Six children have died of the mosquito transmitted disease in the last 24 hours reported Brazilian health authorities from Rio do Janeiro, totaling 30 fatal cases so far this year which is almost the 31registered in the twelve months of 2007.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced this week it was tightening the amount of smog-forming ozone that will be allowed, declaring that the air in hundreds of U.S. counties is too dirty to breathe. But the new lower level, 75 parts per billion (from 80 parts per billion), still is significantly higher than what the agency's scientific advisers had urged.
Areas of Britain that escaped the worst of the storms earlier this week woke up to a battering on Wednesday.
A logger is suspected to be the first fatal case of yellow fever in Argentina since the 2007 outbreak in neighboring Paraguay. The man, 39, together with a crew was logging in the northern province of Misiones and according to local sanitary officials had all the symptoms of the mosquito transmitted viral disease.
A powerful storm has hit the western and southern coasts of England and Wales over the weekend, with forecasters warning of more to come. There has been widespread disruption to roads, rail and air travel, while almost 12,000 homes are without power.
Bolivia and Peru have defended the continued, traditional use of coca leaves which have been chewed by indigenous populations for centuries, after they were criticized by a UN drugs agency report.
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.
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.
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.
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.