In the first commentary piece of this month's newsletter Ms Sanusha Naidu comments on South Africa’s recent inclusion into the BRIC grouping. The second commentary by Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa looks at relations between Brazil and Africa (article in Portuguese) followed by a review by Prof Deborah Brautigam of a recently released report on China’s possible influence and activities in African media. The January edition is available .

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

As Côte d'Ivoire remains in a troubling state of political deadlock, Horace Campbell discusses the increasing militarisation of politics, the history of external interests in the country and broader conditions behind the contested 2010 election.

If there's one thing that Gbagbo has done it's this: Show the Ivorians that there is life after France, writes Paisible Ivoire.

Marilio Wane

Sanya Osha’s ‘Naked Light and the Blind Eye’ breathes new life into the popular theme of the transition from a tribal culture to modernity, writes Adeola Adams.

World trade is expected to have grown by more than 13.5 per cent in 2010, the fastest ever in global commerce, according to revised projections made by economists of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 'This would be the fastest year-on-year expansion of trade ever recorded in a data series going back to 1950,' the WTO noted. The high growth figure, while reflecting higher industrial activities worldwide, is also a result of the severely-depressed level of trade in 2009, when world exports plunged by 12.2%, a WTO release said.

Russian sailors did not shoot at sea pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky said in comment on a video clip showing crewmembers of the Marshal Shaposhnikov large anti-sub ship fire at small boats, which presumably belonged to Somali pirates. 'Our sailors would have never opened fire at people at sea. That is an absurdity, which is not worth a comment,' he said. The three-minute video clip posted on the Internet displays firing sailors, a pirate boat and an approaching ship, and missiles flying from the warship.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

‘If the AU and ECOWAS intervene in Cote d’Ivoire on behalf of France and imperialism, it could be a dangerous example, threatening the sovereignty of other African countries, writes Asad Ali.

A new International Council on Human Rights Policy report looks into the human rights implications of contemporary patterns of social control: how laws and policies construct and respond to people, behaviour or status defined as 'undesirable', 'dangerous', criminal or socially problematic. The report explores how changing ideas of crime, criminality and risk are shaping social policy, why incarceration continues to be a preferred sanction and how contemporary policing and surveillance practices order and organise social relations.

Six anti-slavery activists are in prison in Mauritania in a case rights experts say points to the challenges of ensuring a 2007 law criminalising slavery is more than just words on paper. The six men, members of the Mauritanian anti-slavery group Initiative pour la résurgence du mouvement abolitioniste (IRA), are set to go on trial in the capital, Nouakchott, on 5 January after two postponements. The authorities reportedly said the IRA members attacked security forces; the activists said they were simply demonstrating against slavery.

While edicts around the need for non-discrimination and racial equality within Brazil’s education system have changed, the attitudes of figures in positions of educational authority have not, writes Andréia Lisboa de Sousa.

Ivory Coast’s political crisis remains in a deadlock. President Laurent Gbagbo and longtime opposition leader Alassane Ouattara have each claimed victory in November’s disputed election. Ouattara has received the backing of the international community. Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman speaks with Horace Campbell of Syracuse University and Gnaka Lagoke, an Ivory Coast political analyst.

The second India-Africa Forum Summit takes place in 2011, three years after the inaugural event in New Delhi. Sub-Saharan Africa’s exports to India have almost trebled over the past five years and Indian-African business links – particularly in energy resources, precious metals and uranium – have boomed. This paper from Chatham House assesses the prospects for the 2011 India–Africa Forum.

Gary K. Busch examines the current stand-off between Alassane Outtara and Laurent Gbagbo through a neocolonial lens, calling into question the international response to the crisis.

Tanzania's umbrella labour union is planning a nationwide peaceful demonstrations to protest the government's decision to hike power tariffs by 18.5 per cent effective 1 January 2011, the body's leadership said. 'As workers we are not convinced with the way the government and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) decided to increase power tariffs while aware that most of our people are leading miserable lives,' said Nicholas Mgaya, acting secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA).

The Global Fund has once again rejected Malawi’s request for funding which it submitted last year amounting to about $560million to support its national response towards HIV/AIDS for a five-year period. Principal Secretary in the Office of the President responsible for HIV/Aids and Malnutrition, Mary Shaba, confirmed the board’s rejection but said the country was still waiting for official communication from the Global Fund on the reasons that led to such decision. However, other reports indicate that Malawi’s proposal was rejected because the country’s laws are rigid and do not favour the marginalised groups. Malawi still criminalises homosexuality and prostitution.

The world's biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter - called 'biomass' - into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. This new 'biomass economy' represents a trillion dollar industry but it will not feed the people or stop climate change. In order to shed light on this new economy, farm leaders from the Global South participated in a public forum to share their reality and propose alternatives. Presented by Food Secure Canada with: Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, Development and Peace, ETC Group, GRAIN, Greenpeace, Inter Pares, National Farmers Union, Peoples Food Policy Project, The Ram's Horn, Union Paysanne, USC Canada. Eight videos from the forum are available through the link provided.

The world's biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter - called 'biomass' - into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. This new 'biomass economy' represents a trillion dollar industry but it will not feed the people or stop climate change. In order to shed light on this new economy, farm leaders from the global South participated in a public forum to share their reality and propose alternatives. This page presents a series of videos from the forum.