The Franklin bumblebee, for instance a mostly black bee native to northwest California and southwest Oregon was abundant in 1998, but the following year went into a steep and probably terminal decline.

NEWYORKER: Stung

The mining companies have compared the proposed legislation with what they say is the unjust Black Economic Empowerment Act (BEE) of South Africa, launched to redress the inequalities of apartheid.

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He started Shanduka in 2001 to take advantage of BEE rules that obliged companies to add black shareholders to meet mandatory targets and win government contracts.

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Over the years, many black executives found the corporate culture hard to stomach and departed, even before BEE started offering a faster route to riches.

ECONOMIST: Face value

The bees were infected with just about every bee virus known, including deformed-wing virus, sac-brood virus, and black-queen-cell virus, and also by various fungi and bacteria.

NEWYORKER: Stung