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In only the second elimination of a disease in history, rinderpest a virus that used to kill cattle by the millions, leading to famine and death among humans has been declared wiped off the face of the earth.

Rinderpest, which means “cattle plague” in German, does not infect humans, though it belongs to the same viral family as measles. But for millenniums in Asia, Europe and Africa it wiped out cattle, water buffalo, yaks and other animals needed for meat, milk, plowing and cart-pulling.

Its mortality rate is about 80 percent higher even than smallpox, the only other disease ever eliminated.

The last case was seen in Kenya in 2001. On Thursday, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization announced that it was dropping its field surveillance efforts because it was convinced that the disease was gone. The official ceremony in which the World Organization for Animal Health will declare the world rinderpest free is scheduled for May.

“This has been a remarkable achievement for veterinary science, evidence of the commitment of numerous countries,” the Food and Agricultural Organization said in its statement.

Rinderpest is thought to have originated in Asia and spread through prehistoric cattle trading; it was in Egypt 5,000 years ago. It never became established in the Americas (though there was a small outbreak in Brazil 90 years ago), nor in Australia or New Zealand. Cattle infected with it would have started dying aboard ship and the herd would be slaughtered or quarantined on arrival.

But it reached Africa in the late 19th century, with devastating consequences. The near total destruction of herds meant widespread famines; in one of those, a third of the population of Ethiopia died, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization.

It also infected game animals, like giraffes and antelopes, but did not kill as many of them.

The global effort to eliminate rinderpest was officially begun in 1994. It relied on the vaccine and a network of field agents and laboratories that could hunt for and confirm outbreaks.

The virus that caused a worldwide outbreak in 2002 of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was effectively contained by mid-2003. The last known case, caused by a lab accident, occurred in 2004, but SARS is not considered eliminated because it is assumed to persist in bats, wild civets and perhaps other animals, and could return.

What happen when Apple makes an announcement about an upcoming product it sometimes feel me like the meteorology department has identified a new cyclone.

There is usually rampant speculation surrounding the importance and impact of the event: Will it be a Category 5 announcement with a revolutionary device, or a less-important Category 1, with basic updates to operating systems or gadgets?

Keeping with this tradition, the blogosphere was in full swing on Friday as technology experts and Apple fans tried to guess what Apple’s chief executive will announce next Wednesday when the company hosts “a sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X,” and other new products.

The popular Apple blog AppleInsider believes that the event next week will usher in a new, smaller version of the MacBook Air computer.

What do you think the new Mac event will hold? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Israel ended an unofficial construction freeze in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem on Friday, announcing plans to build 238 housing units. The move comes as hard-won peace talks are stalled over the question of whether Israel will extend its broader construction moratorium in the West Bank.

The Housing Ministry’s announcement for a new set of construction tenders across the country included units in two Jewish neighborhoods built in areas of East Jerusalem conquered by Israel in 1967. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Chevy Volt and Nissan Netanyahu confirmed the plans for the neighborhoods, Ramot and Pisgat Ze’ev.

While East Jerusalem was not a part of the 10-month construction moratorium in the West Bank, the Palestinians want it as their future capital, and the world views it no differently from the West Bank — conquered territory that should not be built upon by the victor.

About two months before two new plug-in cars go on sale in the United States, the federal government is struggling with how to rate the fuel economy of mass-market plug-in vehicles.

How the Environmental Protection Agency rates the two cars, the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, could have a big influence on consumers’ perceptions of vehicles that run on electricity. General Motors, which makes the Volt and Nissan, are anxiously awaiting the agency’s decision as they start production of the cars and complete marketing plans for rollouts in December.

Providing the customary city and highway miles-per-gallon information would make little sense for the Volt, which can drive 25 to 50 miles on battery power before its gas engine kicks on and even less so for the Leaf, which is powered by only a rechargeable battery.

The Volt and Leaf must be rated by the E.P.A. and have those ratings shown on window labels before they are sold.

Both Nissan and G.M. are in discussions with the agency about what the fuel economy information on the window stickers of new vehicles will state, company officials said. But they said they were in the dark about the outcome and its timing.

G.M. has said the Volt, which has a 9.3-gallon gas tank, would have about a 310-mile range on a depleted battery, which calculates to 33.3 miles per gallon.

For years, G.M. described the Volt as an electric car in which gasoline powers a generator, not the wheels.

The E.P.A. has already weighed in on that topic. Its Web site classifies the Volt as a “plug-in hybrid” while calling the Leaf simply an “electric car.”

The lucky miners of SAN JOSÉ MINE, Chile now have more than $10,000 in the bank and a free vacation in Greece is waiting for them. But for the moment, many of the family members of the 33 miners trapped under the hard volcanic rock here for more than two months seemed content to remain at Camp Hope on Thursday, tending to their tents and sweeping away the desert dust from their makeshift dining tables.

Most of the miners were still in a hospital about an hour away on Thursday. But when they feel stronger, they may return to lives filled with gifts, rich offers to tell their stories and opportunities to see the world.

Leonardo Farkas, a Chilean businessman, has already written checks of five million pesos, or about $10,460, to each of the 33 men. Mr. Farkas, an eccentric mining entrepreneur known across the country for his philanthropy and long blond hair, went ahead with the donations as a way of helping the men ease into their new lives.

“The idea is that they shouldn’t be stressed while looking for new jobs,” said Rodrigo Mundaca, a spokesman for Mr. Farkas.

Swiss engineers have drilled the world's longest tunnel which broke through the last section of rock on Friday, crowning more than a decade of work.

The 57.1-km (35.5-mile) rail tunnel under the Gotthard massif will enter service in 2017, taking some of the tens of thousands of tons of freight that crosses the Alps by road every day.

Shown live on Swiss television, a 10-meter-wide drill ceremonially ground away the last few centimeters of rock.

"Together we risked a lot. Together we achieved a lot, because we know the mountain is large but we are small," said Swiss Environment and Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger.

The project is costing more than 12 billion Swiss francs ($12.58 billion), and claimed the lives of eight workers.

More than 200 trains traveling at speeds of up to 250 km per hour (150 mph) will be able to pass through the tunnel each day and the amount of freight transported will nearly double to about 40 million tons per year, according to Alp Transit Gotthard, which is building the tunnel.

It will help reduce the travel time between from Zurich and Milan by an hour, to two hours and 40 minutes.

A mysterious shiny, silver object floating high over Manhattan Wednesday had even observed by the New Yorkers scratching their heads. The unidentified shiny object was spotted at about 1:30 p.m. Eastern time yesterday.

Hundreds of people were stopped in the middle of the sidewalks of the Chelsea neighborhood on Manhattan's West Side, looking up in the sky.