The term wildlife refers to living organisms that are not in any way artificial or domesticated and which exist in natural habitats. Wildlife can refer to flora (plants) but more commonly refers to fauna (animals).

Wildlife is a very general term for life in ecosystems. Deserts, rainforests, plains, and other areas—including the most built-up urban sites—all have distinct forms of wildlife.

Humankind has historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways; besides the obvious difference in vocabulary, there are differing expectations in the legal, social, and moral sense. This has been reason for debate throughout recorded history. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment. Literature has also made use of the traditional human separation from wildlife.

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BBC News | Africa | World Edition

Mugabe gives deal deadline to MDC
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:58:19 -0000
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe gives the opposition MDC until Thursday to agree a deal, state media reports.
Court annuls Somali assets ruling
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:59:49 -0000
Europe's highest court overturns a ruling to freeze the funds of a Somali money-transfer firm.
Ethiopia unveils ancient obelisk
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:24:50 -0000
Ethiopia celebrates the reassembly of the Axum obelisk, following its return from Italy.
Call for truth on Nigeria leader
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:16:28 -0000
An opposition party in Nigeria calls for an official statement on the president's health.
Video parlour blast in Ethiopia
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:32:26 -0000
People at a video parlour in the Ethiopian capital are caught up in a large explosion.
Levy Mwanawasa buried in Zambia
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:23:17 -0000
The late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa is buried at a sombre ceremony in the capital, Lusaka.

NYT > Africa

Former KBR Executive Pleads Guilty to Bribery
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:33:12 -0000
A former chief executive of the former Halliburton subsidiary pleaded guilty to federal bribery and kickback charges in connection with work done in Nigeria from 1995 to 2004.
American Filmmaker Arrested in Nigeria
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:31:12 -0000
An American documentary filmmaker and his translator working in the volatile Delta region of Nigeria were accused of spying, Nigerian officials said.
Egypt Tycoon Is Charged in Killing of Pop Diva
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:41:53 -0000
The arrest of Hisham Talaat Moustafa capped weeks of speculation that the politically powerful Egyptian had ordered the murder of the singer, Suzanne Tamim.

L.A. Times - Africa

Thailand protesters unmoved by emergency
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700
A mass strike fails to materialize but tens of thousands remain at a government compound in Bangkok as they seek Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's resignation. Bangkok shopkeeper Rai Varopaspiman is dead tired. Months ago, she joined anti-government protesters and began camping outside the gates of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's administrative compound, demanding his resignation.
World Briefing
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Afghanistan: U.S. disputes U.N. report on civilian toll / Congo: 17 feared dead in crash of aid flight / Israel: Agents found Mengele in 1960 / Nigeria: U.S. filmmaker held on spy charges AFGHANISTAN U.S. disputes U.N. report on death toll
Nigeria police seize funds allegedly raised for Obama
Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Nigerian anti-graft police have seized $629,834 raised at a gala dinner in support of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, authorities said Sunday.

UN News Centre - Africa

Search for passengers on downed aid plane in DR Congo continues - UN
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Two days after a plane carrying humanitarian supplies with 17 people on board - including seven United Nations staff - crashed in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the search for passengers continued today.
Joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur steps up presence at troubled camp
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur is stepping up its presence in and around a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) where dozens of people were shot dead last week during clashes with Sudanese security forces.
Ethiopia's food crisis tops agenda on final day of UN humanitarian chief's visit
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The effects of rising food costs in Ethiopia, where prices have increased up to 500 per cent over the last year, was the focus of discussions between key local and international officials and the United Nations humanitarian chief, who today wrapped up a three-day visit to the country.

