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In marking the International Day of Forests, environmentalists are calling for the restoration of forests and their life-giving biodiversity systems which, they say, are under increasing threat from illegal exploitation. Forests are the lungs of the earth. They help provide the air we breathe and play…

Carrie Brady was 40 and single when she decided to adopt a baby. Because of the US opioid crisis, her chances of finding a match were better if she agreed to accept the child of someone addicted to drugs and that’s what she did. Maxim…

The world’s largest vaccine producer has told at least three countries that their COVID-19 vaccine shipments will be delayed.The Serum Institute of India has informed Brazil, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia that India’s overwhelming need for the vaccine is the cause of the delay.India is experiencing…

Throngs of revelers flocking to Miami Beach, Florida, for spring break have become so uncontrollable that authorities imposed a curfew Saturday that they hope will spoil the party.For the next 72 hours, visitors will have to leave the streets and restaurants will close their doors…

Ahead of World Water Day Monday, the World Meteorological Organization warns climate change is intensifying water-related disasters, threatening the lives and livelihoods of billions of people worldwide.   Climate-related hazards include increased flooding and longer-lasting droughts. Climate change also is altering rainfall patterns, affecting water…

The coughing among the western lowland gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in January was the first warning sign. Soon the fears were confirmed: A troop of gorillas became the first apes known to test positive for the coronavirus.Around the world, many scientists…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Friday and urged the public to do the same, saying "he did not feel a thing." Johnson, 56, received his vaccine at the same hospital where almost a year ago he…

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrived Friday in the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the massage parlor killings of six Asian American women and two others Tuesday near Atlanta.The U.S. leaders will meet with Asian…

France, Germany and Italy resumed use Friday of a coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca after health officials sought to allay concerns it might cause blood clots.The European nations resumed inoculations after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine was “safe and…

A 14-year-old South Sudanese girl who could not control her urine or bowel movements for two years is lying on a bed at the Lutheran Medical Center in Juba, recovering from an operation to repair a fistula - a medical condition in which a hole…

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are traveling to the southern U.S. state of Georgia on Friday, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the massage parlor shootings near Atlanta on Tuesday.The U.S. leaders will meet with Asian American leaders to discuss the…

German health officials Friday said coronavirus cases in the country are rising at “an exponential rate,” forcing the government to reconsider lifting COVID-19 restrictions. At a news conference in Berlin, Robert Koch Institute ((RKI)) for infectious Diseases Vice President Lars Schaade told reporters highly contagious virus…

As the Northern Hemisphere enters a second spring of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are saying the higher temperatures and sunnier days are unlikely to do much on their own to curtail the spread of the virus.Travel restrictions and mask mandates, along with people's behavior, have…

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are traveling to the southern U.S. state of Georgia on Friday, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the massage parlor shootings near Atlanta on Tuesday.The U.S. leaders will meet with Asian American leaders to discuss the…

The European Medicines Agency has approved the continued use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the battle to contain the pandemic. The European regulator’s seal of approval comes after several European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, stopped using the vaccine following reports that…

NASA calls its latest mission on the surface of Mars a “Wright Brothers moment” of aeronautical pioneering. The ISS gets hardware upgrades, and Russia’s lone, female Cosmonaut now has a Barbie doll in her own image. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Camera: NASA/AP/ESA/REUTERS/SPACE X/MATTELProduced by: Arash Arabasadi   ...

U.S. and Mexican officials deny Washington is attaching any strings to a likely shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to America’s southern neighbor at a time of heightened migration passing through Mexico en route to the United States.“[P]reventing the spread of a global pandemic…

Europe's drug regulator, the Europe Medicines Agency (EMA), said Thursday the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective in protecting people from the disease and its benefits outweigh its possible risks. Speaking to a remote news conference from the agency's Amsterdam headquarters, Executive Director Emer Cooke…

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director for Europe said Thursday that the COVID-19 situation in the continent has taken a step backward, with more people dying from the disease than at this time last year.   During a virtual briefing from his office in Copenhagen,…

Leading United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to combat ageism, which they say harms the well-being of older people and national economies. The World Health Organization, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and U.N.…

Australia is beginning an urgent rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in the Torres Strait in northern Queensland because of a sharp increase in infections in neighboring Papua New Guinea, a situation Health Minister Greg Hunt called a “clear and present danger” to both nations.Papua New Guinea,…

The European Union’s medications watchdog is due to release initial results Thursday of its investigation into whether there is a connection between the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and cases of recipients developing blood clots.The European Medicines Agency has been examining 30 reported blood coagulation…

Scientists are rethinking the cause of water loss on Mars in the face of new evidence that challenges the long-held theory that the water may have evaporated into space. That’s according to new NASA-funded research published this week in the journal Science.Researchers hypothesize that about…