Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that Japan will abolish a series of COVID-19 border restrictions in hopes of reviving its tourism industry. As of Oct. 11, Japan will allow individual visitors to enter the country, reinstate visa waivers and end the cap on daily arrivals. Kishida announced the long-awaited policy shift at a…
read moreNASA tries to save the world. Plus, the agency inches closer to its next moon mission, and geopolitical rivals unite in space. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
read moreA new study released this week “conservatively” estimates there are 20 quadrillion ants on the planet Earth—or about 2.5 million ants for every person. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Germany’s University of Wuerzburg, who noted ants are some of the most successful and dominant forms of life…
read moreMalawi has become the first country in southern Africa to eliminate trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness, the World Health Organization announced. It is the fourth country in Africa to stamp out the bacterial infection, after Ghana, Gambia and Togo. The WHO said in a statement that Malawi has been known to be endemic…
read moreUganda has confirmed seven cases of Ebola including that of a 24-year-old man who died earlier this week, and an additional seven deaths are being investigated as suspected Ebola cases, a health ministry official said on Thursday. The man who died had developed a high fever, diarrhea and abdominal pains, and was vomiting blood. After…
read moreDisplaced by some of the worst flooding in years, hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis now face the threat of disease. Infections are on the rise due to unsanitary conditions, and health facilities damaged by historic rains are struggling to cope. VOA’s Sarah Zaman has more. …
read moreCommenters in China’s tightly controlled online communities are raising an angry howl at what they see as the latest outrage stemming from President Xi Jinping’s draconian zero-COVID policy. After at least 27 people died when a bus in southwest China’s Guizhou Province crashed while transporting them to a coronavirus quarantine facility, online comments revealed the…
read moreThe World Health Organization warns noncommunicable diseases kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74 percent of all deaths globally. A new global report by the World Health Organization finds noncommunicable diseases now outnumber infectious diseases as the top killers globally. Each year, it says 17 million people under age 70 die prematurely from…
read moreFor the first time in India, a domestically-made vaccine that provides protection against cervical cancer—the second-most common type of cancer afflicting women in the country—will be accessible to the majority of the population, including the poorest, according to leading healthcare professionals. The vaccine, Cervavac, is produced by The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s…
read moreHollywood actress and U.N. humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to one of the worst flood-hit areas in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, as the death toll from months-long deluges rose to 1,559. TV footage showed Jolie arriving at an airport in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, where floods since mid-June…
read moreOfficials in Uganda have confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. The country’s Ministry of Health says a young man died of the virus in central Uganda Monday, and several of his relatives who died earlier this month are also suspected to have had Ebola. The government has sent a rapid response team to…
read moreA bay-breasted warbler weighs about the same as four pennies, but twice a year makes an extraordinary journey. The tiny songbird flies nearly 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) between Canada’s spruce forests and its wintering grounds in northern South America. “Migratory birds are these little globetrotters,” said Jill Deppe, the senior director of the migratory bird…
read moreMarking World Patient Safety Day, Saturday, the World Health Organization warns unsafe medication practices and errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm in world health care systems. The WHO is calling for urgent action to stop the medication errors putting millions at risk of severe harm or even death. The agency’s quality of care…
read moreTwo Chinese astronauts went on a spacewalk Saturday from a new space station that is due to be completed later this year. Cai Xuzhe and Chen Dong’s installed pumps, a handle to open the hatch door from outside in an emergency, and a foot-stop to affix an astronaut’s feet to a robotic arm, state media…
read moreResearch to develop a pill form of insulin is showing promise at the University of British Columbia in western Canada. The goal is to eliminate the need for diabetics to inject themselves with the lifesaving medication. According to the World Health Organization, there are an estimated 422 million diabetics worldwide. The disease claims 1.5 million…
read moreThe World Health Organization has declared an end to Ghana’s outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus after more than six weeks without any new cases. Three cases of the virus were recorded in the West African country in late June, killing two people. Marburg is a highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever in the same…
read moreMount Everest base camp, a sprawling tent village that is home away from home during climbing season for hundreds of aspiring summiteers and support staff, may soon be on the move. Nepalese officials say they are considering the move to a lower elevation because the Khumbu glacier on which the camp sits is being melted…
read moreThe 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech, which rallied a nation behind NASA. Plus, President Biden calls for a moonshot of his own, and a private spaceflight company suffers its first failure. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
read moreRussia’s war on Ukraine has seen scores of hospitals and clinics bombed, and frequent power cuts that can turn off lifesaving machines. Medical aid groups are using a Kenyan-manufactured breathing device for premature babies that works without electricity, helping save vulnerable newborns in countries affected by conflict. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi, Kenya. Camera –…
read moreWith monkeypox cases subsiding in Europe and parts of North America, many scientists say now is the time to prioritize stopping the virus in Africa. In July, the U.N. health agency designated monkeypox as a global emergency and appealed to the world to support African countries so that the catastrophic vaccine inequity that plagued the…
read moreA second U.S. death was linked to monkeypox on Tuesday as health authorities published a study describing how two previously healthy young men experienced inflammation of the brain and spinal cord as a result of the virus. There have been nearly 22,000 U.S. cases in the current global outbreak, which began in May, but new…
read moreNASA has so far been unable to launch its first Artemis mission, bringing added scrutiny to a program that is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule in returning humans to the moon. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports that despite scrubbed launches, the U.S. space agency hopes to get the Artemis program off the…
read more