Vancouver's parking enforcement agency awakened the spirit of Christmas early in a one-day toy drive yesterday for residents with unpaid tickets. To benefit children served by The Salvation Army's Belkin House, violators were invited to trade new toys in exchange for forgiveness of all their parking fines.
The United Arab Emirates became the first Gulf state to name an ambassador to Iraq -- a move that is hoped will encourage other Arab states to follow.
A $500,00 gift from the embassy of the United Arab Emirates to spend on laptops is the latest donation aimed at helping tornado-damaged Joplin, Mo., schools prepare to open next week. The $500,000 will help meet a goal of providing all 2,200 Joplin High School students with a personal laptop.
Ukraine's Environment Minister Mykola Zlochevsky vowed last week to free all bears kept in restaurants as entertainment, Interfax news agency reported. Captured and tamed bears are still used for entertainment purposes and often forced to drink alcohol, a tradition that has survived since the rule of Russian emperors.
With solar panels spread over almost 400 acres (160 hectares), a solar power facility in Ukraine began producing power on Monday, aiming to power 20,000 houses with electricity.
The United Nations refugee agency has restored 134 primary schools in northern Uganda, allowing thousands of children to return to classes, after the damage and destruction caused by two decades of conflict between Government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
Uganda is kickstarting a rehabilitation plan for the country's conflict-torn northern region by injecting $606 million in building roads and schools, setting up businesses to stimulate economic growth.
Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army signed a formal cease-fire with the government on Feb. 24 and are moving toward a March deadline for the final peace deal that would disarm the group, ending an insurgency that has lasted more than two decades and killed thousands.
A new breed of rice that can grow in the drier uplands instead of traditional wetlands has doubled the country's food production in only four years offering hope in the struggle to overcome Uganda's food crisis.
The number of animals in Uganda's national parks and game reserves has surged over the past decade. The latest figures show that the population of some species has doubled since 1999, benefiting from improved monitoring and the expulsion of rebels from the country. Species on the rise include buffalos, giraffes and elephants.
Out of Sri Lanka, one of the major manufacturing centers for Western apparel, comes Garments Without Guilt, a campaign launched by the country's clothing industry that focuses on ethically-made products free of child labor and sweatshop conditions. And now, expanding on the meaning of "ethical", three of Sri Lanka's largest apparel manufacturers have launched eco-factories that use sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices.
"South Korea on Sunday hailed North Korea's announced shutdown of a plutonium-producing reactor as an 'encouraging' move which will hopefully speed up its nuclear disarmament."