Parties to a new global treaty to combat the illicit sale of tobacco products have taken the first steps toward cracking down on this multi-billion dollar trade.  At a three-day meeting at the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva they have outlined a plan to shut down the …

Health officials say the rate of new Ebola cases has more than doubled since September after rebel violence in northeastern Congo caused response efforts to be briefly suspended.   In a statement on Thursday, the International Rescue Committee says it is “alarmed” that there were 33 new cases between October …

A U.S.-Russian crew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft safely made an emergency return to Earth on shortly after launching on what was supposed to be a mission to the International Space Station. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said there was an issue with the spacecraft’s booster after it …

NASA says that two astronauts from the U.S. and Russia are in good condition after an emergency landing following booster rocket failure minutes after the launch. U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Russia-leased …

An estimated 44 million people 65 years and older worldwide have Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disorder that causes memory loss, and impairs thinking, judgment and problem solving. So far, scientists have not found a drug that can stop the disease. But a …

Australia is rejecting the latest U.N. report on climate change, insisting coal remains critical to energy security and lowering household power bills. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its report released Monday that global greenhouse gas emissions must reach zero by the middle of the …

America’s recycling industry is in the dumps. A crash in the global market for recyclables is forcing communities to make hard choices about whether they can afford to keep recycling or should simply send all those bottles, cans and plastic containers to the landfill.   Mountains of paper have piled …

Nearly 77 years after repeated torpedo strikes tore into the USS Oklahoma, killing hundreds of sailors and Marines, Carrie Brown leaned over the remains of a serviceman laid out on a table in her lab and was surprised the bones still smelled of burning oil from that horrific day at …

Mental health disorders are on the rise in every country in the world and could cost the global economy up to $16 trillion between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed, according to an expert report released Tuesday. The Lancet Commission report by 28 global specialists …

U.S. President Donald Trump says he hasn’t read an ominous report by a U.N. panel that warned of a dire future for the planet if global warming is not kept to a minimum. But he said he will. “It was given to me and I want to look who drew …

It was during her first year of high school in rural western Kenya that Mary Kuket says she was “sacrificed to tradition” and her dreams of becoming a doctor shattered forever. With no explanation, the 15-year-old was given away to another family, who forced her to undergo female genital mutilation …

The head of the U.S. space agency said Tuesday he’s sure that investigators will determine the cause of a mysterious hole that appeared on the International Space Station, which his Russian counterpart has said was deliberately drilled. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine also said collaboration with Russia’s Roscosmos remains important, despite …

Despite its middle income status, Indonesia is dealing with what experts say are unexpectedly high rates of childhood stunting.  Now, its government – starting with the the president – is declaring war on the issue and committing to boost its response to the challenge following a World Bank publication that …

Israelis will no longer be able to buy new gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles after 2030, the Energy Ministry said Tuesday, unveiling a plan to replace them with electric cars and trucks that run on natural gas. The challenge will be creating an initial “critical mass” of cars that will move …

The Japanese online retail tycoon who plans to travel to the moon on the SpaceX rocket says he respects and trusts Elon Musk as a fellow entrepreneur, despite his recent troubles. “Twitter can get you into trouble,” Yusaku Maezawa, chief executive of Zozo Inc., said Tuesday at the Foreign Correspondents’ …

Drink companies Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle were found to be the world’s biggest producers of plastic trash, a report by environmental group Greenpeace said on Tuesday. Working with the Break Free From Plastic movement, Greenpeace said it orchestrated 239 plastic clean-ups in 42 countries around the world, which resulted in …

No one knows exactly why some babies are born prematurely, but some of the smallest premature babies weigh under 1,500 grams. These tiny babies — called micro preemies — can’t afford to lose an ounce. At Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, a team of specialists has come up with …

No one knows exactly why some babies are born prematurely, but some of the smallest premature babies weigh under 1,500 grams. These tiny babies — called micro preemies — can’t afford to lose an ounce. At Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, a team of specialists has come up with …

Last-ditch efforts to hold climate change to the most ambitious target set by governments will likely require using every available technique rather than picking and choosing the most attractive ones, climate scientists said on Monday. Dramatically reducing the use of coal, planting huge swaths of land with carbon-absorbing forest or …

Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge. The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental …

Large scale agriculture creates large scale pollution, especially from animal waste. The waste from poultry farms, for example, is bad for the environment, but it contains nutrients that are good for fertilizer. Faith Lapidus reports that scientists in Maryland are developing a new technology to separate the good from the …

Delegates from 148 parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are calling for new heated tobacco products on the market to be regulated in the same way cigarettes and other tobacco products are. Heated tobacco products (HTPs) are not e-cigarettes. They are products that contain nicotine …

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign legislation soon that will add a third gender category to birth certificates. The city council passed legislation on the issue in September, and the mayor announced his intention to sign it after a public hearing. Faiza Elmasry reports …

Four more cases of Ebola have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two days. And the World Health Organization says officials are now concerned the virus will spread beyond the DRC. The total number of cases is now 165, with 106 deaths. But some new …

A new study is blaming 2017’s unusually high number of hurricanes on the Atlantic Ocean’s rising surface temperatures. The report is one of the first to suggest that human-driven global warming is actually causing more hurricanes. The study published in last week’s journal Science also predicts that as warming increases …