Health & Science

• Tuesday, March 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina confirms first case of yellow fever in 40 years

  

  A farm worker has become the first person diagnosed in Argentina with yellow fever in forty years since the recent outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted disease in neighboring Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia, confirmed Argentine Health ministry authorities.

• Sunday, March 2nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  UK government pledges crackdown on plastic bags

  

  The agency in charge of UK government marketing announced this week that it would stop buying plastic bags for use in promotional campaigns. The announcement followed the publication of figures in The Guardian showing that the government bought nearly 1million plastic bags last year for promotion and marketing purposes.

• Friday, February 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Seism shakes north east Brazil causing panic but no victims

  

  A slight tremor with 3.9 Ritcher scale degree intensity, lasting a few seconds, followed by over a hundred low intensity replicas was felt in the Brazilian northeastern state of Ceará, according to Brazilian Civil Defence.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Several Chilean regions facing worst drought in a century

  Chile's Agricultural Ministry added this week 46 districts to the growing list of agricultural zones under a state of emergency. The news comes as farmers in small towns in south-central Chile continue to loose crops and livestock due to severe drought, prompting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to call an emergency meeting in order to address the situation.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Report shows links between banks' crisis and heart attacks

  There could be thousands more heart attacks if the banking crisis keeps expanding suggests a paper from Cambridge University. The report, which examines how banking crises in the UK have affected health in the last 40 years, is one of the first to look at the relationship between the two.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Light plane crashes in Santiago killing eleven

  

  A small instruction plane belonging to Chile's Carabineros (uniformed police) crashed Wednesday morning into a recreational complex in the capital Santiago's Peñaloén borough. The accident left at least 11 people dead and a number of others injured.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Wildfires in Patagonia threaten centuries old trees

  

  Wildfires raging at a national park in Argentina's Patagonia region since last Sunday are threatening to destroy trees up to thousands of years old and the government has called for residents in the area to evacuate homes and farms.

• Wednesday, February 27th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Quake shakes Britain, second largest since 1984

  

  An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook England early on Wednesday morning.

• Tuesday, February 26th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Anti yellow fever vaccination campaign reaches Buenos Aires

  Buenos Aires health centres have begun to vaccinate against yellow fever in support of a national campaign to prevent the spread of the viral mosquito transmitted disease following serious outbreaks in Brazil and Paraguay, both neighboring countries with Argentina reported Buenos Aires City authorities.

• Friday, February 22nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina and Bolivia tighten yellow fever controls

  Argentina and Bolivia have taken further steps to prevent the spread of the mosquito transmitted yellow fever outbreak in neighboring Paraguay which so far has caused at least seven confirmed deaths, another 39 almost certain cases and an overall atmosphere of panic in the country with people in urban areas desperate to be vaccinated.