Some 640,000 tons of lost fishing gear pollute the world’s oceans, according to the United Nations. Slow to break down, these so-called “ghost nets” take a huge toll on sea creatures from tiny sponges to dolphins, turtles and whales. A …
A spike in suicide rates in the United States has cast fresh light on the need for more effective treatments for major depression, with researchers saying it is a tricky development area that has largely been abandoned by big pharmaceutical companies. U.S. health …
Health officials say a salmonella outbreak linked to pre-cut melon has sickened 60 people in five Midwestern states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Caito Foods LLC on Friday recalled pre-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and fruit medleys …
Prime Minister Theresa May will gather together squabbling British ministers at her country residence after this month’s European Union summit to settle on details of a much-anticipated Brexit policy paper. May has yet to agree on some of the fundamental details of what type …
More people are committing suicide than ever before, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports, but suicide isn’t uniquely an American issue. The World Health Organization estimates that every 40 seconds, someone in the world ends his or her life. …
U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had instructed his representatives not to sign a communique by all seven leaders attending the G-7 summit in Canada, citing statements by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made after he left. “Very dishonest …
French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policy is viewed as favoring the rich and must change to address inequalities, according to a memo written by three economists who worked on his campaign program, Le Monde newspaper said on Saturday. The criticism …
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has agreed to pay a $530 million fine for breaching anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws. The scandal relates to more than 53,000 suspect transactions that the bank did not immediately report to authorities. If approved by …
Pope Francis has told the world’s oil executives that a transition to less-polluting energy sources “is a challenge of epochal proportions.” On the last day of a two-day conference Saturday, the Roman Catholic leader urged the executives to provide electricity …
Microplastics, the tiny particles of plastic from decaying waste in the world’s oceans, have been found in seawater and snow in Antarctica. It had been hoped that the frozen continent was protected from the soaring levels of plastic waste in …
Shoppers in the Afghan capital are going online for everything from fashion to furniture to avoid bomb attacks and sexual harassment, with dozens of startups doing a brisk trade where there were few on the ground two years ago. Suicide …
Earthquakes happen frequently in Italy, but the famous leaning tower in Pisa still stands, puzzling scientists. An earthquake expert from University of Bristol thinks he knows why. VOA’s George Putic has more. …
Drones guided by artificial intelligence to catch boats netting fish where they shouldn’t were among the winners of a marine protection award on Friday and could soon be deployed to fight illegal fishing, organizers said. The award-winning project aims to …
The very thought of visiting a hospital emergency department is stressful enough for many people, even without the discomfort or pain of an examination or treatment. Enter an immersive virtual-reality program created by three graduates being used in France to relax …
Efforts to fight suicide in the United States are desperate for additional funding, suicide-prevention experts said, following this week’s high profile deaths of celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, and new statistics showing a growing problem. Federal funding for suicide …
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is cautiously optimistic about containing the spread of the Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of Congo, but warns that much work lies ahead. Thirty eight of 62 suspected cases have been confirmed. Of …
A growing number of e-cigarette and vaporizer sellers have started offering college scholarships as a way to get their brands listed on university websites and to get students to write essays about the potential benefits of vaping. The tactic is …
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been signaling his desire to open up the reclusive state’s economy, ushering in what some analysts believe could be a “reform and opening up era” similar to what happened in China four decades …
China’s trade surplus with the United States rose to $24.58 billion in May, from $22.15 billion in April, according to Chinese customs data published Friday. China’s export growth in May was 12.6 percent, slightly down from 12.9 percent in April, …
Just less than $6 billion worth of U.S. waste was sent to China last year to be converted into packaging and products, and then shipped back to the United States and other markets. Scrap recyclers had taken advantage of low …
As summer draws near in the Northern Hemisphere, millions of people will slather on sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun’s harmful rays. But most sunscreens contain chemicals harmful to the oceans. Now researchers in London have developed a compound …
North Korea’s senior leadership has been exploiting loopholes in international sanctions to obtain the U.S. technology that Pyongyang uses to conduct “destructive cyber operations,” according to a global cyberthreat intelligence company. Recorded Future, based in Massachusetts, found that while export …
Growing up on Mount Boutmezguida in southwest Morocco on the edge of the Sahara desert, Khadija Ghouate never imagined that the fog enveloping the nearby peaks would change her life. For hours every day and often before sunrise, Ghouate and …
Ukraine’s parliament has voted to establish an anti-corruption court in an effort to meet the criteria to receive $17.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund. Before the IMF releases the funds needed to shore up Ukraine’s struggling economy, it …