The U.S. needs a nimble, multipronged strategy and Cabinet-level leadership to counter its festering overdose epidemic, a bipartisan congressional commission advises. With vastly powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl driving record overdose deaths, the scourge of opioids awaits after the COVID-19 pandemic finally recedes, a shift that public health experts expect …

Paris — Plastic has infiltrated all parts of the ocean and is now found “in the smallest plankton up to the largest whale” wildlife group WWF said on Tuesday, calling for urgent efforts to create an international treaty on plastics. Tiny fragments of plastic have reached even the most remote …

Millions of people around the world enjoy a daily cup of coffee; however, their daily caffeine fix could be under threat because climate change is killing coffee plants, putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk. Inside the vast, steamy greenhouses at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the leafy suburbs of …

Pope Francis on Sunday decried the genital mutilation of millions of girls and the trafficking of women for sex, including openly on city streets, so others can make money off of them.  In remarks to the public in St. Peter’s Square, the pope noted that the day was dedicated worldwide …

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in an address on the nation’s Waitangi Day observance that the country has an obligation to make sure everyone has access to the health care they need, and that no one dies younger than everyone else in New Zealand because they are Maori. …

In the two years since COVID-19 began ravaging the United States, virtually every aspect of the pandemic has been politicized, often to the detriment of efforts to bring the disease under control and to treat its victims. Now, though, members of Congress are taking the first steps toward a bipartisan …

The oceans got even warmer last year than the year before, supercharging already extreme weather patterns worldwide, according to a recent report published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Twenty-three international scientists analyzed thousands of ocean temperature measurements. Since 2018, when the group first began publishing their findings, they …

The Philippines has suspended a heavily criticized policy banning the unvaccinated from public transportation in Metro Manila as a COVID-19 surge, caused by omicron variant, has subsided. Daily cases in the Philippines rose from 400 in December to more than 39,000 in just a matter of days. The positivity rate, …

NASA says global temperatures are on the rise, and that could spell trouble for future Winter Games. Plus, Australian astronomers discover an unidentified space object, and a pair of satellites touch the sky. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us a Winter Olympics-edition of The Week in Space. …

The World Health Organization’s European region director says that while COVID-19 cases on the continent continue to rise, he sees a plausible endgame for the pandemic in Europe in coming months. Speaking during his weekly virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, WHO Europe Region Director Hans Kluge told …

Crushing fatigue. Brain fog. Trouble breathing weeks after contracting COVID-19. Scientists call it post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. Most people just call it “long COVID.” For millions of people, these and other symptoms are keeping them from getting back to their lives months after their last positive COVID-19 test. But what …

The police chief of Canada’s capital said Wednesday there is likely no policing solution to end a protest against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions that has snarled traffic around Parliament. He also said there is a “significant element” of the protest’s funding and organization coming from the United States. …

The Biden administration launched a plan Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, a continuation of the 2016 “cancer moonshot” program that President Joe Biden led as vice president in the Obama administration. “It’s bold. It’s ambitious, but it’s completely doable,” …

U.S. intelligence agencies may have ruled out the idea that a rash of mysterious illnesses plaguing American diplomats and other officials is part of a sustained campaign by one of Washington’s adversaries, but they now say that in a small number of cases the only likely explanation is the use …

As several European nations scale back or drop COVID-19 restrictions altogether, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging caution as the coronavirus remains. Denmark lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions Tuesday, including the use of masks in public places or requiring proof of vaccination to enter public venues, with government …

President Joe Biden is committing to reduce the cancer death rate by 50% — a new goal for the “moonshot” initiative against the disease that was announced in 2016 when he was vice president. Biden has set a 25-year timeline for achieving that goal, part of his broader effort to …

A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows an extra shot of a COVID-19 vaccine provides solid protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death. The federal health agency followed more than 400,000 adults in Los Angeles who were infected with either the delta or …

Beijing has been exporting traditional Chinese medicine around the world, including to countries on the African continent. With claims of helping with COVID, these herbal clinics are welcomed by some while others are raising concerns about the effectiveness of such medicines, and the lack of regulation in the field. Victoria …

When it comes to measuring global warming, humidity, not just heat, matters in generating dangerous climate extremes, a new study finds.  Researchers say temperature by itself isn’t the best way to measure climate change’s weird weather and downplays impacts in the tropics. But factoring in air moisture along with heat …

A group of pharmaceutical companies and distributors agreed to pay $590 million to settle lawsuits connected to opioid addiction among Native American tribes, according to a U.S. court filing released Tuesday.  The agreement is the latest amid a deluge of litigation spawned by the U.S. opioid crisis, which has claimed …

The World Health Organization warns of health care risks posed by discarded COVID-19 equipment and is calling on nations to better manage their systems for disposing of the used gear. Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic requires the use of huge quantities of personal protective equipment or PPE and the use of …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ((FDA)) Monday gave full approval to U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, which will be marketed under the name Spikevax. The vaccine has been widely distributed in the United States and around the world under the FDA’s emergency use authorization since December of 2020. …

The Australian air force is preparing to deliver 20 tons of emergency supplies to remote communities cut off by flood waters. Traffic has been disrupted on the main highway and railway between Adelaide in South Australia and Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory.     Heavy rain and storms …

Beijing officials said Sunday they sealed off several residential communities in the city’s northern district after two cases of COVID-19 were found. Residents in the Anzhenli neighborhood in Chaoyang district were sealed off on Saturday, and will not be allowed to leave their compound. Beijing is on high alert as …

New York authorities have arrested two Long Island nurses who officials say made more than $1.5 million by forging COVID-19 vaccination cards. Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare and her employee, Marissa Urraro, have been charged with felony forgery, authorities say. DeVuono was also charged with offering …