African governments are turning to more sophisticated techniques to block internet sites and bloggers who they perceive to be a threat. That is the conclusion of The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, who together with the internet giant Google SA, have gathered African journalists together in Johannesburg's financial hub Sandton to take stock in the wake of the North African uprisings. In recent months we have seen the traditional means of blocking content continue. Uganda, for instance, turned off social networking sites in April during the peak of the "walk-to-work" campaign.

Though it denied doing so at first, the Uganda Communications Commission wrote to service providers asking them to "block the use of Facebook and Twitter" and "to eliminate the connection and sharing of information that incites the public".

Michelle Obama's trip to southern Africa to focus on youth. First lady Michelle Obama's official trip to southern Africa next week will focus on youth leadership and education, and will include meetings with key figures in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Obama will make stops in South Africa and Botswana during the weeklong visit that starts Monday.
She will highlight the benefits of education and wellness, and urge youth in the continent to be part of the national dialogue, according to the White House.
"The trip is a continuation of Mrs. Obama's work to engage young people, especially girls and young women, at home and abroad," the White House said.

SA in pole position for eclipse. Astronomers say that South Africans are in one of the best positions to view tonight's total lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes behind the earth, so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon.
Claire Flanagan from Joburg's Planetarium about what is in store for tonight:
"If you go out, then you'll see the full moon. Then, from about 8.22pm it will start going into the shadow of the earth," she said.
"It will be very, very easy to see. You'll notice the edge of it getting like a shadow on it, until it gets bigger and bigger and bigger until the moon's completely in the shadow of the earth. That will take about an hour to happen. And then it will probably be glowing a dullish red colour for another hour-and-a-half, then after 11 o'clock it will start to recover."

South African president to meet Gadhafi next week. President Jacob Zuma will visit Tripoli next week for talks with embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, according to a statement on the South African leader's website. Zuma will meet Gadhafi Monday in "his capacity as a member of the African Union high level panel for the resolution of the conflict in Libya," the statement said.
The African Union panel to Libya includes Uganda, Mauritania and South Africa.
It is the second trip for Zuma, who was part of an African Union delegation that visited the nation last month. That visit included talks on a cease-fire, which appear to have failed.

Africa's attractiveness as a place to invest is growing, according to a survey about business across the continent. At the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, Ernst & Young spoke to over 500 companies around the world, as well as Africans themselves, about how attractive it is to do business in the continent.
The results? Africa is becoming increasingly attractive to international investors.
But it's not all good news for African business. The survey shows that Africa is seen as an attractive investment primarily by Africans and then by emerging markets - but less so by developed countries.
"We looked at it relative to foreign investment and that's where we saw a concerning trend, and the concerning trend there is Africa only gets about 4.5% of global foreign direct investment flows," explained Ajen Sita, CEO of Ernst & Young in Africa.

If holiday-makers building sand castles on the beach in South Africa's port of Durban need inspiration, they do not have far to look. Half-way down the golden sands to the cascading waves of the Indian Ocean there usually lies a collection of amazingly lifelike sand sculptures in the form of cars, buildings and wild animals.
These works can take up to a week to complete but can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. So why do their creators make them? For Siboniso Shezi, a 16-year-old homeless teenager, sculpting often means he doesn't have to go to bed on an empty stomach. "Sometimes people are really impressed by what we do and give us money," he says.
"I enjoy what I do because it keeps me out of trouble. I also like getting donations from the tourists who visit Durban." His car sculpture took him and a friend three days to complete. The perfectly named Sandile Dube, 17, lives more than 40 kilometers outside Durban.