The lowered alert level prompted local authorities to start allowing more than 34,000 villagers to return to their homes after they had been forced to spend the Christmas and New Year's holidays in evacuation centres.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said there was "less probability of a hazardous

In brief

Programme summary:

The 2009-2010 appeal is in support of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) plan. The national society's plan focuses on organizational development with the primary purpose of increasing the PNRC and local community ("barangay") capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability by maximizing the highly potential resources that PNRC has: its volunteers. The PNRC initiative known as Project 143 reinforces the presence of PNRC in all 42,000 barangays in the country.

Nearly 50,000 Philippine villagers are likely to spend the first few months of 2010 in evacuation centres amid concerns the Mayon volcano will erupt, officials said Thursday.

Chief government volcanologist Renato Solidum warned that although Mayon appeared to be in a lull after two weeks of spectacular lava flows and ash sprays, technical instruments showed a major eruption could occur any time.

"The volcano is still active. The danger is still there. So currently the alert level is still maintained

Sources: DOST-PHIVOLCS, DSWD, DOH, DepEd, OCDRC-V, ALBAY PDCC, AFP, JTF MAYON, DPWH V

I. SITUATION OVERVIEW

• Alert Level 4 remains hoisted over Mayon Volcano which means that a hazardous eruption is possible within days. PHIVOLCS-DOST reiterates that the Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) from the summit of eight kms at the southern sector of the volcano and seven kms at the northern sector should be free from human activity
• PHIVOLCS recommends that areas just outside the EDZ should prepare for evacuation in the event that hazardous

Agriculture accounts for an estimated 14 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also has significant potential to capture atmospheric carbon and store it in soils and plants. A number of suitable technologies and practices can sequester carbon in smallholder agriculture. About 70 percent of the GHG-reducing potential of agriculture can be realized in developing countries, according to an FAO policy brief prepared for the UN Climate Change Conference held in

Since the beginning of the implementation of the Humanitarian Reforms in September 2005, WHO and partners have been working together both at the global/regional and country levels to improve the effectiveness, predictability and accountability of humanitarian health action. At the global/regional level, health partners are working to strengthen their individual and collective capacities to respond better and faster. At country level, health partners are working to jointly assess and analyze information, prioritize the interventions, build an evidence-based strategy

Jelita Ajes has been living at the evacuation centre with her husband, children and grandchildren for almost three months now. "We came here just as Ketsana arrived and have been living here

Streams of international pop songs, Asian hits and Christmas tunes fill the air. Kids scream with excitement over games and competitions. A crowd of about 500 people gathers around the stage in the multipurpose covered court of a barangay hall in Tanay. Laughs and cheers as a girl is dancing her heart out to Korean hit 'Nobody' in a show down round against another boy who is trying his best to catch up

A total of around 160 journalists in all continents were forced to go into exile to escape prison or death, often in very dangerous circumstances. The Iranian press photographers