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More than one billion trees have been planted around the world in 2007, with Ethiopia and Mexico leading in the drive to combat climate change, a United Nations report said Wednesday. The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme said the mass tree planting will help mitigate effects of pollution and environmental deterioration.

Humanity is changing Earth's climate so fast and devouring resources so voraciously that it is poised to bequeath a ravaged planet to future generations, the United Nations warned on Thursday in its most comprehensive survey of the environment. The fourth <i>Global Environment Outlook</i> is compiled by 390 experts from observations, studies and data garnered over two decades.

"Our crops have been destroyed by the water and houses have collapsed," says Egoliam of his village's ordeal in Amuria, Uganda. The heaviest rains in 35 years have caused the worst floods on the continent in decades. Flood waters have destroyed vital infrastructure and left more than one million people needing emergency help.

Ugandan troops looted truckloads of valuable trees from south Sudan when they were pursuing Lord's Resistance Army rebels who were hiding in the region, a research group said on Friday. The Swiss-based Small Arms Survey said the Uganda People's Defence Forces cut teak trees in southern Sudan's Equatoria region during Operation Iron Fist.

The female condom has failed to take off in Kenya, depriving women of one of the few means over which they have control of protecting themselves.

Fears mounted on Monday that downpours that have killed dozens in Africa, uprooted hundreds of thousands and devastated crops could continue past the end of the rainy season and hit areas that have so far escaped floods. Experts say the rising waters may hit as yet unaffected areas in the coming days.

Beating the air with her homemade net, Aicha Ali chases a swirling black and turquoise butterfly. Far from indulging in a frivolous pastime, this Kenyan mother is earning crucial family income. "I like capturing butterflies; it's fun because I make some money," she says, puffing as she wipes the sweat pearling on her nose after a frantic chase in the forest's sandy trails.

Kenyan police on Tuesday killed two suspected members of a banned sect blamed for a string of recent murders and beheadings in a mounting crackdown across the East African nation. Police Commander Tito Kilonzo said officers trailed suspected Mungiki gang members from the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi.

Kenya is set to receive oil from Libya at preferential rates according to a bilateral agreement signed earlier this month between the leaders of the two countries. Insiders in the oil industry say this makes it likely that Kenya will award the contract for the establishment of a petroleum facility of $45-million to a Libya-connected investor.

Many in Africa expressed disappointment at Wednesday's news that former United States trade envoy Robert Zoellick is to replace Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank, saying the job should have gone to a developing country. But there was also hope that Zoellick's experience on African trade issues could bring benefits.

Two Ethiopian rebel groups have said they killed 157 troops in the east of the country this month, a claim denied by the government on Tuesday. The Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front said they had launched several joint attacks in recent weeks.

Alarmed by noise pollution, a Kenyan Rift Valley town has ordered all churches to install soundproof equipment or move out, officials said on Thursday. The Eldoret Municipal Council said residents had complained that the town's dozens of churches were a public nuisance owing to constant noise -- mainly preaching and songs -- from sound-distorting woofers.

Biofuel and renewable energy sources may hold the key to Africa's energy crisis. Without intervention, this crisis is set to grow -- among others, in Southern African cities such as Lusaka in Zambia, Harare in Zimbabwe, Gaborone in Botswana and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Kenya's capital, Nairobi , takes its name from a Masai word meaning "place of cool waters". In parts of the city, however, this term is less descriptive than ironic -- as demand for water is outstripping supply. The challenge of stretching water supplies ever further is coming to the fore on Thursday as countries around the globe mark World Water Day.

Rights activists in Kenya have intensified their campaign against a proposed anti-terrorism law -- this after a travel advisory issued by the United States warned of possible terrorist attacks in the East African country during the upcoming World Cross-Country Championships.