Scientists studying ancient mud samples taken from the bed of the Dead Sea separating Israel and Jordan have warned that the fragile political situation in the Middle East will be made worse by the intense water shortages their study is predicting.

(Reuters) - Progress is being made in the fight against the most common form of malaria in Africa, but a long-lasting type of the mosquito-borne parasitic disease has a tight grip on swathes of South Asia and parts of Latin America, scientists said Monday.

In a new global map of the plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, researchers from Britain's Oxford University found the disease -- which is often recurring and can be deadly -- is endemic in substantial parts of the world.