Last month two people were killed and buildings set alight in Espinar, in the southernhighlands, in a protest against Xstrata, an Anglo-Swiss company that owns a copper mine at Tintaya and is building another nearby.
In some parts of Africa, such as the highlands of eastern Africa, the Sahel and the deserts of southern Africa, malaria is not a constant threat, but comes in sudden epidemics.
Some areas of the Highlands and Islands have largely escaped the snowfalls that have caused chaos in several more southern and eastern areas of Scotland since last Friday.