Health & Science

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:28 UTC

  Chile launches trucks’ scrappage plan to boost economy and fight pollution

  

  The Chilean government will subsidize the purchase of more fuel-efficient trucks for citizens through a program set to start later this year. The program, called “Cambia tu Camión,” or “Change your Truck,” will offer a bonus of 4, 8 or 12 million pesos (7.200, 14.500 or 21.700 US dollars respectively), toward the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient car, with the trade-in of a truck over 25 years old.

• Monday, August 31st 2009 - 14:38 UTC

  SWINE flu has crippled a Royal Navy ship that patrols waters off the Falkland Islands.

  

  At least eight members of HMS Clyde's 38-strong crew have been struck down by the bug.

• Monday, August 31st 2009 - 12:14 UTC

  Listeriosis strikes Chile again, claims nine victims

  

  Listeriosis, a food-borne bacterial disease, has claimed nine lives and infected 45 in Chile so far in 2009, health authorities confirmed this week. The disease, which stems from the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, is often borne from contaminated water and foods and usually infects pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and people with auto-immune diseases.

• Monday, August 31st 2009 - 07:31 UTC

  Uribe avoided condemnation in Bariloche but could not escape H1N1 flu

  

  Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has the H1N1 virus, according to official sources. The Presidency's Information and Press Secretary of Colombia, César Mauricio Velásquez, read an official release Sunday saying that Uribe has the virus, while National Health Institute sources from Bogotá confirmed the diagnosis. Social Welfare Minister Diego Palacio said Uribe is responding well to treatment.

• Friday, August 28th 2009 - 19:42 UTC

  Poultry connection strengthens global H1N1 flu pandemic, says FAO

  

  The detection of an H1N1 virus in turkeys in Chile raises concern that poultry farms elsewhere in the world could also become infected with the pandemic flu virus currently circulating in humans, FAO said Thursday.

• Wednesday, August 26th 2009 - 09:35 UTC

  Argentina follows Mexico and decriminalizes personal use of marihuana

  

  Argentina's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it is unconstitutional to punish an adult for private use of marihuana as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. The unanimous ruling makes Argentina the second Latinamerican country in the past four days to allow personal use of a formerly illegal drug.

• Tuesday, August 25th 2009 - 22:30 UTC

  South Korea launched its first space rocket with “partial success”

  

  South Korea has launched its first space rocket, though a scientific satellite it was carrying failed to enter into its proper orbit. South Korean officials described the launch as a “partial success”.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2009 - 11:34 UTC

  World Health officials urge to prepare for likely second wave of A/H1N1 virus flu

  

  World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan on Friday urged governments to prepare for a likely second wave of A/H1N1 flu cases. About 1,800 people have died since the flu virus was first uncovered in April, according to the latest update from the WHO issued this week.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2009 - 11:23 UTC

  Turkey layers in Chile infected with the human A/H1N1 virus flu

  

  Two turkey farms in Chile have been put under quarantine restrictions after fears the birds have caught swine flu from humans. Vets in the country said the A/H1N1 flu virus had been discovered in the two poultry plants in Valparaiso.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 13:32 UTC

  Ink from fossilized squid 150 million years old found in Wiltshire

  

  Palaeontologists have drawn with ink extracted from a preserved fossilised squid uncovered during a dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.