The Japanese government may declare a new state of emergency for the cities of Tokyo and Osaka in response to another surge of COVID-19 infections. The Mainichi newspaper reported Wednesday that Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is requesting to impose an emergency decree from April 29 to May 9, which coincides with …

Eerie wails, explosive trumpets and ghostly moans. The sounds from the underwater recorders had a story to tell, even without a single intelligible word: the whales had stayed put. The recordings gathered during the 2018-2019 winter in the freezing cold Arctic waters off Canada proved that a population of bowhead whales …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak Thursday at the global summit on climate change organized by U.S. President Joe Biden. Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a written statement Wednesday that President Xi will deliver an “important speech” during the virtual conference.  Xi is among 40 world leaders invited …

Carbon dioxide emissions are expected to grow this year after falling dramatically during the pandemic as economies around the globe contracted.In a report issued Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said emissions of the greenhouse gas would rise by 1.5 billion metric tons, or 5%. While big, the increase is …

Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Tuesday it found a possible link between the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and rare forms of blood clots, but that the drug’s benefits outweigh its risks. In its statement Tuesday, the EMA said that its drug safety group, the Pharmacovigilance …

India’s health ministry Monday announced a record 273,810 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period while officials in the capital, New Delhi, announced a weeklong lockdown. The infections reported Monday are the most the country has seen in a single day since the pandemic began. About 1 in 3 people tested …

South Sudan health officials have stopped administering 60,000 doses of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine that are past the expiration date but still have a shelf life of at least six months, according to the drugmaker and the World Health Organization.  The doses, which were donated by the mobile telecommunications network …

The U.S. space agency, NASA, Monday received images and data confirming its small helicopter, Ingenuity, successfully performed the first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on a planet other than Earth. Scientists in the control room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology burst into applause and …

India’s Health Ministry Monday announced a record 273,810 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period. About 1 in 3 people tested for COVID-19 in the Indian capital of New Delhi recently returned a positive result, according to the city’s chief minister Sunday. “The bigger worry is that in last 24 hours …

A company in Wales has found a way to repurpose discarded personal protective equipment, or PPE, to help keep it out of landfills amid the coronavirus pandemic. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

China and the United States, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, have reached a new agreement to take urgent measures to curb climate change.The two countries said in a joint statement late Saturday that they “are committed to cooperating with each other” and other nations to deal with the climate …

NASA hopes to score a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment on Monday as it attempts to send a miniature helicopter buzzing over the surface of Mars in what would be the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.Landmark achievements in science and technology can seem humble by conventional …

With nearly 60% of its population receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine, Israel is lifting its requirement Sunday to wear masks outdoors. The mask mandate remains in place, however, for enclosed spaces.Beginning April 24, France will require all travelers from Brazil to quarantine for 10 days.Brazil has 13.9 million COVID cases, …

Nearly 700 patients were evacuated Saturday from Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, where a fire blazed through parts of the facility in South Africa’s largest city.No injuries or casualties have been reported. The fire has been contained but the hospital has been closed for seven days, said David Makhura, premier of …

The United States and China are “committed to cooperating” on the pressing issue of climate change, the two sides said in a joint statement Saturday, following a visit to Shanghai by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.”The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other …

The 300-million-year-old shark’s teeth were the first sign that it might be a distinct species.The ancient chompers looked less like the spearlike rows of teeth of related species. They were squatter and shorter, less than an inch long, around 2 centimeters.”Great for grasping and crushing prey rather than piercing prey,” …

The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 cases are increasing globally at a worrying rate, with the number of new cases doubling each week, a pace approaching the highest rate of infection since the pandemic began.The WHO said Friday there were 541,960 new cases in the past week. On …

Nigerian authorities are stepping up efforts to vaccinate more people against COVID-19 after a slow rollout blamed on misinformation. Authorities aim to vaccinate over 80 million Nigerians by year’s end but are running far behind schedule.  An Abuja vaccination center, which opened March 16, one week after Nigeria’s official vaccine rollout, …

One Tyrannosaurus rex seems scary enough. Now picture 2.5 billion of them. That’s how many of the fierce dinosaur king probably roamed Earth over the course of a couple million years, a new study finds.Using calculations based on body size, sexual maturity and the creatures’ energy needs, a team at …

Health officials in India said they counted more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, an all-time daily high for the South Asian nation.The surge in cases has India scrambling to find hospital beds and oxygen. The escalating tally has also forced India, a major vaccine producer, to delay global shipments …

The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Thursday that the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in Yemen is getting even worse with the COVID-19 pandemic “roaring back” in recent weeks as the Arab world’s poorest country faces a large-scale famine.In a grim update to the U.N. Security Council, Mark Lowcock said tens of …

It has been 30 years or so since residents in New Mexico’s largest city last saw their stretch of the Rio Grande go dry. There’s a possibility it could happen again this summer. Federal water managers released their annual operating plan for the Rio Grande on Thursday, and it doesn’t look good. …

Nigerian authorities are stepping up efforts to vaccinate more people against COVID-19 after a slow rollout blamed on misinformation. Authorities aim to vaccinate over 80 million Nigerians by year’s end but are running far behind schedule. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. Camera: Emekas Gibson …

Zimbabwe’s government this month reported nearly 5,000 teenage pregnancies in January and February — a major jump from previous years. Advocates are blaming the rise on coronavirus lockdowns and poverty. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe              …

The World Health Organization says that raising taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products is the smartest and best way to save lives and save billions of dollars in health expenditures.An estimated eight million people die prematurely every year from tobacco-related illnesses, such as emphysema and lung cancer. Furthermore, the …