"Watching Kunte Kinte's story unfold had a profound impact on my developing sense of identity" says Ade Akinboyewa of the television serialisation of Arthur Haley's 1976 best-selling novel Roots. As a young black boy growing up in the white suburbs of South London he had never really thought deeply about slavery and how it had shaped him. "For the first time something that had always been opaque and unspoken was suddenly made real."

As Google launches its new social network service « Google+ », now available to the public without invitations, facebook is trying to remain the leader by looking at emerging countries. With over 700 million regular users in the world, but barely 3 million in Nigeria, facebook knows it can now only grow where the internet is not yet easily accessible.

With an eye on its future profits, Google is investing millions to enable an army of tech-savvy young Africans to build the web from the bottom up and put their continent on the global information map

Land grabs and exploited workers dominate the headlines, but Africa's relationship with emerging partners is more complex and will boost the continent - if states negotiate wisely       

From crumbling stadiums to corruption and declining interest in Africa’s own teams in favour of flashy European sides, there is a great deal of work to do to restore African football to the glory days of the past. ?Ponga Liwewe looks at the issues.

The international federation has been contributing to the development of African football for 25 years. The nomination of South Africa for the 2010 World Cup is one of the strongest signs of this.