A fireworks show that has nothing to do with the Fourth of July and everything to do with the cosmos is poised to be visible across the northern United States and Europe just in time for Halloween. On Thursday, the sun launched what is called an “X-class solar flare” that was strong enough to spark…
read moreThe G-20 Summit hosted by Italy kicked off Saturday in Rome, where leaders from the world’s major economies discussed issues of mutual concern, including pandemic recovery and climate change. The red carpet was rolled out at La Nuvola, Rome’s Convention Center, as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders…
read moreThe World Health Organization has written an open letter to the heads of state gathered in Rome for the G-20 meeting, urging them to increase vaccine supplies for the world’s poorest, ensure access to vaccines for all people on the move and support low- and middle-income countries in combating COVID-19 with all available means. “The…
read moreBefore the pandemic effectively closed Thailand off to the rest of the world in March of last year, Bangkok’s Kin & Koff Café was perfectly placed to catch the throngs of tourists traipsing past the city’s gilded Grand Palace and its orbit of opulent temples. In the capital of one of the world’s most popular…
read moreSome farmers and organizations in Africa are adopting smart and technology-based solutions as the continent seeks to prepare itself for the effects of climate change. Brenda Mulinya reports from Nairobi. Camera: Amos Wangwa Producer: Amos Wangwa …
read moreTongan Prime Minister Pohiva Tuionetoa warned Saturday that residents on the country’s main island Tongatapu faced a possible lockdown next week after recording its first case of COVID-19. The tiny Pacific kingdom had been among only a handful of countries to escape the virus so far, and the infection was detected in a person in…
read moreThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized on Friday the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children 5-11 years old. The FDA approved for children doses that are one-third the amount that teens and adults receive. “With this vaccine kids can go back to something that’s better than being locked at home on remote…
read moreThe World Food Program says that without consolidated global action to stop the acceleration of climate change, the world faces a crisis of acute hunger. The WFP says climate shocks are destroying lives, crops and livelihoods and are undermining people’s ability to feed themselves. It cites Mozambique as an example of a country particularly vulnerable to…
read moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionally affected midcareer and older working women in the United States. About 40% have experienced at least one job interruption, and of those who remained unemployed, 70% were out of work for six months or more. Lesia Bakalets has more in this report narrated by Anna Rice. Cameras: Aleksandr Bergan, Artyom…
read moreThe U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Friday issued a Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Saturday, saying power and communications systems could be affected after a significant solar flare was observed on the sun. The U.S. space agency NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory reported observing a significant solar flare — or “coronal mass ejection” (CME) —…
read moreAhead of next week’s climate conference in Scotland, 10 United Nations and international agency heads, including the World Meteorological Organization, are calling on governments to turn their carbon neutral commitments into climate action. Scientists tracking the impact of human activity on the warming of the planet say the scientific case for urgent climate action…
read moreDesperate for work, Sabila Dafadar walks every morning from her poor neighborhood tucked behind tall glass and chrome buildings in the business hub of Gurugram, 32 kilometers from New Delhi, to a busy intersection where day laborers wait for contractors who come to pick up construction workers. After she migrated from her village 10 years…
read moreAs world leaders gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26), China on Thursday announced it has no new significant goals to reduce climate-changing emissions, despite being the world’s top emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming. “It’s not surprising, but it is disappointing that there wasn’t…
read moreNASA moves forward with its next moon mission. Plus, SpaceX readies its Halloween space launch, and Blue Origin offers an orbiting office park for the future. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. Producer: Arash Arabasadi. …
read moreA new British research ship, named for British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, has arrived in London to call attention to climate change ahead of next week’s Glasgow climate summit. The 129-meter RSS Sir David Attenborough has completed sea trials and is ready for service. It sailed up the Thames River on Wednesday to be part…
read moreThe United States is sending more than 4.8 million coronavirus vaccine doses to four African nations, the White House told VOA on Wednesday. White House officials said the 55-member African Union determined the allocations. Landlocked Chad, one of the world’s poorest nations, will get 115,830 doses; populous U.S. ally Egypt will receive 3,634,020 doses; West…
read moreA cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study that was looking for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies. They’ve shared the…
read moreWildlife officials and environmental groups in Florida are raising an alarm over the unprecedented die-off this year of manatees, the large, slow-moving sea animals that are the southeastern U.S. state’s official marine mammal. The latest figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission show that as of October 15, 974 manatees have been found dead,…
read moreU.S. federal law enforcement agencies and Europol announced dozens of arrests to break up a global operation that sold illegal drugs using a shadowy realm of the internet. At a Department of Justice news conference Tuesday in Washington, officials said they arrested 150 people for allegedly selling illicit drugs, including fake prescription opioids and cocaine,…
read moreGlobal pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are just a fraction of what’s needed to prevent catastrophic global warming. That’s the warning from the United Nations, ahead of the critical COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Britain next week – where world leaders will try to agree on further action to combat global warming. Henry Ridgwell…
read moreU.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna says a clinical trial shows that a low dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children between 6 and 11 years old. The company says it inoculated more than 4,700 children with its two-dose vaccine about 28 days apart, with each shot about half the strength given to adults. Preliminary results show…
read moreCoal-rich Australia unveiled a much-delayed 2050 net zero emissions target Tuesday, in a plan that pointedly dodged thorny details or near-term goals ahead of a landmark UN climate summit. Widely seen as a climate laggard, Australia is one of the world’s largest coal and gas exporters. For the last eight years, its conservative government has…
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