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>> The Mexican police caught six smugglers with about 57,000 Olive Ridley turtle eggs on August 28 in Oaxaca state. The eggs of this endangered species are part of people's traditional diet and marketed openly despite a ban.

>> Tajikistan recently cancelled a Russian contract for the construction of a hydroelectric power station at the Rogun dam built across the country's Vakhsh river. Disagreements about the height of the dam and the materials used for its construction were touted as the impediments.

>> A study found that coral reefs in Costa Rica's Culebra Bay were being killed by fast-spreading tropical algae that thrive on fertilisers and poorly-treated sewage. The algae blocks sunlight, suffocates the reefs and is spreading along the bay, popular for scuba diving and rare corals.

>> One of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a two-year ban on the use of sonar devices by the navy, imposed to protect whales. The court said national security needed to be weighed against protecting the safety of marine mammals.

>> Relief officials in Peru have appealed for more aid for victims of the earthquake that had struck in August 2007 near Pisco province. Even weeks after the calamity, survivors are living in shelters in unhygienic conditions.

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