The mining industry has been an integral part of Botswana’s national economy since the early 1990s. At the heart of the industry for the better part of 25 years has been the country’s diamond sector, whose gem quality findings have seen Botswana solidify its position as the world’s leading producer of diamond by value.

Debswana is an important figure within this vital part of Botswana’s economy, producing in excess of 70 percent of the country’s export earnings, 30 percent of its Gross Domestic Product and 50 percent of government revenue.

“Healthy Home, Healthy You.” That is the slogan that Ascendis Health lives by on a daily basis. While most traditional pharmaceutical companies focus their efforts almost exclusively on the intervention space of medical care, the best examples of products in this field being antibiotics or anti-inflammatories, Ascendis Health focuses on what it calls the entire spectrum of life, providing preventative, intervention and chronic treatments targeted at plant, animal and human health.

Founded in the 10th Century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th Century and is today the country’s most populous city, with figures as of October 2013 recording it having an urban population of over 1.23 million and a metropolitan population of 1.97 million. The cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, the city has played host to considerable urban and cultural development in the last several decades which has been facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure.

Six years ago Jan Koum and Brian Acton applied for jobs at Facebook. Both were turned down and Acton would often quip: “We’re part of the Facebook reject club.”

The purchase will result in the creation of the world’s biggest cement maker with combined sales of more than €32 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Lafarge shareholders will receive one Holcim share for each Lafarge share they own.

In order to ease competition concerns surrounding the deal the two companies have agreed to sell various assets. The companies forecast total annual savings from joining forces to be around €1.4 billion. The combined firm will be based in Switzerland.

A survey commissioned by the Bank of Scotland questioned 100 companies in the industry and found that expectations of employment growth had increased since last year, with 69 percent of executives questioned proclaiming their optimism about their business’ growth prospects in 2014/2015.

The plans, the first to be unveiled this year, come in the wake of a string of disappointing data that has sparked fears of a slowdown. In response the government has said it will cut taxes on small firms and speed up the construction of the country’s railway lines.

"We will find innovative ways including fiscal and financial methods to...steady economic growth," the cabinet said in a statement on the government's website. "We must roll out policies that spur businesses' vitality, effectively increase demand and boost jobs.”

Pioneer Resources are currently drill testing a 200 metre structure at the Kalpini South prospect, a move that is designed to extend the strong gold results that were returned in 2013. These results included ten metres at 6.38g/t gold, 15 metres at 2.93g/t and nine metres at 5.31g/t.