It's time to stop neglecting mountains. That is the call from the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization on the occasion of International Mountain Day, celebrated every year on the 11th of December.

More than 500 people are reported to have been killed and hundreds more are missing after Typhoon Bopha devastated parts of southern Philippines.

In a new released report entitled “State of the World Cities 2012/13” the United Nations Human Settlements Programme  (UN-Habitat) ranked the world’s cities in terms of prosperity, which they evaluated along a newly introduced “Prosperity index”.

More than 40 students from developing countries recently took part in a week-long study tour of Germany where they learned first-hand about best environmental practices.