Month: June 2022

The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18% in the last week, with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally, according to the World Health Organization. The U.N. health agency said in its latest weekly report on the pandemic that the worldwide number of…

In a blow to the fight against climate change, the Supreme Court on Thursday limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said…

As Russia pounds Ukrainian cities to rubble, water and sewer systems have broken down in some places. The British Defense Ministry says Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak. Just how big the threat is, though, is not clear. Scientists disagree over where…

Gardeners moving toward drought-resistant landscaping ...

Reacting to a surprising and growing monkeypox outbreak, U.S. health officials on Tuesday expanded the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus.  They also said they are providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try…

A World Health Organization independent committee of experts says the spread of monkeypox in a number of countries around the world is worrisome but does not constitute what the WHO calls a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. In early May, the World Health Organization…

A Texas group that helps women pay for abortions halted its efforts Saturday while evaluating its legal risk under a strict state ban. Mississippi's only abortion clinic continued to see patients while awaiting a 10-day notice that will trigger a ban. Elected officials across the…

The World Health Organization's chief said Saturday that the monkeypox outbreak was a deeply concerning evolving threat but did not currently constitute a global health emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus convened a committee of experts Thursday to advise him whether to sound the U.N.…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion for almost 50 years, is set to activate anti-abortion laws in at least 13 states. While some of the so-called “trigger laws” have been in…

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision, which said women have a constitutional right to have an abortion. States will now decide whether to permit the procedure; it's expected that roughly half could do so. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports.…

NASA’s next moon mission scores a win despite another setback. Plus, South Korea launches one of its own rockets to space, and the UK readies what it hopes will be its first domestically launched satellites. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space ...

Federal health officials on Thursday ordered Juul to pull its electronic cigarettes from the U.S. market, the latest blow to the embattled company widely blamed for sparking a national surge in teen vaping.  The action is part of a sweeping effort by the Food and…

An advisory panel for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Wednesday that people ages 65 years and older choose higher-dose flu shots or ones that include an ingredient to boost immune response. The CDC commonly adopts the recommendations of the Advisory Committee…

The United States is expanding its capacity to test for monkeypox by shipping tests to five commercial labs. The Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday the effort will “dramatically expand testing capacity nationwide and make testing more convenient and accessible for patients and…

The U.S. mission to the United Nations said Wednesday that Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield tested positive for COVID-19. Spokesperson Melissa Quartell said in a statement that Thomas-Greenfield is fully vaccinated and received a booster vaccination, and that she was “experiencing mild symptoms.” Quartell said the ambassador…

Nearly 1 in 5 American adults who reported having COVID-19 in the past are still having symptoms of long COVID, according to survey data collected in the first two weeks of June, U.S. health officials said Wednesday.  Overall, 1 in 13 adults in the United…

The Black Death, a plague that killed up to 60% of people in western Eurasia from roughly 1346 to 1353, likely originated in the Tian Shan mountains of central Asia, new research shows. Scientists recovered two genomes of an ancient strain of Yersinia pestis, the…

Risk of infection from the disease, which causes paralysis in children in under 1% of cases, was low because of high vaccination rates ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing a limit on the amount of nicotine allowed in cigarettes with an aim to make it easier for people to quit using them and to prevent young people who experiment with cigarettes from becoming addicted.  The proposed…

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Taiwan on Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.  The quake struck at 9:05 a.m. at a depth of 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles) in Hualien county, halfway down the east coast of the island, Taiwan’s Central…

New York City is making a push to give city workers fired earlier this year for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine a chance to get their old jobs back — if they get fully vaccinated. In February, Mayor Eric Adams fired more than 1,400 workers…