Month: May 2022

Abortion rights supporters will protest in cities across the United States on Saturday, kicking off what organizers said would be "a summer of rage" if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. Planned Parenthood, Women's March and other…

New Zealand’s prime minister has tested positive for COVID. Jacinda Ardern’s office said in a statement Saturday that she has mild symptoms and has been in isolation since Sunday, when her partner, Clarke Gayford, tested positive. Ardern is required to be in isolation until May…

The deaths of four storm chasers in car crashes over the last two weeks have underscored the dangers of pursuing severe weather events as more people clog back roads and highways searching for a glimpse of a lightning bolt or tornado, meteorologists and chasers say.…

A group of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders is asking Starbucks to stop charging extra for vegan milk alternatives, saying the practice amounts to a tax on people who have embraced plant-based lifestyles. In a statement issued Friday, an interfaith coalition led by Nevada-based…

The Canadian government is amending its criminal law to include any crimes committed by citizens who one day go to the moon. While the move seems far-fetched, experts say that because of the growing interest in and feasibility of space tourism, countries should begin thinking…

One of the three companies that make baby formula in the U.S. has halted production, adding to what was already a baby formula shortage due to supply chain issues and other factors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it is doing everything in its…

A total lunar eclipse will grace the night skies this weekend, providing longer than usual thrills for stargazers across North and South America.  The celestial action unfolds Sunday night into early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of…

Scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Friday that April 2022 tied April 2010 as the fifth warmest April on record.  In a release, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information said the average global temps in April were 0.85 of a degree…

Plans are underway in Malawi to start administering the cholera vaccine in some southern districts, as the number of cholera cases has been rising since an outbreak began in January. According to a daily update released Thursday by the Ministry of Health, Malawi has registered…

Over the past three decades Ara Mirzaian has fitted braces for everyone from Paralympians to children with scoliosis. But Msituni was a patient like none other — a newborn giraffe. The calf was born Feb. 1 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido,…

Top U.S. meatpacking companies drafted the executive order issued by President Donald Trump in 2020 to keep meat plants running and convinced his administration to encourage workers to stay on the job at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released Thursday by…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered a nationwide lockdown Thursday to try to contain a highly transmissible variant of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which was confirmed in the country this week for the first time. The official Korean Central News Agency said genetic sequencing…

An image once thought impossible becomes reality. Plus, the International Space Station has four fewer passengers. And you might have heard of the company that was trying to catch a rocket from the sky. It did it. Sort of. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. ...

Rare and threatened species were among the plants and animals tracked by citizen scientists from around the world in this year's City Nature Challenge in Los Angeles.  The findings from 47 countries were unveiled this week, including a new orchid species in Bolivia and the…

The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their center, where light…

The Supreme Court's nine justices will gather in private Thursday for their first scheduled meeting since the leak of a draft opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade and sharply curtail abortion rights in roughly half the states. The meeting in the justices' private, wood-paneled…

North Korea, which has largely kept its borders shuttered over the pandemic, Thursday confirmed its first detection of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country. According to the official Korea Central News Agency, samples were taken from a group of people in the capital,…

Democratic party lawmakers in the U.S. failed Wednesday to pass a measure essentially codifying the right to an abortion. The vote comes after revelations the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark ruling that legalized abortion. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. ...

The U.S. set another record for drug overdose deaths last year with more than 107,000 fatalities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Wednesday.  The provisional 2021 total represents a 15% jump from the previous record in 2020, and means there is roughly one…

Researchers say DNA can replace hard drives to help store the world’s ever-increasing digital output. Matt Dibble has the story ...

For the fourth time in seven years, the authority that administers one of Australia’s greatest natural treasures has reported widespread bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. This occurs when the sea is too warm for too long. It forces the coral to expel microscopic symbiotic…

A new study led by the Marine Biological Association of the U.K. and the University of Southampton, along with experts in Australia and New Zealand, found that industrialized shipping could be killing large numbers of whale sharks. Marine biologists have said that whale shark numbers…

The world is creeping closer to the warming threshold international agreements are trying to prevent, with a nearly 50-50 chance that Earth will temporarily hit that temperature mark within the next five years, teams of meteorologists across the globe predicted.  With human-made climate change continuing,…