Knock-on disaster
The tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh faces 鈥渁 new ecological disaster鈥� as swathes of rainforest are cut down to rebuild houses, the environment group WWF warns. Deforestation would trigger more floods and landslides as well as threatening the Sumatran rhino, tiger and other rare local animals. The group calls for imports of sustainably harvested timber for reconstruction.
Marburg deaths fall
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The Marburg outbreak in Angola had claimed 244 lives by 20 April. World Health Organization officials there say the number of new cases appears to be falling, raising hopes that the outbreak is coming under control. More than 50 foreign staff are now in the country.
Shuttle trip postponed
NASA has pushed back the launch of the space shuttle Discovery by a week, to 22 May, because of unfinished engineering analysis and paperwork. Among other things, NASA officials want to investigate whether the shuttle鈥檚 extended robotic arm will withstand the vibrations of the launch.
Burma accused of gas attack
Burma鈥檚 military forces used shells containing chemical weapons against rebels in February, according to the London-based human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Guerrillas from the Karen people report lung and skin irritations and severe muscle weakness following the attack. The dictatorship denies the claims.
Collider鈥檚 data torrent
The CERN particle physics lab in Geneva, Switzerland, successfully transmitted a data stream averaging 600 megabytes per second for 10 days to seven centres in Europe and the US. It was a crucial test of the computing infrastructure for the Large Hadron Collider being built at CERN. The LHC will be the most data-intensive physics instrument ever built, generating 1500 megabytes every second for a decade or more.