There are six villages and one settlement within the biosphere reserve, with a total of 10, 000 people (1997) who are mainly engaged in the cultivation of cereals (wheat, barley, corn), vegetables and melons, as well as in animal husbandry (sheep, cattle, pig).

UNESCO: Biosphere Reserve Information

But in Bahrain police are still engaged in near-daily fights with protesters, mainly in the rundown Shia villages that surround the wealthy commercial hub of Manama, the capital.

ECONOMIST: Bahrain

Although Ethiopia and Eritrea are now engaged in a prolonged and sometimes savage war, the fighting, which at the moment consists mainly of border skirmishes, is far from the stricken area.

ECONOMIST: African drought: It pours, it never rains | The