Governments have pledged nearly $10 billion toward an international fund meant to help poor nations tackle climate change, France’s finance minister said Friday.Bruno Le Maire, speaking at a conference in Paris set to replenish the Green Climate Fund, said “it’s a great success” that he attributed largely to European countries, noting that almost half of the amount is being provided by France, Germany and Britain alone.   “Many countries will double their contributions and bring twice more than what they had given at the creation of the fund,” Le Maire said.The South Korea-based fund, which provides money to help developing countries reduce their emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change, says it has nearly exhausted some $7 billion received following an initial funding round five years ago.U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold $2 billion of the $3 billion pledged by his predecessor, Barack Obama, has contributed to …

Climate change continues leaving its mark on the world’s oceans.  Water levels are rising along with temperatures.  Warmer waters supercharge some marine life’s reproduction rates, putting other species’ very survival at risk. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi takes us under the sea. …

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday proposed a $454 billion plan over 10 years to help shift the United States away from gasoline-powered cars and trucks by offering cash vouchers to help Americans buy cleaner vehicles.    The New York Democrat said in a statement that his plan, which would provide rebates of $3,000 or more to individual buyers, would help transition 25% of the U.S. fleet, or 63 million vehicles, away from traditional internal combustion-engine vehicles within 10 years.    The plan would be key to reducing the impact of climate change, Schumer said, noting that the transportation sector accounts for nearly one-third of U.S. carbon output.  FILE – A model holds the power cable that charges the new electric Audi e-tron Quatro, displayed at the e-Motor show in Beirut, Lebanon, April 11, 2019.The plan would award $392 billion in subsidies for owners of gasoline-powered vehicles at least eight years old and in driving condition …

When Nanticha “Lynn” Ocharoenchai organized Thailand’s first climate strike in March, more than half of the 50 people who showed up at the rally in Bangkok were students at international schools and expatriates.    The same day, Ralyn “Lilly” Satidtanasarn, then age 11, and a group of fellow pupils submitted an open letter to the prime minister, calling for urgent action on climate change.    “The fact that Lilly and I can do this draws a lot from being in international schools,” said Lynn, 21.    There they received classes on the environment, whereas most Thai state schools do not teach the subject, Lynn noted in an interview a week after graduating from Chulalongkorn University.  FILE – Environmental activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden addresses the Climate Action Summit at the U.N. General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 23, 2019.The young pair are often said to be Thailand’s version of Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish activist …

For a strange little lemur native to Madagascar that boasts one of the most unusual hands in the animal kingdom, a “high five” is more like a “trick six.”Scientists have discovered that this nocturnal tree dweller, called an aye-aye, possesses an anatomical structure that serves as an extra thumb to go along with its five spindly fingers, an evolutionary innovation helpful for grasping small objects and branches.This “pseudothumb,” as North Carolina State University biologist Adam Hartstone-Rose calls it, represents one of the few examples since the very first land-dwelling vertebrates appeared almost 400 million years ago of a creature acquiring through evolution the equivalent of an extra digit.It is not an actual finger, but rather an evolutionary improvisation that builds on the wrist structure, with an augmented wrist bone accompanied by a cartilaginous extension, three muscles that move it and even a fingerprint. The pseudothumb is strong, able to exert …

The World Health Organization welcomed an “historic step” towards a polio-free world on Thursday as an expert panel certified that the second of three types of the crippling virus has been eradicated globally.The announcement by the Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication means that only wild polio virus type 1 is still circulating, after type 2 was declared eradicated in 2015, and type 3 this week.Global polio cases have been cut by more than 99% since 1988, but type 1 polio virus is still endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it has infected a total of 88 people this year. That is a resurgence from a record low global annual figure of 22 cases in 2017.”The eradication of wild polio virus type 3 is a major milestone towards a polio-free world, but we cannot relax,” said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.Seth Berkley, chief executive of …

