The United States sued Idaho on Tuesday over a state law that it says imposes a “near-absolute ban” on abortion and also sought to block the Western state from prosecuting or disciplining doctors, according to a court filing. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Idaho, seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the…
read moreIndia is accelerating action against the monkeypox virus after reporting its first death due to monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala, that of a 22-year-old man who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. The death of the young man is the first due to monkeypox in Asia, where several countries have reported…
read moreThe public health response to the outbreak of monkeypox in the United States has so far failed to prevent significant community spread of the disease, leading to a call for a reassessment of the strategy for containing it. Since the first reported U.S. case of the outbreak on May 17, the number of infections has…
read moreNew York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency Monday over the spread of monkeypox. “This order will bolster our existing efforts to educate, vaccinate, test, and treat as many New Yorkers as possible and ensure a whole-of-government response to this outbreak,” Adams said in a statement released with the executive order. The…
read moreWhether it’s abstinence, avoiding nightclubs, limiting sexual partners or pushing for a swift vaccine rollout, Spain’s gay community is on the front line of the monkeypox virus and is taking action. “With this monkey thing, I prefer to be careful. … I don’t have sex anymore, I don’t go to parties anymore, and that’s until…
read moreNew York has declared a public health emergency due to a monkeypox outbreak. Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan made the announcement Saturday. The two officials said in a joint statement that “New York City is currently the epicenter of the outbreak, and we estimate that approximately…
read moreThe bedsheets are big. Some are light pink, others hot pink or purple, connected and stretched taut by people holding wooden poles. Together, the sheets form a barrier across the parking lot. The activists, who are supporting a woman’s right to an abortion, wear bright pink vests with PRO-CHOICE in black emblazoned on the front.…
read moreTwo of the hardest-hit U.S. regions have raised the alert level over the monkeypox outbreak. San Francisco declared a public health emergency Thursday. The city accounts for 281 of California’s nearly 800 cases. The declaration gives health officials access to additional resources to deal with the outbreak. New York, with nearly 1,400 cases statewide, made…
read moreU.S. regulators said Friday they are no longer considering authorizing a second COVID-19 booster shot for all adults under 50 this summer, focusing instead on revamped vaccines for the fall that will target the newest viral subvariants. Pfizer and Moderna expect to have updated versions of their shots available as early as September, the Food…
read moreScientists say wildfires in the American West are bigger, hotter and more destructive than in the past. …
read moreHuman-caused climate change made last week’s deadly heat wave in England and Wales at least 10 times more likely and added a few degrees to how brutally hot it got, a study said. A team of international scientists found that the heat wave that set a new national record high at 40.3 degrees Celsius was…
read moreLos Angeles County dropped a plan to impose a universal indoor mask mandate this week as COVID-19 infections and rates of hospitalizations have stabilized, a top health official said Thursday. Health director Barbara Ferrer said two weeks ago that the nation’s most populous county could again require face coverings if trends in hospital admissions continued…
read morePresident Joe Biden’s administration is launching a renewed push for COVID-19 booster shots for those eligible, pointing to the enhanced protections they offer against severe illness as the highly transmissible BA.5 variant spreads across the country. The initiatives include direct outreach to high-risk groups, especially seniors, encouraging them to get “up to date” on their…
read moreRussia announces plans to sever a long-term space partnership. Plus, a private spaceflight company extends its record of successful launches, and NASA scores a win for its upcoming moon mission. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
read moreThe World Health Organization is calling for greater investment in the development of new vaccines to keep pace with the rapidly evolving variants of the coronavirus. As world attention is focused on the monkeypox outbreak, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. He says new tools must be developed…
read moreEvery week, tons of electronic waste cross the border from Israel to the West Bank. Thousands of Palestinian families make a living off the waste by burning it to extract copper they can sell. But the burning is taking a toll on residents’ health. Linda Gradstein reports. Camera: Ricki Rosen. …
read moreLocated on the rooftops of commercial skyscrapers, apartment buildings and warehouses, micro solar plants are starting to play a larger role in America’s quest for a green electrical grid. Aron Ranen reports from New York City. …
read moreBlack women and Native American women are more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white women in America, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vice President Kamala Harris has made maternal health a key piece of her domestic policy agenda. For Wanda Irving, whose daughter died after giving birth, a…
read moreThe United Nations AIDS program says progress is stalling on ending HIV/AIDS as a public health crisis by 2030 and action is needed to get it back on track. The UNAIDS program issued its assessment in a new report pointing to recent data that showed 1.5 million people were newly infected with HIV, the virus…
read moreWhen images beamed back to Earth by NASA’s largest, most powerful space telescope were released earlier this month, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio shared one of them on Twitter accompanied by a Bible verse: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The Webb telescope is orbiting the sun nearly two million kilometers from Earth. The observatory…
read moreOn the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the U.S. remains one of a handful of countries that have not ratified the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) — an international treaty the U.S. legislation inspired. The ADA, signed into law by President George H.W.…
read moreAid workers say deep poverty and harsh living conditions lead to hopelessness among Idlib’s youth …
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