Author: Dmedia

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is exploring ways artificial intelligence can help detect illegal shipments of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum ...

Beach season has started across Japan, which means seafood for holiday makers and good times for business owners. But in Fukushima, that may end soon.  Within weeks, the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is expected to start releasing treated radioactive wastewater into the sea,…

Jill Biden has represented her country at the Olympics in Tokyo, a king's coronation in London and a royal wedding in Jordan. She gets another chance to put her ambassadorial skills to work this week when the United States formally rejoins a United Nations agency…

Researchers say the central districts in Sydney are close to becoming the first place in the world to reach the U.N.'s target for ending transmission of HIV. The city was once at the heart of Australia's HIV epidemic but new infections among gay men have…

Associated Press photographer Matt York, who has covered Arizona for 23 years, recently was caught off guard by the heat wave that has shattered records in Phoenix. The 50-year-old York photographed life in the city for six of seven days as temperatures hovered above 110…

Sea lions and dolphins are being sickened by toxic algae off the coast of California, where hundreds of animals have washed ashore. Mike O'Sullivan visited the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California, where workers are rescuing and treating the ailing animals. ...

The World Health Organization warns dengue fever is spreading to more regions and countries around the world due to the increased movement of people, urbanization, and climate-related issues. "About half of the world's population is at risk of dengue," Raman Velayudhan, a top official of…

Environmental activists and experts are increasingly concerned about the impact that military activity by India, China and Pakistan is having on the unique biodiversity and pristine ecosystems of Ladakh, an Indian-administered region high in the Himalayas. Simmering tensions between India and China since a deadly…

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday launched an office to prepare for and respond to potential pandemics. It will be led by Paul Friedrichs, a military combat surgeon and retired Air Force major general who helped lead the Pentagon's COVID response. The new Office…

Every few years, the Pacific Ocean gets a fever, and the symptoms spread all the way around the world. It's happening again. El Niño is back, and it looks like it's going to be a big one. That raises the odds of droughts in Brazil…

As the planet warms, mosquitoes are slowly migrating upward.  The temperature range where malaria-carrying mosquitoes thrive is rising in elevation. Researchers have found evidence of the phenomenon from the tropical highlands of South America to the mountainous, populous regions of eastern Africa.  Scientists now worry…

Italy put 23 cities on red alert as it reckoned with another day of scorching temperatures Wednesday, with no sign of relief from the wave of extreme heat, wildfires and flooding that has wreaked havoc from the United States to China. The heat wave has…

The U.S. has suspended funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese research laboratory at the center of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus that has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide.    The lab has not received any U.S. funding since…

People who have a particular genetic variant are twice as likely to never feel sick when they contract COVID-19, researchers said Wednesday, offering the first potential explanation for the lucky group dubbed the "super dodgers." Those who have two copies of the variant are eight…

Childhood immunization has rebounded following a significant decline during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but at an uneven rate with too many children in low-income countries still missing out on the life-saving products, according to a joint World Health Organization-UNICEF report. The agencies…

Climate change is a "universal threat" that should be handled separately from broader diplomatic issues, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng on Wednesday after two days of what he called constructive but complex talks.  Acknowledging the diplomatic difficulties between the two…

As global warming intensifies and deadly heatwaves spread across the world, becoming the “new normal,” the World Meteorological Organization is calling on governments to adopt heat action plans to protect “hundreds of thousands of people dying from preventable heat-related causes each year.” WMO’s protective policies…

The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday. "Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the…

The United Nations said Tuesday vaccinations for children have generally rebounded since a drop during the COVID-19 pandemic but warned that vaccination rates in many smaller and poorer countries are not experiencing the same progress. The U.N. said 20.5 million children missed one or more…

The excavator tore into the remnants of the damaged building in southeast Turkey, bringing it crashing down into a cloud of dust -- the latest menace facing survivors of the deadly February quake that ravaged the region. Extending to the horizon, a cocoon of fine…

A review of the status of a vanishing species of whale found that the mammal’s population is in worse shape than previously thought, federal ocean regulators said Monday. The North Atlantic right whale numbers less than 350, and it has been declining in population for…

In the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, a debate is raging over whether to teach teenagers about contraceptives. Comprehensive sex education is required in public schools but not all schools are following through. Dave Grunebaum has the story. ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency posted air quality alerts Sunday for several states stretching from Montana to Ohio because of smoke blowing in from Canadian wildfires. "Air Quality alerts are in place for much of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern High Plains," the National…

As much of the world swelters in record temperatures, spare a thought for Issam Genedi, who ekes out a living washing cars in one of the planet's hottest regions, the Gulf. Pausing from his work at an outdoor carpark in Dubai, the Egyptian migrant says…

The U.K.'s oldest medical union Saturday hit out at government plans to increase the amount migrant workers pay to use the state health care service, to cover public-sector wage increases.   Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government this week approved recommendations to boost wages of teachers, doctors…

United Nations agencies said Friday that millions of Sudanese cannot obtain treatment for emergency and chronic health conditions because fighting has brought the country’s fragile health system to near total collapse.    The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement violence…

Visitors to Las Vegas on Friday stepped out momentarily to snap photos and were hit by blast-furnace air. But most will spend their vacations in a vastly different climate — at casinos where the chilly air conditioning might require a light sweater. Meanwhile, emergency room…

Countries at this year's U.N. climate summit must face up to how far behind they are on climate change targets and agree to a plan to get on track, the United Arab Emirates' incoming president of the event said on Thursday.  In a speech laying…