Alan Greenspan, darling of Wall Street, monetary ”maestro” and personification of the American boom, retires in the new year. As rumours fly in Washington about who will take charge of the world’s biggest economy, the experts are already weighing up his legacy.

Two climate change sceptics, who believe the dangers of global warming are overstated, have put their money where their mouth is and bet 000 that the planet will cool over the next decade. The Russian solar physicists Galina Mashnich and Vladimir Bashkirtsev have agreed the wager with a British climate expert, James Annan.

Thousands of women used to be brutalised on a daily basis in the Women’s Jail in Johannesburg. Now, after two years of research, the jail — located in the city’s Constitution Hill precinct — has opened its doors with evocative exhibitions to honour women’s contribution to the struggle for freedom in South Africa.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has formally pitched his country’s candidacy for a permanent seat on a reformed United Nations Security Council. Citing the size of his country’s population and status as the world’s fifth-largest source of oil, he recounted his country’s role in peacekeeping conflicts in Africa.

Jacob Zuma is a guest of honour at the inauguration of Burundi’s new President, Pierre Nkurunziza — the man he played a key role in transforming from rebel leader. In an interview before leaving for Bujumbura, Zuma urged Burundians to work at developing their shattered economy as hard as they did for peace.