EBOLA DEATHS
An outbreak of Ebola virus sweeping through the north-west Congo has killed 67 people and hundreds of gorillas in the past 5 months. In the Lossi gorilla sanctuary alone, some 500 of the 800 animals have died. The people probably died from eating Ebola-infected bush meat, and villages in the area have been quarantined to contain the disease. Ebola infections are fatal in 90 per cent of cases.
FARMING THE SEAS
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Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production system in the world, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Farmed fish yielded 29 per cent of the world鈥檚 harvest of fish and shellfish in 2001, up from 3 per cent in 1970. Nearly half the world鈥檚 wild fisheries are fished at or above the sustainable limit and the report predicts that global catches of wild fish will stop growing after 2015.
POLLUTION FIGHT
The US government鈥檚 go-slow policy on cleaning up carbon dioxide emissions is facing a challenge from six states on the East Coast. New York State is planning to file a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency to force it recognise carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island are planning similar action.