More than one-third of new mothers in four poor countries are abused during childbirth, a study published Wednesday in the medical journal The Lancet.The study, carried out in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar and Nigeria by the World Health Organization, found that 42% of the women experienced physical or verbal abuse or …

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys.Johnson and Johnson immediately denounced the award after …

Dogs can perform many tricks for their owners, but the best one might be extending their life.”Our analysis found having a dog is actually protective against dying of any cause,” said Dr. Caroline Kramer, lead author of a study published Tuesday in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.Kramer’s …

U.S. infections from three sexually transmitted diseases have risen for the fifth consecutive year.More than 1.7 million cases of chlamydia (kluh-MID’-ee-uh) were reported last year. The infection rate rose 3 percent from 2017.It’s the most ever reported in a year, though the trend is mainly attributed to increased testing.About 580,000 …

Saitoti Petro scans a dirt road in northern Tanzania for recent signs of the top predator on the African savannah. “If you see a lion,” he warns, “stop and look it straight in the eyes — you must never run.”Petro points to a fresh track in the dirt, a paw …

Hundreds of climate change activists camped out in central London on Tuesday during a second day of world protests by the Extinction Rebellion movement to demand more urgent actions to counter global warming.Determined activists glued themselves to the British government’s Department of Transport building as police working to keep streets …

A teenager has traced her medical journey through several neurosurgeries by making art from her brain scans.  Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles that 16-year-old Tessa Carlisle is exploring the healing potential of art as she travels her own road to recovery. …

Hundreds of activists were arrested Monday in cities around the world, at the start of a two-week global campaign aimed at raising awareness of a climate emergency. The international effort was coordinated by Extinction Rebellion, a movement fighting for the protection of biodiversity with non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. VOA’s …

Researchers say Saturn has overtaken Jupiter as the planet in our solar system with the most number of moons.U.S. scientists announced Monday that 20 new moons have been found orbiting Saturn, bringing the total number of moons around that planet to 82. That beats Jupiter’s 79 moons.Researchers say the new …

Climate protesters around the world started two weeks of demonstrations on Monday, engaging in acts of civil disobedience to demand action on cutting carbon emissions.In London, police arrested 276 people who blocked bridges and roads, while in Berlin, around 1,000 protesters blocked the Grosser Stern, a traffic circle at the …

Melania Trump is calling on companies to stop marketing e-cigarettes to children, saying they’re addictive and dangerous.   The first lady – who has a 13-year-old son, Barron – says teenagers and young adults must be encouraged to admit addiction, including to electronic cigarettes and vaping – and get help. …

Two Americans and a British scientist have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”The Nobel Committee said Monday the award is shared by William Kaelin, Gregg Semenza and Peter Ratcliffe.They will each get an equal share …

A total of 110 million toilets constructed for 600 million people in 60 months.Citing these figures, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced October 2 that the open defecation in rural India has ended.However, the results of the world’s biggest toilet-building program rolled out by his government five years ago are more …

Bence Pardy spent his summers as a child by Hungary’s second main river, the Tisza.Now, at 32, he has given up his job to move back there permanently to collect plastic waste which pollutes its waters.The Tisza, one of the main rivers in eastern Europe, starts in Ukraine and flows …

Researchers have been trying to learn more about a plant that has invaded lakes across Georgia and the Southeast, contributing to the deaths of eagles and other birds.The hydrilla has helped to cause the deaths of American bald eagles and thousands of other water birds over the past 25 years, …

Pope Francis urged bishops on Sunday to boldly shake up the status quo as they chart ways to better care for the Amazon and its indigenous people amid threats from forest fires, development and what he called ideological ashes of fear.”   Francis opened a three-week meeting on preserving the …

A federal judge upheld Massachusetts’ four-month ban on the sale of vaping products Friday, at least for now.U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani denied the vaping industry’s request for a temporary reprieve from the ban while their legal challenge plays out in Boston federal court, saying the plaintiffs did not show …

U.N. agencies are appealing for $20 million to contain an outbreak of cholera in Sudan.Since the cholera outbreak was declared on Sept. 8 in Blue Nile and Sennar states, Sudan’s Ministry of Health reports more than 230 people have become ill and eight have died.  U.N. agencies warn that more …

Vietnamese advocates of solar power have begun a “Million Green Homes” project, aimed at spreading the use of solar power in the country instead of coal and other fossil fuels.The project is being undertaken by the new Vietnam Coalition for Climate Action, formed in August by a group of leaders …

The flu season has started in the Northern Hemisphere. Although it’s still very early in the season, two deaths have been reported. One was a child, the other an adult with a chronic illness, but seemingly healthy people can also die from the flu.Those most likely to die from the …

The flu season has started in the Northern Hemisphere. Although it’s very early in the season, two deaths have already been reported. One was a child, the other an adult with a chronic illness, but seemingly healthy people can also die from the flu. More from VOA’s Carol Pearson.   …

Editor’s note: Heroic efforts to revive ecosystems and save species are being waged worldwide, aimed at reversing some of humankind’s most destructive effects on the planet. “What Can Be Saved?,”  an Associated Press series, chronicles the ordinary people and scientists fighting for change against enormous odds — and forging paths …

Tanzania denied Thursday it was withholding information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on suspected cases of Ebola, saying it was not hiding any outbreak of the deadly disease in the country.“Ebola is known as a fast-spreading disease, whose impact can be felt globally. This is not a disease that …

Groups of women had traveled for days to find care for their starving children in Chad, blankly staring in exhaustion and with little hope. But other women smiled, relieved to see their children “fattened” by a new and simplified initiative for hunger.In an interview with The Associated Press, actress Mia …

Alaska’s northern fur seal population for three decades has been classified as depleted, but the marine mammals are showing up in growing numbers at an unlikely location — a tiny island that forms the tip of an active undersea volcano.Vents on Bogoslof Island continue to spew mud, steam and sulfurous …