My long trip started on the 20th January 2009 when I traveled from Cape Town to Durban by bus. I spent 26 hours on a City to City bus, moving from Cape Town via PE, East London and Umtata and then to Durban. As much as it was a long journey I must say it I really enjoyed it. I think it was nice touring my own country, getting the opportunity to be exposed to different corners of South Africa from Cities and Townships to Rural areas where the poorest of the poor are located as a result of the past.

Following the G20 meeting in London last week, Stephen Marks unpacks the spin behind the apparent swelling of financial resources available for a global recovery plan. While the IMF remains free to impose the infamous conditionalities that have been the bane of many of its recipient countries, Marks highlights the glaring irony of an organisation that has long pressured others into reform without ever being subject to self-reflection and change itself. While the motives of each G20 player may differ, Marks writes, China at least has a clear interest in seeing the reforming rhetoric of the meeting turned into genuine action and greater representation for developing nations.

On March 9th, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food presented the conclusions from his mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the Human Right Council. In its March 20th resolution on the right to food, the Council encourages the Special Rapporteur to continue to engage with the World Trade Organization to follow up on the issues of concern identified in his report.

Can Facebook and YouTube help the poor tackle their pressing problems? Or is this promise just hype? One is faced with tough questions: Can “Web 2.0 tools” directly influence the poor themselves? Can those interested in poverty work do better to start with the “situation” rather than the “technology”? Or should one think big and dream of a network of networks encompassing a billion children and their teachers, families and friends — nearly all of the poor people in the world, and most of the rich?

Throughout Mali, the use of mobile phones, the services offered by telecentres established in different parts of the country – thanks to agreements between local organisations, companies and cooperation agencies – and convergence with local radio stations, are opening doors that were unimaginable just a few years ago for people cut off from the flow of information and communications.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa dismissed as "false" a South African TV documentary which exposed the appalling prison conditions in Zimbabwe. The documentary showed emaciated bodies of prisoners dying from hunger and disease. RadioVOP quoted the Justice Minister accusing the SABC of fabricating the story and claiming the pictures were taken in other jails in Africa, not in Zimbabwe.

“We need to redefine what it means to be a man, reinforce zero tolerance of gender-based violence, and make sexual and reproductive health services more relevant and user-friendly for men,” Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, told participants in a global symposium on gender equality.

From the early eighties, when African students could still study for free at the Beida University in Beijing, discrimination against Africans in China was reported in the international media. Since then, the story has been regularly repeated. Just before the Beijing Olympics, racism was front page news again. In the bars of Sanlitun, the downtown area for foreigners, they were systematically denied entrance, just as in the discos of the capital.

In an attempt to confront the current economic crisis by encouraging pro-poor investment in housing, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Thursday signed six agreements with project partners from Argentina, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda with the aim of providing funds for affordable housing and infrastructure.

South Africa's president Kgalema Motlanthe, current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, has been mandated to present a request for an eight-billion US dollar lifeline for Zimbabwe at the G20 summit in London on April 2. He will also have the unenviable task of pleading with the leaders of the world's richest countries to lift travel and visa restrictions imposed on President Robert Mugabe and more than 200 of his party leaders, government officials and loyalists.

In China’s long history, its leaders have managed other rises in power and preeminence, but the current rise confronts them with a different set of challenges on a global scale. This two-part series reflects on how China handles its rise and responds to other global powers. In the first article of the series, leading historian of China’s foreign relations, Wang Gungwu, details the considerations for Chinese leadership as the country moves beyond a global role largely limited to trade, exports and economics.

In the Great Depression, as in the current economic crisis, the downturn was particularly severe because of a lack of leadership in the international order. The dominant financial power of the 19th century, Britain, was financially exhausted by the First World War. The new major creditor, the United States, had emerged as a strong economic player, but did not yet have leadership committed to the maintenance of an open international economic order. The simple diagnosis was that Britain was unable to lead, and the United States unwilling.

Macau and South Africa can benefit from a co-operation between the two, Jerry Vilakasi, chief executive officer of the Business Unity of South Africa (BUSA), has said. Speaking to the Macau Daily Times before attending a dinner and cocktail reception with the South African Consul where he was invited as a key speaker, Vilakasi said that with tourism, infrastructure investments and gambling as the major sectors in Macau, both would benefit from a co-operation.

Stated-owned Sinohydro Corp, the largest hydropower engineering and construction company in China, recently won a hydroelectric project in West Africa, according to information released yesterday by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), sources reported. The EUR 282 million contract was signed by Communaute Electrique du Benin (CEB), Benin's state-owned electricity company, and Sinohydro Corp, in Lome, the capital of Togo, on Mar. 12.

“On March 26, the Japanese government offered the Zambian government a loan worth US $274 million for the implementation of the Increased Access to Electricity Services Project to cover five areas in the country”, observes Tina Nanyangwe-Moyo, Coordinator of the JCTR’s Debt, Aid and Trade Programme.

China Friday called on the international community to "act cautiously" on the Darfur issue as it is afraid rash action could damage peace and stability in Sudan. "The involved parties should fully respect and listen carefully to the voices of the African Union (AU), the Arab League and African and Arabian countries," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said in his meeting with visiting Sudanese president's envoy Awad Ahmed al-Jaz in Beijing

A lecturer in African Politics at the Oxford University, England, Dr. Abdul Raufu Mustapha has called on Nigeria to be cautious in its relationship with China, a technological giant and rising world power. He said that while the technology and friendship of China could be beneficial, Nigeria and Africa must be discerning enough not to allow China undermine their interests.

Top Asian oil refiner Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) is eyeing overseas projects for its exploration and production business, as the sharp fall in crude oil prices spurs bargain-hunting among oil giants. Sinopec (600028.SS), who has aggressively pursued acquisitions beyond China, is focusing on opportunities in Africa and South America in the near term, Chairman Su Shulin told reporters at a media briefing on Monday.

Chinese investment in the West African state of Benin has brought substantial and visible benefits to the country but local workers mutter about exploitation and even slavery. The Beninese government and Chinese entrepreneurs insist that all is well on Chinese-run infrastructure projects but here, as in other parts of Africa, notably Zambia, there is a backlash against Chinese methods and focus on the continent’s vast natural resources.

Standard Chartered has restated its confidence in the continuing resilience of the Africa-China trade and investment corridor. Commenting, Anil Dua, Regional Head of Wholesale Bank, Africa, said: "Trade between Africa and China exceeded $100 billion in 2008." Standard Chartered Bank's senior Wholesale Banking executives have just returned from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzen, China where they met with leading Chinese corporates with commercial interests in Africa.