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As coronavirus infections hit Ukraine, a single shift for Dr. Oleksandr Molchanov now stretches to 42 hours — 24 of them in Kakhovka’s hospital, followed by another 18 hours spent visiting tents set up to care for 120 COVID-19 patients. While vaccination rates in Eastern…

Police arrested seven rioters in The Hague on Saturday night after youths set fires in the streets and threw fireworks at officers. The unrest came a day after police opened fire on protesters in Rotterdam amid what the port city's mayor called "an orgy of…

This was supposed to be the Christmas in Europe where family and friends could once again embrace holiday festivities and one another. Instead, the continent is the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases soar to record levels in many countries. With infections spiking…

A chemical that babies give off from their heads calms men but makes women more aggressive, according to new research in the journal Science Advances. It could be a chemical defense system we inherited from our animal ancestors, the authors speculate, making women more likely…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday expanded emergency use authorization for the booster shot of the PFizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to all U.S. adults. The decision was announced by the drug companies Friday and comes after at least 10 states already had…

A partial lunar eclipse could be seen from the Americas and East Asia on Friday. The phenomenon, when the Earth partially aligns between the sun and the full moon, was visible in much of the United States, in South America and in Philippines and Japan.…

In a move that has some environmental activists charging it with hypocrisy, the Biden administration has approved the sale of oil and gas drilling rights to more than 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico — an act it says was mandated by a…

The intended increase in effort and manufacturing comes as US lawmakers question inequities in global vaccine distribution and vaccination rates among richer and poorer nations. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. Producer: Katherine Gypson ...

The longest partial lunar eclipse in nearly 600 years, which will bathe the moon in red, will be visible Thursday and Friday for a big slice of humanity.  The celestial show will see the moon almost completely cast in shadow as it moves behind the…

This week, space junk threatens the International Space Station, forcing four new arrivals who came on board to take safety measures. Plus, tragedy befalls a space tourist, and the longest partial lunar eclipse in nearly 600 years. VOA's Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in…

One of the takeaways from this year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow is that much of the world is actively planning for a world without oil and coal. But as Jessica Stone reports, some of the world’s worst polluters, at least for now, need fossil fuels.…

Someday soon, drivers entering downtown Manhattan can expect to pay for the pollution and traffic jams they cause. Congestion pricing is a way that places such as Stockholm and Singapore are trying to unclog streets and clean up their air by making it more expensive…

Australian public health experts are making new efforts to curb the use of tobacco products, comparing its adverse effects on health to that of asbestos and lead paint.   Australia has led the world on tobacco control, with plain packaging laws introduced in 2012, higher taxes and graphic public health warnings.  But campaigners say those steps are not…

The White House says about 10% of eligible kids aged 5 to 11 have received a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine since its approval for their age group two weeks ago. At least 2.6 million kids have received a shot, White House COVID-19 coordinator…

A Ghanian entrepreneur is helping prepare students in rural areas for the modern economy by teaching them about robotics. His roaming classes have been so successful that Ghana's Ministry of Education has adopted the lessons in schools. Victoria Amunga reports from Accra, Ghana. Camera -…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose between May 2020 and April 2021 — a nearly 30% increase over the previous year.  While not an official count, the CDC says it can confirm 98,000 deaths so…

With the Indian capital enveloped in a haze of toxic smog, authorities ordered six thermal plants in the city’s vicinity to shut temporarily, closed schools and colleges indefinitely and imposed work-from-home restrictions to control pollution levels that turned severe on several days this month. A…

The port of Vancouver, Canada's largest, said on Tuesday that all rail access had been cut by floods and landslides farther east that killed at least one person and left two others missing.  Two days of torrential rain across the Pacific province of British Columbia…

News outlets say the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to spend $5 billion to purchase Pfizer’s new experimental antiviral pill designed to treat COVID-19, enough to cover 10 million courses of treatment.  The revelation comes a day after the U.S. drugmaker announced it had signed a deal…

With the Earth getting warmer and weather events more extreme, the African Union has set up a Disaster Operations Center in Nairobi to help monitor major hazards and provide regional early warnings for drought, floods, extreme rainfall, food insecurity, and pests like the desert locusts.…

Russian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what…

Relentless rain battered Canada's Pacific coast on Monday, forcing a town's evacuation and trapping motorists as mudslides, rocks and debris were washed across major highways.  Some 275 people, according to local media, were stuck overnight in their cars between two mudslides on Highway 7 near…

A Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk that is now threatening the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station, U.S. officials said Monday.  The State Department confirmed that the debris was from an old Russian satellite destroyed by the missile…

With its red and yellow rock formations, the Ramon Crater in Israel's Negev desert has been compared to the surface of Mars. Now, scientists are using the landscape deep in the desert for experiments to help make human travel to Mars a reality. Six astronauts…

The British government Monday announced Monday an expansion of the nation’s COVID-19 booster shot program to people ages 40 and up, to fight off a potential winter surge of the deadly disease. Until now, only British residents ages 50 and up, those clinically vulnerable because…

Pakistan rolled out a massive two-week drive Monday to immunize more than 90 million children in what officials hailed as one of the world’s biggest vaccination campaigns against measles and rubella. An official announcement said children aged between 9 months and 15 years across the…