Many African entrepreneurs today consider China as the new land of opportunities. One of them is Nathalie Fodderie from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) […] Through her journey, we see how African and Chinese traders grapple with geographic and cultural hurdles to make a profit.

TRAFFIC is a U.K.-based wildlife trade monitoring network, and it wants to change the culture around rhino horns. As Taylor Hill reported last week, the organization has set up workshops at traditional medicine schools in the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. TRAFFIC hopes to teach the next generation of traditional medicine practitioners that there are alternative—and more humane—ingredients.

Cameroon exchange student Nouredine Mama was given two days’ notice before he was flown to Alaska this fall. The 16-year-old was already settled in Washington, D.C., and had started school when the exchange program he was with found him a host family. Two days later, he moved across the country and started school at Homer High School.

The Ministry of International Cooperation and Development said the UAE has provided Dh173 billion in foreign aid to 178 countries and geographical areas between 1971 and 2014. The report noted that the UAE ranked as the world's most generous donor in 2013 and 2014 and became an international role model of relief and assistance of millions of people affected by natural and man-made disasters and crises.

China’s approach to winning friends around the world has long been characterised as cheque-book diplomacy, with big events overseas invariably accompanied by top-dollar deals. But President Xi Jinping’s ongoing visit to Africa seems to point to a shift, with China more concerned about politics than pure economics.

In a bitter irony, Prince Harry was pictured coming face to face with the bloody work of illegal poachers in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, just hours before the palace released a selection of his own personal photographs and videos that were taken during his summer visit to Africa, where he worked on frontline conservation projects.

The sad truth is that a significant number of global philanthropic foundations have investments in the fossil fuel industry, including those where donations to environmental causes and climate change is a significant part of their portfolio… As we move from the UN's Sustainable Development Goals...to the Climate Change Summit in Paris...the deep contradictions in global philanthropy must be acknowledged.

There are obviously concerns about the impact on Africa through a decrease in commodity exports (and income) to China. Yet such shifts also signal opportunity and perhaps changes in China's approach towards the continent, to include 'softer' issues - like closer public interaction…The 6th iteration of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held this week in Johannesburg, South Africa.