Zimbabwean police detained the opposition candidate in a fiercely contested by-election for more than two hours on Sunday, the second day of a poll marred by widespread violence during months of campaigning.

Developing countries' delegates at the UN climate talks in Bonn regained diplomatic ground lost during negotiations last November in The Hague, says Ramesh Jaura.

One of the surest indications that trouble is at hand is when diplomats start hiding behind catchy phrases and meaningless terminology. Participants and observers to the COP-6 Climate Change Conference here have been told that a "breakthrough," "deal," or "compromise" (take your pick) had been achieved.

The Group of Eight (G-8) major industrialized nations have outlined a series of measures to help reduce world poverty, particularly in Africa, and have pledged to continue discussions on how to address climate change and other global environmental issues.

Post editor Fred M'membe yesterday refused to "co-operate" with the police in their "probe" of Edith Nawakwi's charges that "Chiluba is a thief". Two plain clothes police officers from Woodlands police station yesterday visited The Post offices to ask M'membe, deputy news editor Amos Malupenga and reporter Bivan Saluseki to report to the police station. "I have come to a point where I feel I have had enough of police harassment and abuse," M'membe said.

With a ban on diamond mining in Sierra Leone, announced 18 July, hopes abound that there will now be an end to violence. But the diamond trade is deeply entrenched and some doubt that the ban will work. A Gemini New Service correspondent reports from Kenema - in the heart of Sierra Leone's 'blood diamond' mining region.

In light of the effects of three years of drought in Kenya, the European Commission (EC) has decided to provide 3.1 million euros (about US $2.7 million) through its humanitarian aid office to support a range of actions for the drought-affected population.

Erosion along much of the Togolese coast has caused former beaches to be cemented by calcite into a crest of sedimentary rock called beachrock, Adote Blivi of Togo's Centre de Gestion Integree du Littoral et de l'Environnement (Centre for the Integrated Management of the Coast and the Environment) told IRIN.

Veterinary pathologists in Kenya have identified heavy metals as the leading cause of massive deaths of flamingos in two Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya, and warned that the scenic pink birds of Lakes Nakuru and Bogoria remain threatened unless the lakes are cleared of pollutants.

As negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol enter a new round in Bonn this week and G8 leaders gather in Genoa, Italy, the global community is braced for a climate showdown between EU leaders and the Bush administration. Although President Bush has questioned the need for the emissions reductions required in the Kyoto Protocol, recent scientific reports by the International Panel on Climate Change and the US National Academy of Sciences have been even firmer than earlier ones in their conclusion that emissions reductions are urgently needed.

As international climate negotiations resume this week in Bonn, the Bush administration is fighting a battle on both the domestic and international fronts to win support for President George W. Bush's controversial decision to abandon the Kyoto Protocol. The administration faces growing opposition from environmental groups and Congressional Democrats over his stance on global warming.

Organic foods could be a key for developing countries, hemmed in by the protectionism of the industrialised world, to open a space in the global market, say United Nations experts. The market for organic foods and beverages - that is, produced without pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilisers - is growing rapidly in most industrialised countries, and even in some developing countries, says Rudy Kortbech-Olesen, of the International Trade Centre (ITC), a UN agency.

The African Wildlife Foundation has launched a new regional conservation project known as the "four corners natural resource management project." The transboundary four corners project refers to the Caprivi Strip, the only place in the world where four African countries - Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe - meet. They share the Zambezi River, one of the longest rivers in Africa.

World environment ministers gathered in Bonn, Germany, this evening for crucial talks to agree the implementation of the Kyoto climate protocol. All sides pointed to an atmosphere of increasing optimism that a comprehensive deal on outstanding political issues can be reached. Even just days before the summit the signs of a full agreement had looked bleak.

The Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand will provide a platform at this conference to bring together experts from the academic, clinical, corporate and government sectors, as well as non-governmental organisations from all corners of the African continent and the rest of the globe.

At least 70 people were killed and 15 wounded when armed men attacked the north Angolan diamond-mining town of Chinguvu, close to the Congo border, Lusa reported on Monday. Quoting an unnamed military source who identified the attackers as UNITA, the news agency said about 100 rebels were involved in the Saturday assault on a residential area of Chinguvu. A number of local residents were taken away by the attackers.

Communities' clashes in Delta State, Nigeria, sparked off by the activities of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), has claimed about 15 lives in the area.

On Monday June 25 2001, the earth rights of the unsuspecting people of Ogbodo Community of Isiokpo in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State were seriously threatened following a major oil spill into the waters and lands of the community. The spill was reported to Shell and the State Government on the morning of June 26, 2001.It took the Shell Development company Limited three good days to respond to the emergency call and another five days to intervene and stop the spillage and fire outbreak.

Over the past 300 years, humans have dramatically transformed the land surface of the Earth, changing vegetation, reshaping hills and valleys, and altering the course of rivers. In doing so, they have set in motion a scenario of global environmental change with impacts that promise to be at least as severe as global climate change, scientists reported today at a meeting in Amsterdam.

Speaking on the occasion of World Population Day, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan linked the growing population to ecological stress on the planet's resources. Calling attention to deforestation, pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, he said, "Our ecological footprints on the earth are heavier than ever before."