The United Nations’ Climate Change Conference ended earlier this month ((in December)) in Madrid.  It was the 25th meeting, and participants left with an ominous warning from experts.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that melting glaciers today may cause serious problems tomorrow …

In Kenya, the opuntia cactus, also known as the prickly pear, is spreading, destroying thousands of acres of grassland, and making animals that eat it sick.  Kenyans have come up with a variety of methods to try to eradicate the problem plant, including breeding a microorganism that feeds on the cactus and …

While studying in college, Jasmine Burton discovered that one-third of the world’s people don’t have access to proper toilets. Burton decided to try to solve the problem. Ariadne Budianto reports. …

It was something, the silence. Nothing but the scuff of her slip-on shoes as Madeleine Mukantagara walked through the fields to her first patient of the day. Piercing cries once echoed down the hill to the road below. What she carried in her bag had calmed them.For 15 years, her …

Before Sim Ark gave birth to her second child, she didn’t think much about what a workplace needed to accommodate a new mother.Now that she’s a working mother rather than a stay-at-home mom as she was with her first child, Sim Ark knows.”I want to have a daycare facility right …

Patients with breast cancer who use supplements during chemotherapy may be at an increased risk of recurrence and death, a new study suggests.Use of dietary supplements that boost levels of antioxidants, iron, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids appeared to lower the effectiveness of chemotherapy, researchers report in the Journal …

It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris’ most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities.After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few …

Boeing’s new Starliner capsule went off course after launch Friday and won’t dock with the International Space Station during its first test flight. It was supposed to be a crucial dress rehearsal for next year’s inaugural launch with astronauts.The blastoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket …

Ethiopia has launched its first satellite.The satellite was launched into space Friday from at a space station in China. Ethiopian and Chinese officials and scientists, however, watched a live broadcast of the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite launch at the Entoto Observatory and Research Center, north of the East African country’s capital, …

Canada’s minister of health, Patty Hajdu, on Thursday proposed banning promotion and advertising of vaping products in public spaces, convenience stores and online, in an effort to curb youth use of e-cigarettes.Hajdu also announced new mandatory health warnings on vaping product packaging.The proposed regulations come amid growing fears surrounding vaping’s …

The World Health Organization says insecurity and lack of access in conflict-ridden parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo remain major threats to ending the Ebola outbreak there.The latest reports put the number of confirmed cases at 3,354, including 2,218 deaths.Health officials are concerned progress made against the Ebola outbreak …

Countries and companies attending a refugee forum in Geneva this week pledged to boost support for refugees’ access to clean energy, among other goals. Findings show renewables offer multiple benefits, including reducing some of the root causes of displacement. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports on what this means for Africa, …

Sweeping new fuel rules aiming to cut pollution belching from ships and save lives are now just a couple of weeks away, but with no central policing agency and several countries still not signed up to them, compliance is a major concern.    From January 2020, ships must use fuel with …

The World Health Organization projects that, for the first time, the number of men smoking around the world is dropping, indicating measures to end the global tobacco epidemic are paying off.WHO officials called it a major shift in the fight against tobacco, which every year kills more than eight million …

Yemenis are facing a new battle: Dengue Fever, a potentially fatal illness that spreads in the unsanitary conditions and decimated infrastructure of their conflict-torn country. The World Health Organization says nearly 59,500 suspected cases, including 219 deaths, were recorded in the first 11 months of 2019. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports …

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday that it had for the first time approved a “biosimilar” medicine — one derived from living sources rather than chemicals — to make breast cancer treatment affordable to women globally.The trastuzumab drug has shown “high efficacy” in curing early-stage breast cancer and in …

Moscow registered the warmest December weather in over a century on Wednesday, as an unusually snowless month put winter activities on hold and confused plants into blooming.One weather station in northern Moscow registered a temperature of 5.4 degrees Celsius (41.7 degrees Fahrenheit), said the Fobos weather center.”This is a new …

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest kinds of cancer there is because it’s almost always found too late. This cancer is hard to detect, and symptoms only show up when the cancer is advanced. But, as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, researchers are beginning to make inroads in this most …

France’s warring trade unions on Wednesday defended their decision to cut power to thousands of homes, companies and even the Bank of France to force a weakened government to drop a wide-ranging pension reform.The power cuts added to a sense of chaos in the second week of nationwide strikes that …

A European spacecraft launched from South America Wednesday on a three-year mission to study planets in other solar systems.The Characterizing ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) mission blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 0854 GMT (3:54 a.m. EST) atop a Russian Soyuz rocket. The launch came 24 hours after a first attempt …

Gunmen in Pakistan shot and killed two policemen on Wednesday who were part of the most recent anti-polio drive in the country’s rugged and volatile northwest, officials said.The gunmen opened fire as the policemen were heading on foot to the town of Lower Dir in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering …

Danish scientists have managed to extract a complete DNA sample from a piece of birch pitch more than 5,000 years old, used as a kind of chewing gum, a study revealed Tuesday.The Stone-Age sample yielded enough information to determine the source’s sex, what she had last eaten and the germs …

A new U.S. study has concluded that the use of e-cigarettes, called vaping, increases the risk of developing chronic lung diseases, but less so than smoking.The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, surveyed 32,000 American adults between 2013 and 2016 who had no signs of lung disease …

People will get more time to sign up for “Obamacare” health insurance, the Trump administration announced Monday, following a spate of computer glitches over the weekend.The new HealthCare.gov deadline is 3 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement. Coverage takes effect …

The United Nations’ AIDS agency has fired two staffers for financial and sexual misconduct, including a whistleblower whose allegations of being sexually assaulted sparked months of turmoil at the organization. Last March, Martina Brostrom publicly accused a senior UNAIDS director of forcibly kissing her and trying to drag her out …