Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, public health officials in Los Angeles are advising beachgoers to avoid sea lions that have been sickened by toxins from large algae blooms coating California beaches.

Electricity problems have led to water shortages and those with money are digging their own boreholes.

Close to 80 students, mostly girls, in two primary schools are suspected to have been poisoned over the weekend and taken to hospital in Afghanistan's Sang Charak district, Mohammad Rahmani, the head of Education Department in the northern Sar-i-Pul province, told CNN.