ENVIRONMENT: Guess Who Extreme Weather Hits Hardest?

When it rains, it really pours on the world's poorest.

ENVIRONMENT: Global Warming Chills Arctic Hearts

Global warming threatens to devastate the Arctic, which is already facing temperature increases up to 10 times greater than other parts of the world, says a study co-sponsored by eight governments and scheduled to be released one week after Tuesday's U.S. election.

ENERGY: Fossil Fuel Lobby Behind India’s Spat With U.S.?

India is irked over allegations by Washington that its scientists have passed on nuclear technology to Iran and leaders, as well as experts here, are inclined to believe that the charges are a ploy to restrict plans to develop genuine nuclear power programmes that could reduce the country's dependency on oil imports.

TECHNOLOGY: Brazil Leads the Way in the Free Software Movement

Despite the challenges involved, Brazil is forging ahead with its decision to adopt free or open-source software throughout the country's massive public sector.

ENERGY: Brazil Fights for Right to Produce Nuclear Fuel

The publicity stirred up around the inspection of a Brazilian uranium enrichment plant is a "fabricated controversy" that could be aimed at hindering the national development of the nuclear power industry.

DEVELOPMENT: Boost Biotech in South, Report Urges

The science of biotechnology could save tens of millions of lives each year in developing countries if the technology is shared equitably, says a new report to the United Nations.

U.S. ELECTION: Faith Versus Facts – The Revolt of the Experts

Increasingly concerned about a ''faith-based presidency'' under President George W Bush, normally Republican or non-partisan experts on a range of national and international issues have decided to either publicly endorse his challenger, Senator John Kerry, or make clear their opposition to the incumbent.

/CORRECTION*/DEVELOPMENT: South Gains Ground in Intellectual Property Debate

Countries of the developing South successfully lobbied the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to incorporate development goals and consumer rights, to counterbalance the interests of powerful nations and corporations, in a resolution adopted Tuesday, Oct. 5.

DEVELOPMENT: South Gains Ground in Intellectual Property Debate

Countries of the developing South successfully lobbied the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to incorporate development goals and consumer rights, to counterbalance the interests of powerful nations and corporations, in a resolution adopted Tuesday.

DEVELOPMENT: Double Standards over Dual Technology

U.S. embargos on 'dual use' technology are stifling knowledge vital for development, scientists say.

AUSTRALIA: Plans to Bury Greenhouse Gases a Fantasy – Report

A report by leading energy consultants has dismissed plans by the Australian government to promote the burying of greenhouse gases as the solution to climate change and has labelled the idea as an expensive and technologically uncertain strategy.

SCIENCE-LATAM: Bring Out the Anti-Hurricane Artillery

To date, all of the weapons that meteorologists and scientists have come up with to debilitate tropical cyclones have failed. But research into ways to fight hurricanes continues, and in five years there could be some important breakthroughs, say experts.

SCIENCE: Global Warming May Spawn More Super-Storms

Hurricane Ivan, the incredibly powerful storm that killed at least 120 people in the Caribbean and southern United States, may be a harbinger of the Earth's hotter future, say experts.

HEALTH: R&D that Addresses the Needs of the Poor

Clinical trials of a new anti-malaria drug will begin before the end of the year in Thailand, representing faster than expected progress in one of several scientific research efforts aimed at combating a deadly disease that affects 500 million people and claims up to two million lives a year.

HEALTH-CAMBODIA: Telemedicine Brings Care to Indigenous Peoples

Living in isolated, idyllic villages in the lush, forested highlands that distinguish Ratanakiri from much of the Cambodian topography, the proud indigenous peoples of this north-eastern province have for years fallen prey to health problems bred by their natural, albeit harsh, environment.

SCIENCE: Warming Trend Will Decimate Arctic Peoples, Report Warns

Climate change will soon make the Arctic regions of the world nearly unrecognisable, dramatically disrupting traditional Inuit and other northern native peoples' way of life, according to a new report that has yet to be publicly released.

DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: Sugarcane’s New Promise

Cuba is stepping up efforts to make use of sugarcane derivatives for such things as medications and plastics at a time when the island's sugar industry is undergoing restructuring due to the low sugar prices on the international market.

CANADA: Bird Flu Defeated – At High Cost

While the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Wednesday that more money and attention is needed to contain bird flu in Asia, Canada's recent outbreak was successfully contained in less than five months but at an enormous, and many say unnecessary, cost.

SCIENCE: US-Backed Researcher Scours Seas for Matter to Create Life

Somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean, a private research vessel owned by controversial genetic scientist J Craig Venter is collecting millions of bacteria from the sea, hoping to find the biological building blocks he can use to create a synthetic life-form that will one day become a new source of energy.

CANADA: Fired Scientists Spoke Out on Drug Approvals

The decision to fire three Health Canada veterinary scientists working in the government office that tests new drugs used on animals raised for food was made at the highest levels of the Canadian bureaucracy with the co-operation of the food and pharmaceutical industries.

VENEZUELA: Recall Referendum Generates Business Opportunities

The Aug. 15 recall referendum for President Hugo Chávez has millions of Venezuelans on tenterhooks, with the exception of a group of young technologists and entrepreneurs who are rubbing their hands in glee over a new and juicy business opportunity worth more than 150 million dollars.