Author: Dmedia

The WHO said its emergency committee would meet Tuesday to discuss whether the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo still constitutes an international health emergency, after fresh cases were detected.   The meeting comes a day after DR Congo had been expected…

The coronavirus outbreak could reach its peak in the United States this week, a top U.S. health official said on Monday, pointing to signs of stabilization across the country.   The United States, with the world's third-largest population, has recorded more fatalities from COVID-19 than…

More than 3,600 deaths nationwide have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two weeks, according to the latest count by The Associated Press. Because the federal government has not been releasing a…

Crowds swarm Stockholm's waterfront, with some people sipping cocktails in the sun. In much of the world, this sort of gathering would be frowned upon or even banned.Not in Sweden.It doesn't worry Anders Tegnell, the country's chief epidemiologist and top strategist in the fight against…

Perhaps the best that can be said about a "stay home" Twitter posted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is that it's given bored copycats sitting at home waiting out the coronavirus ample inspiration. It certainly appears to have rubbed many people frustrated by Abe's…

Social restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus could have saved lives if they'd been started earlier, and when they're eased new cases are certain to arise, said the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, seeming to draw the ire of…

Two U.S. astronauts say it’s hard to comprehend the changes on Earth that have occurred due to the coronavirus pandemic, as they prepare to return from the International Space Station.The astronauts, Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, have been in space for more than half a…

By the time the towering Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 13 crew  left the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, thundering into the skies on April 11, 1970, traveling to the moon seemed about as interesting to the general public as commuting to work.It was,…

As the world fights the coronavirus pandemic, there are questions about whether restrictions to contain the virus are leading to cleaner air and skies. Some say there is a correlation between lockdowns and pollution levels, but others disagree. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. ...

Southeast Asian foreign ministers have endorsed the setting up of a regional fund to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and discussed a planned video summit of their leaders with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Friday…

Scientists with the U.S. space agency NASA say recent satellite data are showing as much as a 30 percent drop in air pollution along the U.S. East Coast compared with the same time last year.Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, studied…

After managing to keep on top of the first wave of coronavirus outbreaks, Singapore is grappling with an alarming rise in infections among migrant workers housed in crowded dormitories.   Such cases now account for about a quarter of Singapore's 1,910 infections. The government reported…

Taking a toy out of the box can make a mess.Hardly eco-friendly, the process can yield more clutter from plastic and cardboard than the actual toy.But there are moves to change that as some toy manufacturers say they’re going green with a series of environmentally…

It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other.Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known…

African officials pushed back Thursday against the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if the virus is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk. "We cannot be neglected in this effort," the head of…

Apollo 13's astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later — on April 13.Jim Lovell and Fred Haise insist they're not superstitious. They even use…

Brooklyn is dark except for the streetlamps when Carla Brown's alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m. -- much too early for an average Monday. But with the coronavirus laying siege to New York, today looms as anything but ordinary.Brown runs a meals-on-wheels program for elderly…

Iran's supreme leader suggested Thursday that mass gatherings may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic, as Amnesty International said it believed at least 35 Iranian prisoners were killed by security forces amid rioting over the virus. Supreme…

A U.S.-Russian space crew blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner lifted off as scheduled in a Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft.Russian space officials had taken extra precautions…

Britons braced Thursday for several more weeks in lockdown as Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in a London hospital after three nights in intensive care for treatment of his coronavirus infection.   The British government said Wednesday evening that the prime minister was making "steady…

Scientists studying data from a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite say they have observed a strong reduction in ozone concentrations over the Arctic, creating what they are calling a “mini-hole” in the ozone layer.The ozone layer is a natural, protective layer of gas in the…

India is considering plans to seal off coronavirus hotspots in Delhi, Mumbai and parts of the south while easing restrictions elsewhere as a way out of a three-week lockdown that has caused deep economic distress, officials said on Wednesday.   The sweeping clampdown in the…

Puerto Rico's governor on Wednesday asked federal officials to ban all flights from U.S. cities with a high number of coronavirus cases to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. territory. The petition by Gov. Wanda Vázquez to the Federal Aviation Administration came…

At the construction site in Tel Aviv, Jamal Salman and the other Palestinian workers wore gloves and masks, and their employer provided apartments for them to stay overnight.But his wife, alarmed by the news about the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, called him every night from…

Just weeks ago, cities and even states across the U.S. were busy banning straws, limiting takeout containers and mandating that shoppers bring reusable bags or pay a small fee as the movement to eliminate single-use plastics took hold in mainstream America. What a difference a pandemic…

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other hard-hit Japanese prefectures to fortify the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. But this is no European or Wuhan-style lockdown. A look at what Japan's state of emergency entails:Why Did Abe…

New analysis of data collected by the U.S. space agency’s Cassini spacecraft may have solved what has been a mystery to scientists for years: What keeps the upper layers of Saturn so warm?The warmth of Saturn and other gas giants in the solar system has…

The lockdown that served as a model for countries battling the coronavirus around the world is set to end after 11 weeks: Chinese authorities are moving to allow residents of Wuhan to once again travel in and out of the sprawling city where the pandemic…