Ending polio has been a long haul. The global campaign to eradicate the virus has been going on since 1988, and while it’s close, it’s not over. Sometime in 2020, Africa may be declared polio-free. But the disease is hanging on stubbornly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and as long as it hangs on, it can spread around the globe.The effort to end polio started more than 30 years ago. It’s been a massive program that relies on global funding, countless volunteer vaccinators, negotiations with political and religious leaders and parents. Vaccinators sometimes work in conflict zones, all to save lives and prevent lifelong disability.Polio cases down 99.9%In Kenya, facts about polio and the vaccine are taught in schools. Children are even taught what to tell their parents.The international effort has seen the polio cases drop by 99.9%. Nigeria had its last case more than three years ago. It’s possible that …

The U.S. government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged Wednesday to jointly invest $200 million over the next four years to achieve affordable gene therapy-based cures for sickle cell disease (SCD) and HIV.The administration of President Donald Trump announced earlier this year its intention to end the HIV epidemic over the next decade and has also identified SCD, which disproportionately affects people of African descent, as a condition requiring greater attention.Gene therapy is a relatively new area of medicine designed to replace faulty genes in the body that are responsible for a disorder, and has been responsible for new treatments for blindness and certain types of leukemia.But the treatments are complex and costly, ruling them out as an option for most of the world.Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said the collaboration would focus therefore on “access, scalability and affordability” to make sure the eventual …

Melania Trump is marking the one-year anniversary of a federal law that that increases access to treatment for people addicted to opioids.The first lady made her only solo trip to Capitol Hill so far to thank Congress for passing the bipartisan SUPPORT Act her husband signed into law a year ago. She said that because of the law, “we are able to look at ways to reduce opioid use during pregnancy.”Melania Trump to Focus on Opioids, Newborns in Hospital Tour First lady Melania Trump will travel to Philadelphia to meet with families of children who were affected by exposure to opioids while in the womb.   Mrs. Trump is being joined on her Wednesday visit to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.   The hospital has provided care to mothers with opioid use disorder and their newborn children for more than 45 years. …

The World Health Organization says Zambia has reported its first local case of polio since 1995, in a 2-year-old boy paralyzed by a virus derived from the vaccine.In a report this week, WHO said the case was detected on the border with Congo, which has reported 37 cases of polio traced to the vaccine this year. The U.N. health agency said there is no established link between the Zambia case and the ongoing Congo outbreak but said increased surveillance and vaccination efforts are needed, warning that “there is a potential for international spread.”In rare cases, the live virus in oral polio vaccine can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks.Nine African countries are currently battling polio epidemics linked to the vaccine as WHO and partners struggle to keep their efforts to eradicate polio on track. Elsewhere, cases have been reported in China, Myanmar and the Philippines.On Thursday, WHO …

Ten years ago, Nigeria accounted for half of the world’s polio cases, but following an aggressive vaccination program, the African nation is on the verge of being declared polio-free. Despite the milestone, Nigeria’s many polio survivors are left to struggle with their disabilities, although one survivor has found a way to provide support and hope for thousands. At the age of five, Ayuba Gufwan contracted polio, which led to paralysis in both legs.Like other polio survivors, he struggled but eventually made it through school and became a lawyer.After graduating, he opened “The Beautiful Gate Handicapped People’s Center,” which manufactures wheelchairs that are distributed for free to other polio survivors. Gufwan says his goal is to close the gap between polio eradication and rehabilitation of survivors.”We discovered then and even now that the focus of polio eradication is prevention-centered. There was little or nothing that was done to take care and to …

For the first time, U.S. health regulators have judged a type of smokeless tobacco to be less harmful than cigarettes, a decision that could open the door to other less risky options for smokers.The milestone announcement on Tuesday makes Swedish Match tobacco pouches the first so-called reduced-risk tobacco product ever sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration.FDA regulators stressed that their decision does not mean the pouches are safe, just less harmful, and that all tobacco products pose risks. The pouches will still bear mandatory government warnings that they can cause mouth cancer, gum disease and tooth loss.But the company will be able to advertise its tobacco pouches as posing a lower risk of lung cancer, bronchitis, heart disease and other diseases than cigarettes.The pouches of ground tobacco, called snus — Swedish for snuff and pronounced “snoose” — have been popular in Scandinavian countries for decades but are a tiny …