Paying The Highest

Ebola has 'upper hand' says US health official

Ebola has 'upper hand' says US health official — Ebola still has the "upper hand" in the outbreak that has killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa, but experts have the means to stop it, a top American health official said during a visit to the hardest-hit countries. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was in Liberia on Tuesday and later planned to stop in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Nigeria also has cases, but officials there have expressed optimism...

US official warns Ebola outbreak will get worse

US official warns Ebola outbreak will get worse — A third top doctor has died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, a government official said Wednesday, as a leading American health official warned that the outbreak sweeping West Africa would get worse. The disease has already killed more than 1,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and Doctors Without Borders warned that the tremendous influx of patients in Liberia, in particular, is overwhelming their treatment centers there. "I...

Dengue outbreak affects at least 22 in Japan

Dengue outbreak affects at least 22 in Japan - An outbreak of dengue fever in Japan -- the first since World War II -- has affected at least 22 people, the government said Monday, with all cases believed to be linked to a Tokyo park. The health ministry said 19 new infections have been confirmed since last week. All are believed to have visited Tokyo's Yoyogi Park or its environs, one of the major green lungs of the metropolis, popular with residents and tourists alike. The park, one of...

Resentment grows in nearby Japanese city

Fukushima fallout: Resentment grows in nearby Japanese city - Like many of her neighbours, Satomi Inokoshi worries that her gritty hometown is being spoiled by the newcomers and the money that have rolled into Iwaki since the Fukushima nuclear disaster almost three and a half years ago. "Iwaki is changing - and not for the good," said Inokoshi, 55, who echoes a sentiment widely heard in this town of almost 300,000 where the economic boom that followed the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl...

Five things to know about earthquake faults

Five things to know about earthquake faults — The 6.0-earthquake that damaged buildings and left scores of people injured in California's wine country was the largest temblor to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Loma Prieta occurred on the extremely active San Andreas Fault. Seismologists say Sunday's quake near Napa occurred on the lesser-known West Napa Fault, which has not been well-mapped. "If you had put a bunch of seismologists...

Iceland volcano alert at red after small eruption, no ash detected

Iceland volcano alert at red after small eruption, no ash detected - Iceland raised its alert warning level to maximum on Friday after what it called a small eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system but said there was no sign of ash that could affect air travel in Europe. In 2010, an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, in a different region of Iceland, closed much of Europe's air space for six days. Iceland's largest volcanic system, which cuts a 190-km (118-mile)-long and up to...

Heavy equipment falls into Fukushima reactor pool

Heavy equipment falls into Fukushima reactor pool - A 400-kilogramme (880-pound) machine part fell into a nuclear fuel pool at Japan's crippled Fukushima plant Friday, the operator said. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), said it had not detected any significant changes in radiation readings or in the level of pool water at the No. 3 reactor. A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 ravaged Japan's northeastern coast and wrecked the plant, sparking meltdowns at three of its six reactors. Friday's...