CAMBODIA: Once ‘Extinct’ Crocodile Claws Its Way Back to Survival

Siamese crocodiles once ranged far and wide across South-east Asia, from Indonesia to Vietnam, Laos to Thailand. But habitat loss and poaching virtually wiped out the three-metre long animals. Twenty years ago they were classified as effectively extinct in the wild.

CLIMATE CHANGE-THAILAND: Bangkok: A Future Filled with Floods

Thailand’s capital, dubbed the ‘City of Angels’ and the ‘Venice of the East’, is threatened by long-term flood inundation as rising sea waters triggered by global weather change and monsoonal rains combine.

AFRICA: Growing Use of Cellphones for Family Planning

The growth of cellphone use, particularly in the developing world, is providing health experts with a new channel of communication to provide family planning information.

VIETNAM: Water, Water All Around—Plus All the Risks It Brings

As Vietnam’s big cities are increasingly deluged by floods, the infrastructure cannot keep up.

LABOR-INDONESIA: Future Looks Bleak for Laid-Off Workers

Ida Farida, 33, never imagined she would lose the job that she had held for 10 years.

MIDEAST: U.S. Credibility as Peace Broker Eroding by the Day

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, movement in the standoff between the two sides can be as often backward as it is forward. The past couple of weeks have seen moves from both sides that have garnered the attention of the world, but forward progress remains elusive.

RIGHTS-US: “New” Military Courts Still Lack Basic Safeguards

While conservatives complain about Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" military commissions designated to try five other detainees.

MIDEAST: West Is East, When Israel Decides

Along a wall not about to come down - a hotel no longer a hotel, but an outpost.

SOUTH ASIA: The Ties that Bind: Artists, Writers Forge Peace

Imagine writers, scholars and folk performers from eight South Asian countries coming together to share their common heritage and culture while promoting peace and harmony at the same time.

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Summit’s Failure Exposes Grim Reality

There are two main ways the flop of this week’s United Nations World Food Security Summit in Rome - which has been snubbed by the world’s top leaders, has failed to deliver binding aid commitments, or to set a target date for the eradication of hunger - is being read.

POLITICS: Malawians Demand Local Councils

In Malawi, local government elections are as rare and endangered as the country’s black rhinoceros.

DR CONGO: Urban Water Supply Needs Attention

Kinshasa's population needs an estimated 700,000 cubic metres of water per day. The Régie de distribution des eaux (REGIDESO) produces only 425,000 cubic metres - vast neighbourhoods like Kitokimosi and Mpasa receive almost none of this water.

PHILIPPINES: Storm-Hit City under Constant Threat of Landslides

The storm has long subsided, and the torrential rains—which battered this city known for its pristine charm and stately pine trees last month—have been gone for weeks.

MIDEAST: U.S. Takes Aim Over Jordan’s Shoulder

In the bleak and seemingly endless desert expanse that unfolds east of Jordan's capital city, Amman, lies a crucial cog in the ambitious regional designs of the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East.

AGRICULTURE: Exporting Afghanistan

The 60 hectare stretch of farmland in north Kabul's Badam Bagh neighbourhood looks much like farmland all over this country. Colourful rows of neatly planted crops stretch out from a dusty road and up the gentle slope of an arid ridge.

World’s Farmers in Rome for Food Meeting

 

RIGHTS-TURKEY: Transforming Men from Culprits to Allies – Part 1

Success in fighting violence against women may well hinge on partnership with an often overlooked but still a critically vital party - men themselves.

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Summit Passes Toothless Declaration

Fears that the United Nations World Food Security Summit would fail to deliver effective measures to defeat hunger were borne out Monday when world leaders and government officials approved a toothless declaration on the first day.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Potential for Biogas in the South

A public-private initiative found that the southern Chilean province of Valdivia has the potential to manufacture biogas, as well as biofertilizers, from organic waste produced on small farms.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Castor Oil Used in Metallurgy

An emulsion of castor oil can be used as a substitute for petroleum-based oils in the production of metal tools, molds and components for machines, according to a study by experts at the University of São Paulo.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Call to Reactivate Zeolite Mining

Zeolite "would increase fertility of the organic substrata of urban farming, but currently it is not utilized due to difficulties in transporting it from the sites where it is produced," Alfredo Lino, Cuban expert in farm sciences, told Tierramérica.