ENVIRONMENT: The Foundations of Life Itself Are in Danger

Species are going extinct 1,000 times faster than at any time in history, with up to 30 percent of all mammal, bird and amphibian species in danger of disappearing, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

BRAZIL: Drought Takes Toll on Transgenic Soy

Drought in southern Brazil has reduced this year's soybean harvest dramatically in Rio Grande do Sul state - and added fuel to the heated national debate about transgenic crops.

HEALTH-U.S.: Refinery Blast Fuels Demands for Safer Chemicals

As federal investigators sift through the ruins of a Texas oil refinery where 15 workers were killed and more than 100 injured in a Mar. 23 explosion, watchdog groups say the accident raises questions about the safety of chemical plants around the United States.

ENVIRONMENT: British Study Deals Blow to GM Crops

After completing the world's biggest study on the potential ecological impacts of genetically engineered crops, British scientists have concluded that the technology harms wildlife.

ENVIRONMENT-ITALY: Whales Can’t Hear Love Songs of Potential Mates

The whales inhabiting the waters off Italy's Liguria coast are in danger of remaining forever ''single'' because severe noise pollution is drowning out their mating calls.

ENVIRONMENT: Green-Themed World Expo a First for the Millennium

With attractions ranging from humanoid robots to mammoth fossils, the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, the first of the millennium, opens its doors on Mar. 25 with the intention of promoting economic development in harmony with nature, organisers say.

SCIENCE-SOUTH AFRICA: Fair Uses Fun to Make Up for the Past, Plan for Future

For the past week, a historic university town in South Africa's Eastern Cape province has reverberated with some unlikely noises: the sound of rockets igniting, robots chirping and home-made cars racing.

CHILE: Rising Cell Phone Use Fuels Fears of Health Hazards from Antennas

Hundreds of Chileans are keeping watch day and night over lots next to their homes, to block plans to install mobile phone antennas, because they are worried about the possible effects they could have on human health.

SCIENCE: Penguins Revive Debate on Homosexuality in Animals

At a German zoo, the behaviour of six penguins that formed same-sex couples has revived the scientific debate about the origins of homosexuality in the animal kingdom: biological or social?

LABOUR-CHILE: Laws Needed to Regulate Telework

There is an almost total lack of legislation to regulate telework, a growing trend in Chile, one of the most advanced Latin American countries in terms of connectivity, and one of the first to gain Internet access in the early 1990s.

MEXICO: Law on the Side of Transgenics?

If anyone manipulates or trades in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) without authorisation, or uses them to make biological weapons, they will be hit with a fine of up to 127,600 dollars, according to a new Mexican law on biosecurity, one that could set the standard for all Latin America - much to the chagrin of environmentalists.

TECHNOLOGY-BRAZIL: Cybercrime Capital of the World?

Criminals to some, innovators to others, computer "hackers" are a fact of life in the globalised world of information technology - and a surprisingly large number of them are based in Brazil.

SCIENCE: It All Starts With a Seed

When a virulent fungus began devouring North American wheat fields in 1950, U.S. and Canadian plant pathologists staved off disaster by cross-breeding five Mexican wheat varieties with a dozen imported ones, creating a new strain that successfully resisted so-called "stem rust".

UAE: Enhancing Nuclear Energy to Ease Water Shortage, Save Lives

In a Middle Eastern atmosphere that has just buried the controversy related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ripe with the United States and Europe pressuring Iran to come clean on its nuclear programme, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is showcasing how nuclear technology can be used for peaceful and productive purposes.

SCIENCE: In Close Vote, U.N. Urges Blanket Ban on Human Cloning

The United Nations is calling on all member states to take urgent legislative steps to ban all human cloning practices as "they are incompatible with human dignity and protection of human life."

POLITICS-US: Scientific Sleight-of-Hand Taints Gov’t Agencies

Once again, critics of the George W. Bush administration are charging that political appointees are bending science to fit their ideological agendas.

ENVIRONMENT: The Decade After Next…

Climate change could raise global temperatures a whopping 11 degrees C. by mid-century, new research revealed Thursday, even as some international experts warn that just a two-degree increase would likely spell disaster for many people.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: IT Powerhouse Strikes Back

Anyone who doubts the power of Linux needs only to get hold of a nifty, hand-held device that the Indian army plans to issue to soldiers in its million strong army.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Caribbean to Expand Early Warning System

Before Dec. 26 last year, not many people in the Caribbean knew the meaning of the word "tsunami".

ARGENTINA: Breakthrough in Treating Diabetes with Adult Stem Cells

A team of doctors in Argentina has pioneered a new technique for treating diabetes using adult stem cells that could represent a breakthrough in confronting this chronic disease.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Early Warning Takes On Urgency

Setting up an early warning system for tsunamis is expected to top the agenda at an international meeting on small island developing states taking place in Mauritius from Sunday.