Freedom of the press in Sudan has been heavily curtailed in the past month amidst renewed international criticism of the Sudanese government over the human rights crisis in Darfur. A journalist has been murdered, two foreign reporters charged with espionage and several local journalists harassed and beaten by police, report the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

China's ascendance as a global economic superpower obviously poses a threat to what the author calls "the culture of domination by the economically strong [West]". African countries might choose to associate with China not only because it produces more affordable goods, but because of cultural similarities and a sense of humility quite opposite from Western self-congratulation.

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The repatriation of Angolan refugees is creating food shortages in and around the Zambian camps they have lived in for decades. "The repatriation of Angolan refugees has affected us so much.They were very hardworking farmers and we used to buy cheap beans, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes and maize [the staple crop] from them, but now we have nowhere to run to for cheap foods."

Government is to donate R3 million to a mathematics institute aimed at recruiting African students for training in research and teaching careers.The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is to be funded to the tune of R3 million in the current year by the Department of Education, Minister Naledi Pandor announced in Muizenberg, Wednesday (September 14).