The Brazilian Congress has approved a plan to compensate workers sent to rubber plantations in the Amazon during World War Two. Some 55,000 mostly poor Brazilians left for the rainforest to supply the United States with rubber used in making weapons and vehicles during the war. The conditions in the Amazon were harsh and a large number of them died from malaria, hepatitis and yellow fever. Some 6,000 survivors will now be paid in recognition of their wartime effort.