Mozambique's elephant population risks being obliterated within a decade unless tight anti-poaching measures are introduced, conservationists have warned.

The sight of children, the disabled and disadvantaged begging at all hours of the day and night in Pakistan is a grim, constant reminder of the millions who live in abject poverty.

Galina Kitaeva was carefully laying out handmade thumb books in a museum showcase, as if she was presenting some exquisite craftwork.

Negara Brunei Darussalam, officially the Nation of Brunei, is a tiny Southeast Asian country you can barely spot on a map.

Whether one is at his/her favourite roadside tea stall, at home with family or relatives, or chatting with neighbours at the playground, the 13th General Election (GE13) is definitely one of the topics discussed.

When France finally holds its first gay wedding in just over a month's time, it will be Vincent and Bruno who will be exchanging vows in Montpellier, a southern city known to homosexuals as the "French San Francisco".

Cancer sufferer Dietmar Erlacher's lonely anti-smoking campaign in Austria, one of Europe's last bastions of the habit, has won him insults, enemies and even several assaults.

Construction tycoon Niu Yeqing owns four cars in which he cruises the streets of the Chinese city of Hefei, including a black Mercedes-Benz S600. His wife favours a burgundy red Porsche.

By Cat Barton

BUON MA THUOT, Vietnam, April 17, 2013 (AFP) -- Most Vietnamese coffee farmers have never heard of a double tall skinny latte, but they could tell you the price of the beans that go into one in their sleep.

From high-tech Israeli irrigation systems to text message updates of global prices for the commodity, coffee farming in Vietnam's Central Highlands has come a long way since the French first introduced the bean over a century ago.

Chhavi Rajawat, an MBA graduate and one-woman whirlwind, is seeking to drag her impoverished ancestral village in the desert state of Rajasthan into the 21st Century.