Month: August 2023

In a desperate measure to stop students from taking their own lives, authorities in the western Indian city of Kota — the country’s famous academic coaching hub — have directed all local hostels, guest houses and other accommodation facilities to install specially designed spring-fitted ceiling fans in rooms. The directive from the authorities came on Aug. 16, a day after an 18-year-old student at a test training school in Kota hanged himself from a ceiling fan in his room. It was the 22nd such suicide by a student in the city this year — the highest yearly toll since 2015. The chief minister of Rajasthan, where Kota is located, held an emergency meeting this week and set up a committee comprising senior government officials, representatives from coaching schools, parents and…

Four astronauts from four countries rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday. They should reach the orbiting lab in their SpaceX capsule Sunday, replacing four astronauts who have been living up there since March. A NASA astronaut was joined on the predawn liftoff from Kennedy Space Center by fliers from Denmark, Japan and Russia. They clasped one another's gloved hands upon reaching orbit. It was the first U.S. launch in which every spacecraft seat was occupied by a different country — until now, NASA had always included two or three of its own on its SpaceX taxi flights. A fluke in timing led to the assignments, officials said. “We're a united team with a common mission,” NASA's Jasmin Moghbeli radioed from orbit. Added NASA's Ken Bowersox, space operations mission…

When members of the marine mammal team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare rush to a Cape Cod beach to help a stranded dolphin or porpoise, they have no choice but to treat the endangered animal on site and then immediately release it. That is about to change. The organization, which protects animals worldwide, is opening a first-of-its-kind short-term dolphin hospital on Cape Cod this month that it hopes will not only improve survivability rates, but also enhance the research it has developed over 25 years. Stranded marine mammals are stressed, in shock and dehydrated, said Brian Sharp, director of the rescue team. Simply caring for them at the scene is often not enough. They need additional diagnostics, treatment and recovery time. "With this ICU for dolphins, we'll be…

Health authorities in Bangladesh are wrestling with a surge in dengue fever cases as monsoon rains batter the densely populated country. According to a World Health Organization report issued this month, "The higher incidence of dengue is taking place in the context of an unusual episodic amount of rainfall, combined with high temperatures and high humidity, which have resulted in an increased mosquito population throughout Bangladesh." Almost 90,000 cases of the mosquito-borne viral illness had been reported his year through Aug. 15, according to government figures. Researchers and public health experts say  the true numbers are much higher. By mid-August, at least 426 people – 81 of whom were age 18 or younger – had died of the fever, according to the Directorate General of Health Services, making this the…

U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that he is planning to request more money from Congress to develop another new coronavirus vaccine, as scientists track new waves and hospitalizations rise, though not like before.  Officials are already expecting updated COVID-19 vaccines that contain one version of the omicron strain, called XBB.1.5. It's an important change from today's combination shots, which mix the original coronavirus strain with last year's most common omicron variants. But there will always be a need for updated vaccines as the virus continues to mutate.  People should be able to start rolling up their sleeves next month for what officials hope is an annual fall COVID-19 shot. Pfizer, Moderna and smaller manufacturer Novavax all are brewing doses of the XBB update but the Food and Drug Administration…

Operators of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant said Friday that initial ocean water samples taken since the discharge of wastewater from the plant were well within the acceptable range for radioactive material.  At a news conference near the plant in Fukushima prefecture, officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company — TEPCO — told reporters they took samples Thursday of water from 10 locations within three kilometers of the power plant.   They reported all the samples showed the concentration of tritium — a radioactive material that is the biproduct of nuclear reactors — was below TEPCO's self-imposed limit of 700 becquerels per liter. The World Health Organization has set a limit of 10,000 becquerels for drinking water. A becquerel is an internationally recognized unit of measure for radioactivity.  The testing…

Ukrainian soldier Ilya Mikhalchuk was wounded near Bakhmut and captured by Wagner Group mercenaries in February. He had both arms amputated while in captivity and was released in April. Thanks to volunteers, he is now in the U.S. getting prostheses. Iryna Shynkarenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Kostiantyn Golubchyk. ...

