Ethisphere is a research-based institute dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. This year — the seventh year Ethisphere has published the World’s Most Ethical Companies list — a record number of nominations and applications were reviewed from companies in more than 100 countries and 36 industries. For 2013, 140 companies were named to the list.

It seems our society has turned dodging responsibility into an art form. From celebrities who insist that a brush with the law was all a big misunderstanding to political figures who use spin and double-speak to blame everything on the other side, no one wants to admit it when they mess up. If you’re a business leader, the temptation to use this strategy is huge. After all, your customers are paying you to get it right, so the last thing you want is for them to know that you’ve made a mistake, right?

Behind Asia, Africa is the biggest mobile phone market in the world, and the fastest growing anywhere on the planet with the number of subscribers on the continent growing by almost 20 percent year-on-year for the last five years. Analysts estimate that by the end of 2012 there were more than 735 million subscribers across the continent, a figure that is the equivalent of a 65 percent penetration rate.

The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES has a delightful acronym, P@SHA. Now president of the association, Jehan Ara joined about eight years ago, “so I’m not responsible for the name!” she says. P@SHA was founded in 1992 by nine technology companies, but its membership has since grown to include more than 400 of the country’s largest software houses, product development centres, BPO companies, animation and new media studios and consulting and system integration companies.

Six short months can make a big difference: when we last spoke to Ed Rochette, the energetic chairman of Vancouver-based East Asia Minerals (EAS) his burden seemed heavy. Today it is a lot lighter. Let us recap. When Rochette came in as the chairman of the company he was alarmed by the heavy burn rate of capital.

With its famous white-on red logo, its seemingly endless list of 3,500 global products and its phenomenally successful marketing campaigns, there are very few, if any, companies anywhere that can claim to be as well recognised throughout the world as Coca-Cola. From its beginnings in Atlanta, in 1886, the subsequent 127 years has seen the company reach the point where it today boasts a presence in more 200 countries.

Wednesday 30th January 2013 was a particular significant date for Canada Fluorspar Inc (CFI). It was on this day that the company proudly announced the results of a newly completed Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for its St Lawrence fluorspar project in Newfoundland.

Historically used in aluminium production, protective clothing containing Kevlar, Teflon for non-stick frying pans, and refrigerants and air conditioning, fluorspar is a halide mineral of increasing importance, specifically when it comes to new manufacturing technologies.

African Minerals (AML) started life in 1996 as the Sierra Leone Diamond Company, focused on Sierra Leone’s deposits of alluvial diamonds. In 2005 it raised £20 million on London’s AIM market and three years later confirmed its Tonkolili magnetite resource in Sierra Leone’s Northern Province.

The deal comes at a time when Sharp has been activity trying to restructure its operations.

Analysts have reacted to the news by saying that the investment from Samsung was likely to provide a boost to Sharp's efforts to revive its business.

"For Sharp, this is good news from all fronts," said Gerhard Fasol of Eurotechnology Japan in Tokyo. "Not only can Samsung help Sharp smooth its production and operations, it can also become a key customer of Sharp's products, especially flat screens.”

In the same way that it had a hugely symbolic meaning to ancient Egyptian culture, gold was just as central to ancient Greeks, in this case as a financial commodity. In fact it was as early as 550 BC that the Greeks had begun mining for gold across the Mediterranean and into Middle Eastern territory. By 325 BC, the Greeks had successfully mined across an area spanning from Gibraltar to Asia Minor and Egypt.