NAIROBI, March 25, 2008 (AFP) - The African Development Bank on Tuesday loaned Madagascar almost 15 million dollars (9.6 million euros) to finance an irrigation project in the impoverished nation, the bank said.

ANTANANARIVO, March 14, 2008 (AFP) - A private company in Madagascar said Friday that it had produced the impoverished Indian Ocean island's first barrels of oil at an onshore pilot-project.

ANTANANARIVO, March 5, 2008 (AFP) - The United Nations said Wednesday it had launched a flash appeal for 36.4 million dollars to assist cyclone-stricken areas in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.

'This appeal is a tool aimed at outlining a coordinated response in the coming three months,' local UN humanitarian coordinator Jean-Marie Stratigos told AFP.

ANTANANARIVO, Feb 29, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities in Madagascar said Cyclone Ivan, which hit the island earlier this month, killed at least 83 people and left 187,687 homeless, according to figures released Friday.

The latest update remained provisional however, as the emergency services said another 177 people were still missing.

ANTANANARIVO, Feb 24, 2008 (AFP) - A cyclone that hit Madagascar earlier this month killed at least 44 people and left nearly 145,000 homeless, according to updated figures released by authorities Sunday.

The numbers are almost twice estimates released Friday of 29 people dead and 70,000 homeless from the category 3 cyclone.

ANTANANARIVO, Feb 22, 2008 (AFP) - A cyclone which swept across Madagascar this week killed 29 people and left nearly 70,000 homeless or otherwise affected, local authorities said Friday.

ANTANANARIVO, Feb 1, 2008 (AFP) - Twelve people died in Madagascar after cyclone Fame tore through the western portion of the island, according to a death toll released Friday by the island authorities.

The cyclone, which struck Sunday, left another 1,450 people homeless, with 5,024 inhabitants of the island tallied as having been affected somehow by the disaster.

PARIS, Jan 17, 2008 (AFP) - Botanists on Thursday announced they had identified a new species of palm that is so enormous it can be spotted from space and whose bizarre life cycle requires the plant to kill itself after it has flowered.

MANAKARA, Madagascar, Jan 15, 2008 (AFP) - Madagascar's only passenger railway is an economic lifeline for dozens of isolated mountain villages set back from the coast and more and more tourists are falling for its old-world charm.

NAIROBI, Dec 19, 2007 (AFP) - The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced Wednesday a 30-million-dollar (21-million-euro) programme to boost Madagascar's rural economy and help to alleviate poverty.