Morning Briefing

Pollution from indoor cooking stoves, typically open fires that that burn solid fuels such as wood, charcoal or dung, kills two million globally each year, scientists at NIH said in a study published in the journal Science on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. Smoke emitted from the stoves, used by three billion people worldwide, "causes pneumonia and chronic lung disease that particularly affects women and children who tend to spend more time in the home while men are outside working," AFP writes, adding that "little public awareness surrounds what the World Health Organization describes as the globe's top environmental killer" (Sheridan, 10/13).