Pentagon Accused Of Squandering Afghan Reconstruction Money

A watchdog in the United States has severely criticised the way more than eight-hundred million dollars was spent by the Department of Defence in Afghanistan to boost economic development. One of the projects cost six million dollars to import a small herd of rare blonde Italian goats to help the local cashmere industry. But the scheme was so poorly monitored that it can't be said for sure the goats weren't just eaten.

New figures from Brazil show a further rise in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads. There've been nearly three-thousand-nine-hundred cases of microcephaly since October, when the authorities first noticed a surge. The Brazilian Health authorities say it's the largest known outbreak of the virus, The disease, which usually leads to brain damage, has been linked to the Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitoes.

More than eighty drug companies have come up with a plan to tackle "superbugs" that are resistant to antibiotics. They're calling on all governments to co-ordinate and boost joint efforts to find new drugs, and to help stop the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Growing alarm about the rise of superbugs has been heightened by the discovery in China of bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics.