Environment

North Yorkshire County Council have approved a bid by Third Energy to start fracking operations, despite fierce protests from members of the public.  The local government voted seven to four in favour of allowing the first fracking operation in England since a 2012 country-wide ban was lifted. BBC News reports: Hundreds of protesters attended a meeting in Northallerton to voice anger at the project, which had been recommended for approval. The council’s planning committee voted seven to four in favour.

The US could soon become the first country to approve the commercial use of a bacterium to fight the spread of mosquito borne virus such as Zika. The strategy involves infecting mosquitoes with the bacterium and releasing the males into the environment.

The clean up team at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has revealed that 600 tonnes of radioactive reactor fuel melted during the disaster, and that the exact location still remains a mystery. The company hopes to locate and start removing the missing fuel from 2021, Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO’s chief of decommissioning told ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program.  He added that Japan does not yet possess the technology to extract the melted uranium fuel.

The UN has warned that severe food shortages across Yemen amid relentless Saudi attacks, has bought the war torn country “one step” closer to famine. John Ging, director of operations at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA),  said that over 10 million Yemenis need basic healthcare and over 7.6 million “are severely food insecure” He added that this is “one step below the level of famine” on the international index of food insecurity.

Mount Sinabung volcano in western Indonesia erupted on Saturday killing at least seven people and critically injuring two others, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Agency. Sinabung is still on the highest alert level and the potential for more eruptions remain high. CNN reports: The seven victims were in Gembar village in the western province of North Sumatra when the eruption occurred at 4:48 p.m. local time (9:48 a.m. GMT). Search teams comprised of police, military, Indonesian Red Cross and volunteers continue to search for other victims.