IN COURT

Pesticide poisoning: In the first case of legal action against contamination and death caused by agrochemicals, the Paraguayan Supreme Court held two growers responsible for the death of 11-year-old Silvino Talavera. The court ruled to uphold the decision by the Appeal Court in Encarnacion and sentenced the accused, Alfredo Lautenshlager and Herman Schlender, two years of jail terms. The case was decided only a few days before its expiration in the Supreme Court.

New radar allows scientists to see through ice

A new radar instrument, called the Global Ice Sheet Mapping Orbiter (gismo) has enabled scientists to see through more than a mile of Greenland ice. The radar revealed an image of land that has been hidden for millions of years, said Ohio State University scientists, while revealing the radar's first test image at the recent annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. They plan to take new images in April 2007.

Botswana's Bushmen to return to Kalahari Game Reserve

Botswana's autochthonous Bushmen (or the San people) have won legal rights to return to their ancestral homeland in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, after the High Court of Botswana ruled against their eviction by the government. Following the eviction, the Bushmen had been living in resettlement camps just outside the reserve.

UP children to be vaccinated every month against polio

Children in western Uttar Pradesh (UP) will now be vaccinated every month against polio. This was recommended by the India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG), at a meeting held between December 11-12, 2006, to stem the rise of polio cases.

Natural Selection

This Borneo tree frog, Rhacophorus gadingensis, is one of 52 new species scientists have discovered on the Indonesian island of Borneo, between July 2005 and September 2006. The list includes 30 fish, two tree frogs, 16 ginger plants, three trees and a large-leafed plant. Among the most interesting are a miniature fish species, the world's second-smallest vertebrate, six Siamese fighting fish and a catfish with a sticky belly.

SNIPPETS

• China has successfully launched its second geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2D (FY-2D), to provide better weather forecasting services for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The satellite will monitor weather changes at the games venues to help weather forecasts during the games.

IN SHORT

tracing the rivers: Indian and Chinese scientists have agreed to find the actual source of two of the world's mightiest rivers: the Brahmaputra and the Sutlej. A team of scientists from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of Chinese Academy of Sciences will leave in April 2007 for the Mount Kailash in Tibet, believed to be the source of the two rivers.

Colombia resumes spraying herbicide glyphosate

Breaking an 11-month-long impasse, Colombia has resumed spraying of the herbicide glyphosate along parts of its border with Ecuador. The move is aimed at destroying illegal coca crops. Coca is used to make cocaine. The aerial fumigation has, however, sparked tension between the two countries.

BYTES

numbers phobia: Children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have particular difficulty understanding numbers and sequences, a University of Alberta study shows. An assessment of 50 Canadian children diagnosed with FASD, a condition caused by the mother's alcohol consumption while a foetus is still in the womb, revealed that the youngsters had specific deficits in memory for numbers and sequences, which may contribute to common maths difficulties faced by these children. The study also revealed differences among ethnicities.

Mendozan parliament in Argentina suspends open-pit mining

Aprovincial parliament in Argentina recently suspended all open-pit mining and also stopped issuing new exploration and mining permits in the province, citing environmental threat. The Mendoza province parliament voted to suspend mining indefinitely since a local government had failed to draw up a plan to safeguard the environment from mining projects.