A recent study has found that substandard anti-malarial drugs are being distributed in six African countries

in a landmark ruling on April 30 the High Court (hc) of South Africa announced prepaid water meters cannot be imposed on residents of Phiri

For the first time in two generations, world population is growing faster than agricultural production

Sir, Your editorial "Time for a second green revolution' (June 3) calls for a range of strategies to boost crop yields obtained under diverse conditions. Crucial are the implications for sub-Saharan Africa. The continent's highly varied eco-agricultural zones imply that Africa cannot just replicate Asia's transformation of the 1960s and 70s.

Donald G. Mcneil Jr. As the world's population ages, gets richer, smokes more, eats more and drives more, non-communicable diseases will become bigger killers than infectious ones over the next 20 years, the World Health Organisation is reporting.

India is facing growing pressure from African countries to exempt them from export ban on rice implemented by New Delhi to curb domestic food price inflation. The pressure illustrates how efforts by large producers such as India to control a sharp rise in food costs are hurting poor nations and giving rise to a form of rice diplomacy. "I have a minister from Mali (here)," said Kamal Nath, India's commerce and industries 1 minister, in an interview with the Financial Times.

WHO meets its ambitious '3 by 5' target, although a tad late, writes Maria Cheng from London In 2003, the World Health Organisation began its ambitious '3 by 5' initiative to treat AIDS, promising to put three million infected people worldwide on anti-retroviral drugs within two years. According to a report issued on Monday, the WHO finally succeeded last year. Despite missing their deadline, officials were upbeat. "If every UN health target was met just two years late, the world would be a much better place," said Dr Kevin De Cock, director of WHO's AIDS department.