Author: Dmedia

World tennis No.1 Novak Djokovic has had his visa canceled by Australian authorities and is facing deportation. He had received a COVID-19 vaccination exemption to defend his title at the Australian Open but has reportedly failed to provide proper evidence to border officials. The Serbian…

The World Health Organization says a new coronavirus variant recently detected in France is nothing to be concerned about right now. Scientists at the IHU Mediterranee Infection Foundation in the city of Marseille say they discovered the new B.1.640.2 variant in December in 12 patients…

World tennis No.1 Novak Djokovic has had his visa canceled by Australian authorities and is facing deportation. He had received a COVID-19 vaccination exemption to defend his title at the Australian Open but has reportedly failed to provide proper evidence to border officials. The Serbian…

Influential government advisers are strongly urging that teens as young as 12 get COVID-19 boosters as soon as they're eligible, a key move as the U.S. battles the omicron surge and schools struggle with how to restart classes amid the spike.  All Americans 16 and…

Omicron may not cause as much lung damage as the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, according to new lab studies. That, plus vaccination, may help explain why patients with omicron are not being hospitalized or dying as often as patients infected with previous variants.…

Exactly two years after the World Health Organization issued an alert about "a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause" in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that evolved into the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world is now struggling under the weight of the…

Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for January 6 after nine…

TRANSCRIPT The Inside Story: Crossing the Frontier Episode 21 – January 6, 2022   Show Open Graphics:   Voice of KANE FARABAUGH, VOA Correspondent:   All Systems go, Falcon 9 Blasts off into space. With high expectations, changing the trajectory of U.S. space exploration. And…

President Joe Biden has directed his administration to buy an additional 10 million courses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, bringing the total to at least 20 million courses, as part of his strategy to combat omicron. He addressed the American public Tuesday as COVID-19 cases…

Illinois farmer Jack McCormick planted 350 acres of barley and radishes last fall as part of an off-season crop that he does not intend to harvest. Instead, the crops will be killed off with a weed killer next spring before McCormick plants soybeans in the…

On the 40th anniversary of a famous skin cancer campaign, research has revealed that a high number of young Australians are not using sun protection.  Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. A new multi-million-dollar awareness campaign hopes to…

A community health service in Africa's largest urban slum is helping poor people get affordable emergency services during the COVID pandemic.  The Kibera community emergency response team in Nairobi is offering a $1 monthly fee for access to emergency services, including an ambulance.  Victoria Amunga…

Conservationists are blaming climate change, land clearing and pesticides for the population crash of one of Australia’s most famous insects. Once a common sight, bogong moths have become rare in recent years. They are now recognized as endangered by the world's leading scientific authority on vulnerable species, the International Union for…

As the COVID-19 omicron variant surges across the United States, top federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus, the White House’s top medical adviser said Sunday.  Dr. Anthony Fauci said…

World-renowned Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey, whose groundbreaking discoveries helped prove that humankind evolved in Africa, died on Sunday at the age of 77, the country's president said. The legendary paleoanthropologist remained energetic into his 70s despite bouts of skin cancer, kidney and…

France has lowered the age of its mask mandate to 6-year-old children, officials announced Saturday. The news comes just days before schools reopen Monday, following the winter holiday break. While the mandate requires children to wear masks in indoor public places, the mandate will also…

India’s health ministry reported 22,775 new cases of the coronavirus Saturday, saying the new cases bring the country’s omicron variant count to 1,431. Public health officials, however, have warned that the country’s COVID-19 tallies are likely undercounted. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday that paramedics…

Pakistan says it has administered 155 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Friday, fully vaccinating 70 million people, or 30% of the country’s total population, since launching the inoculation drive in February. The South Asian nation of about 220 million reported its first case in…

Record snowfalls in the western United States that closed roads and caused flight delays also brought some good news for drought-hit California on Thursday, with officials saying the state's snowpack is now well above normal.  After a string of mountain blizzards, snowpack measured at Phillips…

South Africa has lifted a midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew on people's movement, effective immediately, saying the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant, a government statement said Thursday.  However, wearing a face mask in public places remains mandatory.…

Health authorities in the United States are sounding the alarm again, saying Americans could experience disruptions in the coming weeks because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.  The U.S has reported record numbers of cases two days…

The top infectious disease expert in the United States is urging Americans to avoid taking part in mass New Year’s Eve celebrations as the nation continues to set record-breaking levels of daily new coronavirus infections driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. The U.S. posted 489,267 new coronavirus…

NASA successfully launched its much-anticipated next-generation space telescope.  Now come weeks of nervousness for project scientists who can only hope the next steps go as planned.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.  Produced by: Arash Arabasadi  Camera :  AP/ NASA TV/ PURDUE UNIVERSITY/ YOUTUBE NASA/  “ARMAGEDDON” / TOUCHSTONE PICTURES –…

Tidal waves and coastal erosion have submerged an entire fishing community on Ghana's eastern coast. Many villagers had already been relocated from past tidal waves and have petitioned the government for a permanent solution. Senanu Tord reports from the village of Fuvemeh in Ghana.  Camera: Senanu Tord …

The World Health Organization is warning that the rapid circulation of the omicron and delta variants of the coronavirus is leading to a tsunami of cases, severe disease and surging deaths among the unvaccinated. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that while science had led…

The United States recorded more than 512,000 daily new coronavirus cases Tuesday – the single highest one-day number of cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center The one-day record coincides with a New York Times database showing the…

The growing issue of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is affecting coastal marine life, transporting many species to areas of the open ocean, surprising researchers.  A group of U.S. and Canadian marine and environmental scientists were amazed to find that some species are thriving…

Beijing on Tuesday accused the United States of irresponsible and unsafe conduct in space over two "close encounters" between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.  Tiangong, China's new space station, had to maneuver to avoid colliding with one Starlink satellite…