When Reed Cammack hears the first meadowlark of spring, he knows his family has made it through another cold, snowy winter on the western South Dakota prairie. Nothing's better, he says, than getting up at sunrise as the birds light up the area with song. "It's part of the flora and fauna of our Great Plains, and it's beautiful to hear," says Cammack, 42, a sixth-generation rancher who raises cattle on 4,047 hectares (10,000 acres) of mostly unaltered native grasslands. But the number of returning birds has dropped steeply, despite seemingly ideal habitat. "There are quite a few I don't see any more, and I don't know for sure why," says Cammack's 92-year-old grandfather, Floyd, whose family has allowed conservation groups to install a high-tech tracking tower and conduct bird…

China's biggest salt producer urged people against panic buying after Japan began discharging treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, despite firm opposition from Beijing. The state-run National Salt Industry Group, the world's biggest common salt producer, said in a statement issued hours later that it was ramping up supplies as people in some parts of China had rushed to stock up. Salt shelves were emptied in supermarkets and sold out in online sales platforms in some places, including Beijing and Shanghai. China has opposed Japan's action, saying the Japanese government had not proved that the water discharged would be safe and has banned the import of all aquatic products from Japan. "We are working overtime to produce, distribute and making all…

The death toll from an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Rzeszow, southeast Poland, has risen to five, local authorities said Thursday as they tried to detect the contamination source.  The fifth victim was a woman, 79, admitted to the hospital a few days ago.  "She was a patient with multiple long-term conditions, including cancer, and had been in the anesthesiology and intensive care ward," the director of the Rzeszow municipal hospital, Grzegorz Materna, told state news agency PAP.  In all, at least 71 people have been hospitalized in the outbreak. Legionnaires' disease, caused by Legionella bacteria, is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person, but can multiply in water and air-conditioning systems. It causes pulmonary issues, especially for people with weak immune systems.  "The hypothesis of the…

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Elon Musk's SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum-seekers at the rocket company. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the Justice Department said SpaceX routinely discriminated against these job applicants between 2018 and 2022, in violation of U.S. immigration laws. The lawsuit says that Musk and other SpaceX officials falsely claimed the company was allowed to hire only U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws that regulate the transfer of sensitive technology. "U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology," Musk wrote in a June 16, 2020, tweet cited in the lawsuit. In fact, U.S. export control laws impose no such restrictions, according to the Justice Department. Those laws…

On Wednesday, India became the first country to put an unmanned lander and robotic probe on the moon’s south pole. Experts say the mission marks a major milestone in the country’s efforts to emerge on the front lines of space exploration. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi. ...

The operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has begun releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. In a live video from a control room at the plant Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings showed a staff member turn on a seawater pump, marking the beginning of the controversial project that is expected to last for decades. "Seawater pump A activated," the main operator said, confirming the release was under way. Japanese fisher groups have opposed the plan out of worry of further damage to the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea have also raised concern, making it a political and diplomatic issue. But the Japanese government and TEPCO say the water must be released to make…

India successfully placed a lander in the moon’s southern polar region Wednesday evening, making history as it became the first country to touch down on an uncharted part of the lunar surface.   Although the United States, Russia and China have landed around the moon’s equator, no country has so far made a soft landing on the more challenging rough terrain of the south pole.    Scientists clapped, cheered and waved in the mission command center of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) after the unmanned lander called Vikram made its final descent. It was a huge moment for India’s space agency, whose mission to reach the south pole four years ago had ended in disappointment when the lander crashed.   India reported success of its Chandrayaan-3 mission after Russia’s Luna-25, that was…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines.  The CDC said it was too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants.  But because of the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there are concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said.  Scientists are keeping an eye on the BA.2.86 lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.  The CDC, however, said virus samples are not yet broadly available for more reliable laboratory testing of antibodies.  The agency…

The World Meteorological Organization reports scorching heat waves that are causing deaths and discomfort for millions of people around the world will likely peak in certain regions by the end of the week. "It is the end of the meteorological summer at the end of August … the projections that we have got at the moment, certainly for central parts of Europe, is that these extreme temperatures should peak later this week," said Clare Nullis, WMO spokesperson.  "But I do not have a crystal ball for what is happening in the rest of the season," she said Tuesday. In the meantime, a forecast of extreme weather patterns gripping some parts of the world show that the heat waves, which have had a devastating impact this summer, principally in Greece, Italy,…

Indian scientists are aiming to put a lander on the moon Wednesday, hoping that the country will become the first to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole.    India’s attempt will be made days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.   The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) expressed optimism about its moon mission on Tuesday. “The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks.  Smooth sailing is continuing. The Mission Operations Complex (MOX) is buzzed with energy & excitement!,” it said on X. It is India’s second attempt to reach the south pole -- four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.   If the mission is successful, India would become the fourth country to achieve what is called…