Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Taking Steps to Protect Emerald Hummingbird

Honduran officials have set limits for a stretch of highway in the northern department of Yoro, home to the endangered emerald hummingbird (Amazilia luciae).

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Opposition to Chinese Plan for Patagonia Soy

Environmental and citizen groups in the southern Argentine province of Río Negro are sounding the alarm against China's multi-million-dollar plan to expand soybean production in the area.

’12 Angry Lebanese’ Touch So Many More

Straddling the hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea is Roumieh, Lebanon's largest and most notorious high-security men's prison. Crowded into its dank and depressing concrete cells are those convicted as religious extremists, murderers, mobsters and spies.

ENVIRONMENT: New Biosafety Treaty Faces Tough Tests Ahead

A new international treaty on the safe use of modern biotechnology has just come into being, but developing countries say the real challenge lies in how its lofty ideas can be transferred into practical realities.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Strengthen Cooperation to Secure Power

Southern African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region, environmental experts advise. If they don’t, the region could experience power shortages and resulting economic deficits.

ZAMBIA: Bumper Harvest May Prove an Embarassment of Riches

Buoyed by government’s fertiliser subsidy, Zambia’s farmers produced 2.8 million tonnes of maize in the 2009/10 growing season. Initial delight over the increased harvest - up from 1.8 million tonnes the previous year - gave way to worry as farmers realised they could be stuck with most of the crop.

The Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) says 75 percent of the world’s ultra poor, those living on living on less than 50 US cents per day, are in Africa.

The Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) says 75 percent of the world’s ultra poor, those living on living on less than 50 US cents per day, are in Africa.

South Africa plans to build a space-launch and mission control facility after it starts its own space agency by the end of 2010.

South Africa plans to build a space-launch and mission control facility after it starts its own space agency by the end of 2010.

Nourishing a Budding Sustainable Agriculture Movement

With a record number of people undernourished last year – and that number only down about 10 percent this year – this year's World Food Day, to take place Saturday, carries with it a new sense of urgency. But in the conferences and events being held to commemorate the day, there will also likely be a sense of hope and opportunity.

U.S. Weighs Endorsing Indigenous Rights Declaration

Just over three years after having voted against it at the United Nations, the United States is in the process of reviewing its position on the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

SOUTH AFRICA: Satellite Preparing Scientists for New Space Industry

Though practically invisible to the naked eye, a uniquely South African satellite has been orbiting the earth for the past year, creating an archive of images and jumpstarting what its creators hope will be a space revolution in the country.

SUDAN: U.S. Works to Avert Post-Referendum Bloodshed

With just under three months before southern Sudan votes on whether to become an independent country, the U.S. is stepping up efforts to ensure the vote and post-vote resolution are peaceful and credible – and NGOs are stepping up pressure to ensure that Washington follows through.

Lesotho Could Beat Drought With Irrigation

Bonang Charles's fields are a richly green rarity in October's parched landscapes along the Phutiatsana River. It's a vivid demonstration of the limited reach of irrigation to Lesotho's small-holder farmers.

Small-scale wheat farmers in Africa are at risk from new mutations of a wheat-killing fungus

Small-scale wheat farmers in Africa are at risk from new mutations of a wheat-killing fungus

MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: Divided Over the Death Penalty

South-east Asian neighbours Malaysia and Singapore have had several political spats over the years, including long-running arguments over water supply and a territorial dispute over the Pedra Branca islets at the eastern entrance to the Straits of Singapore.

BURMA: As Vote Nears, Moods Range from Disdain to Determination

"Voting in X (number of) days," reads what sound like a reminder to voters in the front pages of weekly journals here ahead of the Nov. 7 general election in Burma, the first to be held in 20 years.

A microbicide gel may for the first time give women the power to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

A microbicide gel may for the first time give women the power to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

South African children are dying at the same rate as they did twenty years ago.

Experts say this shows that the country will not meet its goal of cutting infant mortality by 66% in 2012.

MALAWI: While the President Flies, the People Queue for Fuel

A public spat has developed between the Malawian government and organisations in the small south-eastern African country over foreign exchange being "wasted" on foreign trips undertaken by President Bingu wa Mutharika. The consequence has been repeated fuel shortages, organisations say.

World Bank Pressured over Record Fossil Fuels Lending

With new figures showing a record amount of World Bank funding for projects relying on coal power and other fossil fuels, the issue of reforming the institution's energy lending was once again a hot topic at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, which concluded over the weekend.

KYRGYZSTAN: First Woman President Makes a Mark

When Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva was selected to be President of Kyrgyzstan, she became the first woman head of state in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian region.