The approval of draft laws and infrastructure projects that pose a threat to the environment in Brazil, promoted by large landowners and even sanctioned by some sectors in the government, has tied the hands of Environment Minister Carlos Minc and brought a replay of the tense climate that cost his predecessor her job.

Zimbabwe has just hosted the 13th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit where a customs union among some of the region’s countries was launched. But will it improve regional trade and assist passage across borders for the member countries’ numerous women traders?

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programmes have been using the total secrecy surrounding the programme to hide abuses and high civilian casualties.

Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat believes Palestinians are politically in their strongest position ever in their decades-long conflict with the Israelis.

Armed with picks, axes and hoes, a group of enthusiastic villagers break into song: 'Randana kamara wakaipa, Randana kamara wakashata.Watora ufuro hwezvipfuyo, wauraya mombe.' ('Lantana camara, you are evil. You have taken over grazing land for our livestock, you have killed our cattle.')

The cautious tone taken by World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan when she declared an H1N1 influenza virus pandemic Thursday was only modified when she expressed concern over the potential effects of the virus in developing countries, and among young pregnant women in particular.

Wednesday’s killing of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by an elderly white supremacist is the latest incident in what many see as a potential new wave of right-wing violence triggered, at least in part, by the election of President Barack Obama and the economic downturn.

Millions of people move to Africa’s cities every year, swelling the numbers of urban poor. 'We cannot chase people away from slums,' says Kelvin Mmangisa, chief executive of the Lilongwe City Assembly. 'But we can improve the conditions there to make their lives better.'

African economic experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa have called for a regional approach to the global financial crisis, but South Africa - the continent’s strongest economy - does not want to play ball.

Indigenous people taking part in protests near this town in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas that ended in a bloody clash with the police last week are now focusing on drawing up a list of the dead and missing, amidst a climate of fear and mistrust.