includes a zoom and scroll
feature.
Additionally, a highlights section features 30 works of great
importance within the Vatican, among them the works of Raphael,
Botticelli, and Michelangelo. Visit
this site
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27. Travel: The Best Views of England
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Ancient
water meadows in Avon Valley will be preserved by a £100,000
grant over the next ten years. They were voted best view in
Britain in a Country Life Magazine poll in 2002.
The meadows, made famous in John Constable's painting 'Salisbury
Cathedral - A View from the Water Meadow', is managed by
the Harnham Water Meadows Trust and owned by the Trust and the
Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral. To see these views
for yourself and read more about this report, go to our NEWS
DESK link
To
subscribe to the Country Life Magazine click
here
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28. Travel: Visiting Yorkshires Mansions
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Celebrating
300 years of Women and the Yorkshire Country House, county-wide
special exhibitions project 2004.
Where did the real power and influence lie in the great houses
of Yorkshire?
Contrary to popular opinion, maintaining these huge households
was never exclusively a male preserve, very often the social,
domestic and artistic identity of these houses was determined
by the women who lived and worked in them.
In 2004 a series of interlinked exhibitions across seven of
Yorkshire's greatest country houses will highlight the lives
and achievements of the female occupants of these establishments.
To read this intriguing report, go to our NEWS
DESK link.
Editor's
Note: My wife and daughter particularly enjoyed reading
this report, and now rub my nose in these revealing facts.
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29. Travel: Visiting the Natural History Museum in London
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Britain
has at times been referred to as "a nation of gardeners,"
so the Web browsing public should not be taken unawares
to read that the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Garden,
in London has developed a Web site that is both pleasing
to the eye and rather informative as well.
For
those planning a visit to London, there is information about
the hours and operation of the garden itself, along with details
about the various scientific work conducted there on a regular
basis.
The Habitats section offers a brief overview (along with some
nice photos) of each of the major regions represented in the
Garden's grounds. Those covered here include the chalk down
land, lowland heath, oak woodland, and that most British of
environments, the hedgerow.
Perhaps
the most entertaining section of the site is the interactive
area, where visitors can listen to bats flying over the garden,
peruse a gallery of lovely images, and examine a pictorial record
of the garden during the year 2000. Visit
this Site
From
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003
