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Invasive plants and animals disrupt food supplies, carry diseases and cause an estimated $423 billion in damage every year around the world. When an Asian fish called the snakehead invaded waterways near Washington, experts warned it might devour the competition and upset of the ecosystem. But, as VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, that’s not what ended up happening. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum. ...

FRESNO, Calif. — The second elephant calf in two weeks has been born at a California zoo. African elephant Amahle gave birth early Monday morning, according to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. The event came 10 days after Amahle's mother, Nolwazi, gave birth to another male calf. The new additions are the first elephants born at the zoo, about 240 kilometers southeast of San Francisco, which has embarked on a program to breed elephants in the hope that they can be seen by zoogoers in years to come. "To have two healthy calves is a historic milestone," Jon Forrest Dohlin, the zoo's chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. "We cannot wait for the public to see the new additions to our herd and share in our excitement." The elephants and their…

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GENEVA — U.N. agencies warn that refugees and displaced communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries infected with mpox are at particular risk of illness and death because of conditions under which they are forced to live. The World Health Organization says at least 42 suspected cases of mpox have been identified among the refugee population in DR Congo’s South Kivu Province, one of the regions hardest hit by the disease. Confirmed and suspected cases of the new clade 1b strain also have been recorded among refugee populations in the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. “Suspected cases are being reported in conflict-impacted provinces that host the majority of the DRC’s 7.3 million internally displaced people,” Dr. Allen Maina, UNHCR public health chief, said Tuesday. “In these…

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GENEVA — The U.N. health agency on Monday launched a six-month plan to help stanch outbreaks of mpox transmission, including ramping up staffing in affected countries and boosting surveillance, prevention and response strategies. The World Health Organization said it expected the plan, running from September through February next year, would require $135 million in funding. The plan would also aim to improve fair access to vaccines, notably in African countries hardest hit by the outbreak. "The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. The agency is "significantly scaling up staff" in affected countries, it said. In mid-August, WHO classified the current mpox outbreak as a global health emergency. Also Monday,…

The rapid rise in disposable electronic cigarette, or vape, usage is creating a tidal wave of pollution, and it’s raising serious environmental concerns. Aron Ranen reports from New York City about one woman who is trying to make a difference. ...

Brazzaville, Congo — Twenty-one cases of mpox have been recorded in Congo-Brazzaville, the country's health minister told state television Sunday. Gilbert Mokoki said that the central African country had "registered 158 suspect cases" since the beginning of the year, "21 of which we have confirmed." The latest two were reported Thursday, he said. Cases of the infectious disease — formerly known as monkeypox — have been surging in eastern and central Africa, but the virus has also been detected in Asia and Europe, with the World Health Organization declaring an international emergency. The virus has been reported in five of Congo-Brazzaville's 15 regions, with the forested areas of Sangha and Likouala in the north particularly affected. A new variant of mpox has swept across neighboring DR Congo, killing more than 570 people so…

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GENEVA — U.N. agencies are scaling up cholera prevention and treatment programs to get on top of a new, deadly cholera outbreak in Sudan that threatens to further destabilize communities suffering from hunger and the ill effects of more than 16 months of conflict. The recent cholera outbreak has resurged after several weeks of heavy rainfall and resulting flooding,” Kristine Hambrouck, UNHCR representative in Sudan, told journalists Friday in Geneva. Speaking on a video-link from Port Sudan, she warned, “Risks are compounded by the continuing conflict and dire humanitarian conditions, including overcrowding in camps and gathering sites for refugees and Sudanese displaced by the war, as well as limited medical supplies and health workers.” She expressed particular concern about the spread of the deadly disease in areas hosting refugees, mainly in…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA decided Saturday it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they'll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months. The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back. After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams…