An earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the coast of central Peru on Wednesday evening killing 337 people, injuring at least a thousand and triggering a tsunami warning for South America's central Pacific coast, according to the first reports from the media in the capital Lima.
Defra has confirmed that two temporary control zones in Kent and Surrey, set up to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease, have been lifted.
The death toll rose to 500 on Thursday in the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated cities of adobe and brick in Peru's southern desert. Public services collapsed, emergency operations are slow in delivering and rescue efforts seem minimal compared to the magnitude of the tragedy.
Farmers were warned yesterday they will have to wait until the end of the week before the all clear can be sounded on the foot and mouth outbreak.
Destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest has dropped by nearly a third during the last year to its lowest rate in the last seven years, according to government figures.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that foot-and-mouth disease had been stopped from spreading outside a small area of England, despite tests for a suspected new outbreak in a herd several kilometers from the initial cluster of cases.
In line with the forecasts from experts and international agencies in the first seven months of this year the world experienced unusual climatic catastrophes including heat waves in Europe, snow falls in Africa and record floods in Asia according to the latest report from the United Nations Meteorological Organization.
Restrictions on the movement of animals imposed in the wake of the foot-and-mouth outbreak have been eased.
The Airbus that crashed in Sao Paulo last month killing 199 people showed no sign of mechanical fault, a representative for the European aircraft manufacturer told the Brazilian Congress this week.
Experts are investigating the possibility that the foot-and-mouth outbreak was caused by sabotage linked to the Pirbright laboratory site.