While the Peoples' Republic of China is building the new headquarters of the AU, which has already cost Beijing more than US$130 million a year until its completion, other powers did not want to miss the grand ball in Addis Ababa by demonstrating their 'solidarity' to the African people, writes Yves Niyiragira.

China increasingly is playing a crucial role in African economies. Two-way trade between China and Africa exceeded US$106 billion in 2008 and Beijing is the leading trading partner with South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, write Chris Alden and Riaan Meyer.

'Society and Governments: debates and alternatives for a post-crisis world' was the name of a Thematic World Social Forum meeting held in the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.

We can learn lessons from India's unique approach to finance, technology and poverty, writes Greg Mills.

Brazil's mining company, Vale, is preparing to start operations in Mozambique as South America's largest economy steps up its involvement in the scramble for Africa's resources. The remote town of Tete in central Mozambique sits on top of some of the world's largest reserves of coal. With migrant workers and contractors flooding in to take advantage of the opportunities created by this multi-billion dollar Brazilian investment, Tete has become a boomtown, its infrastructure creaking under the constant flow of business visitors.

Lucy Corkin reviews ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’, by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell, an assessment of China’s challenges, both internal and external and how this will affect the world in general and the US in particular. Although written primarily for US policymakers, it is ‘an excellent reference for China watchers from any discipline who seek to further understand the complexities of the Chinese state’, says Corkin.

Scientists have finally discovered the structure of a key enzyme found in HIV and similar viruses, a breakthrough that has crucial implications for HIV treatment.

Net capital flows to developing countries fell to $780 billion in 2008, reversing an upward trend that began in 2003 and peaked at $1,222 billion in 2007, according to a new report from the World Bank. The report states that particularly hard hit were private capital flows, which fell by almost 40 percent, adding that all developing regions were affected, with emerging market economies in Europe and Central Asia experiencing the sharpest downturn.

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations: A Handbook of Good Practices is a timely, practical guide to help aid organisations deal with corruption in day-to-day operations. When people donate money to aid agencies they expect it to reach people in need.

In this week's emerging powers news roundup, are Chinese investments in Africa a ploy for the Asian nation to take away Africa's natural resources? India steps up to challenge China's primacy in Africa, and South African companies aim to become the continent's corporate captain.

Even though the global economy appeared to start growing again during the closing months of 2009, labour markets showed little sign of improving. The number of unemployed persons is estimated at 212 million in 2009, representing an increase of almost 34 million over the number of unemployed in 2007, with the bulk of this increase occurred in 2009. This issue of Global Employment Trends analyses the impact of the global economic crisis on labour markets worldwide.

Arriving at the airport in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, you have a fair chance that the newish-looking taxi taking you into town will not be the usual French or Japanese model, but Iranian. And it will not have been imported, as most cars in Africa are, but assembled in nearby Thiès.

Comparative African Perspectives on China and other emerging powers in Africa is a research project initiated by FAHAMU, the network for social justice issues. China’s deepening engagement with Africa is receiving increased attention from the global media, public- and private sectors as well as academic research. This should however not overshadow the activities of other emerging powers in Africa, including India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. This call therefore seeks to develop an African perspective by strengthening the civil society voice in the discourse surrounding the engagement between Africa and these emerging powers.

Mourad Bencheikh looks at why the Middle East question – with the Palestinian problem at its core – is in deadlock, as Western “silence” on Israeli policy towards the occupied territories engenders mistrust and suspicion in the Muslim world. The wisest approach, says Bencheikh, would be ‘for Israel to build bridges and not walls’ between the Jewish and Palestinian communities. ‘They both know what suffering means, they are gifted, well-educated, hard working and should work hand in hand towards the stability, development and integration of the whole region.’

In this article, Richard Lapper asserts that South African companies are making up for lost time in their own continent. Links with other emerging markets - themselves interested in Africa's resources and high-growth consumer markets - are growing quickly. The economic momentum is also giving substance to a foreign policy that since the end of apartheid has favoured links with Asia, Latin America and Africa in an effort to reduce a historical dependence on Europe and the US.

Global apartheid refers to the divergence in the economic and social development of a white North, industrialised world and a brown South in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The author concludes that the same kind of worldwide solidarity that helped bring down apartheid is necessary to free the global South from economic domination.

South Africans are inclined to moan about so much…the fact that things don’t seem to function, the corruption, the crude avarice of the new elite, the poor performance of Bafana Bafana, the crime. Add to this Julius Malema, Jacob Zuma's polygamy and the scandal of the mismanagement of our parastatals and you have a picture that evokes images of imminent collapse for the chattering classes.

While economic growth in developed markets is only now starting to slowly recover from the battering it took during the global financial crisis (GFC), emerging markets have been powering ahead, writes Janice Mace.

India has stepped up its efforts to gain an economic foothold in Africa in a new scramble with China for the continent's resources, signing energy deals with top oil producers Angola and Nigeria, writes Louise Redvers.

As Macau marks the 10-year anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, Lucy Corkin discusses the 'special administrative region's' role in promoting stronger economic ties between Portuguese-speaking countries.