Tsunami warning system
On 30 June the UN created an agency to set up and run a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean. The body will coordinate the various countries working to build the system, which is expected to be working by July 2006. It will have networks of seismographs, real-time sea-level gauges and deep-sea ocean pressure sensors.
Suicidal thoughts
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The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a health warning about antidepressants, saying the drugs may increase suicidal thoughts and behaviour in adults. In October last year, the FDA ordered the relabelling of all antidepressants to warn that they double the risk of such problems in children. Now it has asked for the details of hundreds of clinical trials in adults to work out if the risk is the same for all ages.
There she blows
A kilometre-high plume of vapour that erupted up from the Pacific Ocean near a remote island off southern Japan on Sunday was caused by an underwater volcano, the Japanese coastguard said. Officials said that there was no danger of a tsunami but asked ships to avoid Fukutokuoka-no-ba, where an undersea volcano erupted in 1986.
China鈥檚 six for space
China has shortlisted six astronauts for a second manned mission into space later this year, according to Chinese media reports. The astronauts are training in pairs, and the best pair will be selected shortly before the flight.
Bushwhacking malaria
President George Bush has promised an extra $1.2 billion over five years to fight malaria in Africa, provided Congress approves. Initial projects next year will provide Tanzania, Uganda and Angola with insecticide-treated bed nets and artemisinin-based anti-malaria drugs. The programme will be extended to four more countries in 2007 and another five in 2008.