At least 89 people, including 17 children, have tested positive for the Zika virus in a surge of cases in the Indian city of Kanpur, its health department said on Monday. First discovered in 1947, the mosquito-borne virus Zika virus reached epidemic proportions in Brazil in 2015, when thousands of babies were born with microcephaly,…
read moreA study by Monash University researchers in Australia has found that moderate drinking of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and a lowering of death from all causes — when compared to zero alcohol consumption. More than 18,000 people over the age of 70 in the United States and Australia took part in the research. It is the first…
read moreMedically assisted dying is now legal in New Zealand. The End of Life Choice Act has come into effect one year after almost two-thirds of New Zealanders voted in favor of it. Supporters believe the assisted dying laws will give New Zealanders who are “suffering terribly at the end of their lives” choice, compassion and dignity. To be eligible, a…
read moreWang Yaping has become the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk as part of a six-month mission to the country’s space station. Wang and fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang left the station’s main module on Sunday evening, spending more than six hours outside installing equipment and carrying out tests alongside the station’s robotic service arm,…
read moreWorkplace mandates requiring vaccination against COVID-19 continue to be controversial in the U.S. The Biden administration is expected to respond this week to a recent federal court decision to temporarily halt federal vaccine mandate rules for large employers. Michelle Quinn reports. …
read moreHigh wind off the Florida coast have prompted SpaceX to delay the return of four space station astronauts who have been in orbit since spring. The U.S., French and Japanese astronauts were supposed to leave the International Space Station on Sunday, with their capsule splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning. But…
read morePoland’s Health Ministry issued instructions Sunday to doctors confirming that it is legal to terminate a pregnancy when the woman’s health or life is in danger, a directive that comes amid apparent confusion over a new restriction to the country’s abortion law. The document addressed to obstetricians comes in reaction to the hospital death of…
read moreJesse Readlynn, a father of two from Rochester, New York, breathed a huge sigh of relief this week. “My children getting coronavirus was one of my biggest fears,” he told VOA.“Finally, this worry and uncertainty I’ve been living with can begin to relax.” Readlynn’s relief comes after last week’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and…
read moreWhen a rotten egg smell rises from the mangrove swamps of southeast Mexico, something is going well. It means that this key coastal habitat for blunting hurricane impacts has recovered and is capturing carbon dioxide — the main ingredient of global warming. While world leaders seek ways to stop the climate crisis at a United…
read moreThe astronauts who will depart the International Space Station on Sunday will be stuck using diapers on the way home because of their capsule’s broken toilet. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the situation Friday as “suboptimal” but manageable. She and her three crewmates will spend 20 hours in their SpaceX capsule, from the time the…
read moreGermany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, called Friday for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for anyone who was fully vaccinated at least six months ago, as the nation faces a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Speaking to reporters following a two-day summit in Bavaria with health ministers from the 16 German states, Spahn said Germany’s COVID-19 situation…
read moreEditor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch. Leaders talk global warming in Glasgow — World leaders met in Glasgow, Scotland, this week to try to halt global warming. But with some of the world’s biggest emitters…
read moreU.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Friday its new COVID-19 pill showed an 89% reduction in risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death in clinical trials and they plan to submit the drug to U.S. regulators for emergency use approval. In a release Friday, Pfizer said the latest clinical trials of its pill, Paxlovid, featured a randomized,…
read moreThousands of young campaigners marched through the streets of Glasgow on Friday, chanting their demand that world leaders at the U.N. climate conference safeguard their future against catastrophic climate change. Inside the COP26 conference venue in the Scottish city, civil society leaders took over discussions at the end of a week of government speeches and…
read moreSeats are once again packed at professional baseball games in South Korea. Just as in pre-pandemic times, fans can drink beer and eat fried chicken. They can clap their hands, stomp their feet, and wave inflatable noisemakers to support their team. What they are not allowed to do, though, at least not yet, is shout…
read moreThe “end of coal” is in sight, according to Britain — the host of the COP26 climate summit — after dozens of countries pledged to stop using coal and end the financing of fossil fuels. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from the Glasgow summit, weaning economies off coal won’t be easy — even for Britain itself. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
read moreCongressional Democrats this week proposed an addition to U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate and social spending legislation that would allow Medicare, the federal government’s health care program for older Americans, to negotiate with drugmakers over the cost of certain prescription medications. U.S. consumers pay higher prices for prescription medications than almost any of their peers…
read moreAn Earth-flight giant contributes to NASA’s upcoming moon missions. Plus, words from the next crew to visit the International Space Station and grim news from NASA about the future of food on Earth. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. …
read moreBritain could revive domestic production of super strong magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines with government support, to cut its reliance on China and achieve vital cuts in carbon emissions, two sources with direct knowledge said. A government-funded feasibility study is due to be published on Friday, laying out the steps Britain must…
read moreRegularly cursed at and sometimes physically assaulted by patients, nurses in the U.S. have had enough. As VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, the pandemic is accelerating a longstanding problem of violence against frontline health care workers. A warning: some images in this report may be disturbing. …
read moreThe World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe said Thursday the continent is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for 59 percent of all cases globally. At a virtual news briefing from Copenhagen, Hans Kluge said the current pace of transmission across the region’s 53 countries is of grave concern. He said new cases are approaching record levels, with the delta variant of the coronavirus driving the surge. Kluge said his…
read moreA New Zealand research project is looking at ways to produce hydrogen in Antarctica to reduce carbon emissions. A four-month New Zealand project is investigating whether hydrogen could be generated, used and stored at Scott Base, its Antarctic research facility, to reduce its reliance on carbon-based fuels. Those fuels are currently used for transportation, cooking and heating. A special grade fuel is…
read more