The Economist: Middle East and Africa

The Gaza Strip: Ceasefire plus blockade
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Though a ceasefire is more or less holding, Gaza is still under siegeDESPITE warnings by Israel’s government that it would stop two boatloads of pro-Palestinian campaigners from “breaking the siege of Gaza”, the ships, carrying some 40-plus enthusiasts, were eventually allowed to dock safely in Gaza’s main port on August 23rd and to disgorge a cargo of medicine, hearing-aids and other items that the local Palestinians have sorely lacked. But, though a ceasefire signed in June is more or less holding and there has been a slight increase in an inflow of humanitarian supplies, Gazans still feel they are virtually under siege. Since a year ago, when the Islamists of Hamas clobbered their secular rivals, Fatah, in the Strip, the Israelis have restricted the supply of necessities in a bid to make Hamas stop firing rockets at Israel and encourage Gaza’s Palestinians to turn against their new rulers. In June, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. Since then, the flow of goods has increased, but not enough. The boat campaigners intended to publicise the Gazans’ continuing plight. ...
Zimbabwe: Unspeakably rude to the old man
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
The opposition scores a telling point IT WAS a humiliating week for Robert Mugabe. As the new parliament elected in March was convened for the first time, the chairman of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Lovemore Moyo, won the vote to become speaker, beating Mr Mugabe’s candidate. Then the veteran leader was booed and heckled during his speech, for the first time in his 28 years in power. Negotiations between the ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC are still suspended, after the two sides failed to agree on who should hold executive power. Mr Mugabe, not one to take humiliation well, looks set to harden his stance: prospects for an early deal look slim. But it was a rare and telling victory for the opposition.The Zimbabwean leader had violated ground rules, agreed on before the negotiations began, stipulating that the new parliament should not be convened, nor a new cabinet appointed, while negotiations were under way. Several MDC MPs have already been arrested, some as they were entering Parliament to be sworn in. Ahead of a regional meeting earlier this month, Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, and his party’s secretary-general and chief negotiator were both detained at the airport and their passports confiscated en route to the meeting; they were allowed to continue on their way after South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, mandated by the region’s leaders to mediate in the talks, apparently intervened. ...
Libya: Time for a new generation
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Change, if it is on the way, comes in most mysterious waysHOWEVER much of a mess it has made of Libya, the Qaddafi family certainly puts on a diverting show. Like a television serial with several sub-plots, the drama involving Muammar Qaddafi, who has run his oil-rich state since seizing power 39 years ago, and his eight children, manages to sustain suspense even as the story twists in different directions at once. For the past few years, a striking sub-plot has been Libya’s emergence from the international isolation brought by its involvement in terrorism in the 1980s. This story has now taken a final happy turn with the inking of an agreement with America to settle all outstanding legal claims between the two countries. A compensation fund, likely to be filled by a mix of Libyan oil money and “donations” from big American firms keen to do business with Libya, will now pay the remaining compensation to American victims of the PanAm aircraft blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 and for other Libyan-sponsored attacks, as well as for 40-plus Libyans killed by an American bombing raid in 1986 in retaliation for an earlier terrorist incident. ...

Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune

Mugabe's threat may lead to end of power-sharing negotiations
By CELIA W. DUGGER Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:25:48 -0000
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe said he will name a new cabinet if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai refuses to sign a power-sharing deal by Thursday.
Handshake defuses a standoff in Baghdad
By ERICA GOODE Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:25:48 -0000
The intensification and resolution of a conflict between a Sunni citizen patrol and the Iraqi Army on Wednesday offered a vivid illustration of the tension between the two organizations.
Hezbollah shrine to terror suspect enthralls Lebanese children
By ROBERT F. WORTH Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:25:48 -0000
Hezbollah has opened an exhibit in honor of Imad Mugniyah, who is accused of masterminding devastating bombings and hijackings in the 1980s and '90s.
Abu Dhabi puts more cash on the line in Hollywood
By TIM ARANGO Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:25:48 -0000
Abu Dhabi Media, created last year by the government of Abu Dhabi, is starting a new subsidiary that will spend about $1 billion over the next five years making feature-length films in partnership with three American producers.
Sovereign wealth funds ready to agree voluntary investment principles
By Simon Gardner and Lesley Wroughton Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:47:12 -0000
Global sovereign wealth funds have reached a preliminary agreement on a set of voluntary principles to guide their investment practices and to calm fears about their motives.
Abu Dhabi's rulers move from falcons to football
By Rob Hughes and Landon Thomas, Jr. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:29:21 -0000
The purchase of an English soccer club by Abu Dhabi's ruling family illustrates how sheiks from oil rich kingdoms have become buyers of prized Western assets.

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