Europe: Report highlights direct link between pandemic and childhood obesity
Results from 17 countries showed that boys and girls aged seven to nine spent more time looking at screens and less time playing outside, mirroring an increase in overweight children in this same age range. More than 50,000 children were…
Gazans on tenterhooks awaiting news of ceasefire call
“One-third of all the families who live here have children under five, so many babies, so many kids,” said Matthew Hollingworth, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Palestine Country Director, speaking from a school in Deir Al Balah, run by the…
Palestine: General Assembly discusses failed UN membership bid
A 2022 initiative, resolution76/262, calls for the UN’s most representative body to meet within 10 days if the veto is used in the Security Council by one of its permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the…
Ukrainian woman, 98, escapes Russian-occupied home on foot with slippers, cane
KYIV, Ukraine — A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were…
Open-source intel offers glimpse of war casualty figures Russia is trying to hide
The number of Russian soldiers killed in combat since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine remains a secret that the Kremlin goes to great lengths to hide. However, open-source research has recently yielded figures that show Moscow’s losses…
Kenya’s Ruto orders evacuations after deadly floods
Mai Mahiu, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday deployed the military to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas in a nation where 171 people have been killed since March by torrential rains. Seasonal rains, amplified by the El…
Survey: US consumer confidence at lowest level since 2022
Washington — U.S. consumers appear less optimistic about the jobs market and more worried about future financial conditions, bringing a closely watched confidence metric to its lowest level since July 2022, a survey showed Tuesday. The consumer confidence index fell…
G7 ministers: Energy storage is key to global renewable goals
Paris, France — G7 environment ministers committed on Tuesday to ramp up the production and deployment of battery storage technology, an essential component for increasing renewable energy and combating climate change. Here is how and why batteries play a vital…
Chinese scientist who first published COVID sequence stages protest after being locked out of lab
SHANGHAI — The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China staged a sit-in protest outside his lab after authorities locked him out of the facility — a sign of the Beijing’s continuing pressure on scientists…
LogOn: Nigerian Artist Creates AI Fashion Show for Elderly
Images of African senior citizens walking a fashion runway created a buzz on social media, with AI-generated pictures challenging traditional depictions of elderly Africans. VOA’s Karina Choudhury has all the looks in this week’s episode of LogOn. Videographer: Samuel Okocha…