Tokyo, Japan — Japan’s SLIM space probe entered the moon’s orbit Monday in a major step toward the country’s first successful lunar landing, expected next month. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” because it is designed to land within 100 meters (328 feet) of a specific target on the lunar surface. If successful, the touchdown would make Japan only the fifth country to have successfully landed a probe on the moon, after the United States, Russia, China and India.   On Monday, SLIM “successfully entered the moon’s orbit at 04:51 p.m. Japan time” (0751 GMT), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement released Monday evening.   “Its’ trajectory shift was achieved as originally planned, and there is nothing out of the ordinary about the probe’s conditions,” the agency said. The lander’s descent toward the moon is expected to start around 12:00 a.m. …

2023 demolished temperature records worldwide. It was the hottest year on record, and some scientists say the hottest in 125,000 years. Those supercharged temperatures helped drive a series of climate disasters around the world. VOA’s Steve Baragona has a look back. …

KYIV, Ukraine — When Alexis Cholas lost his right arm as a volunteer combat medic near the front lines in eastern Ukraine, his civilian career as a surgeon was over. But thanks to a new bionic arm, he was able to continue working in health care and is now a rehab specialist helping other amputees. The 26-year-old is delighted with his sleek black robotic arm — he described it as “love at first sight” — and realizes how lucky he was to get one. “There are fewer (bionic) arms available than lost ones,” Cholas said. Russia’s war on Ukraine has created a massive need for prosthetic limbs. An estimated 20,000 Ukrainians have had amputations since the war started in February 2022, many of them soldiers who lost arms or legs due to blast wounds. Only a small number was able to receive bionic prostheses, which are more advanced and can provide …

PORTLAND, Maine — Unfounded claims about offshore wind threatening whales have surfaced as a flashpoint in the fight over the future of renewable energy. In recent months, conservatives including former President Donald Trump have claimed construction of offshore wind turbines is killing the giant animals. Scientists say there is no credible evidence linking offshore wind farms to whale deaths. But that hasn’t stopped conservative groups and ad hoc “not in my back yard”-style anti-development groups from making the connection. The Associated Press sorts fact from fiction when it comes to whales and wind power as the rare North Atlantic right whale’s migration season gets under way: Where are US offshore wind projects? To date, two commercial offshore wind farms are under construction in the United States. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource are building South Fork Wind, located 56 kilometers east of Montauk Point, New York. Ørsted announced …

SYDNEY — Australia’s national weather agency on Saturday warned of extreme to severe heatwave conditions over northern parts of the country through Sunday. A lower-intensity heatwave is expected for much of the east coast starting Tuesday. The heatwaves continue the scorching start of summer in Australia. In early December, a heatwave warning affected areas in every state and territory, with the exception of Tasmania. Weather is considered a heatwave when the maximum and minimum temperatures are unusually hot over three days. Local councils in Sydney are setting up heat shelters to help residents escape the punishing conditions. Temperatures in Australia’s largest city already have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). “In Western Sydney … the temperatures in the last 10, 20 years in particular have been increasing substantially,” said Tony Bleasdale, mayor of Blacktown, which is in Sydney’s western suburbs. Blacktown has set up shelters in libraries and other council buildings. …

ISLAMABAD — Only 12 children around the world have been paralyzed by wild poliovirus so far this year, all of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan — with six reported in each. They are the last two countries in which the highly infectious disease still exists. Moreover, the World Health Organization has warned that the countries’ vaccination programs continue to miss a large number of children, posing a significant risk to gains made against the crippling wild Type 1 poliovirus. In addition, Pakistan’s campaign to repatriate undocumented Afghans has increased the risk of cross-border poliovirus spread and spread within the two countries, the WHO said in a statement Friday. Since mid-September, nearly half a million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, escaping the crackdown on foreigners living illegally in Pakistan. The number of returning Afghans is expected to reach 1.7 million. Pakistani officials have reported a sharp increase in environmental detections lately, documenting …

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Coral Springs, florida — Joyce Loaiza lives alone, but when she returns to her apartment at a Florida senior community, the retired office worker often has a chat with a friendly female voice that asks about her day. A few miles away, the same voice comforted Deanna Dezern, 83, when her friend died. In central New York, it plays games and music for Marie Broadbent, 92, who is blind and in hospice, and in Washington state, it helps Jan Worrell, 83, make new friends. The women are some of the first in the country to receive the robot ElliQ, whose creators, Intuition Robotics, and senior assistance officials say is the only device using artificial intelligence specifically designed to alleviate the loneliness and isolation experienced by many older Americans. “It’s entertaining. You can actually talk to her,” said Loaiza, 81, whose ElliQ in suburban Fort Lauderdale nicknamed her “Jellybean” for no particular …

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new york — Look for flu and COVID-19 infections to ramp up in the coming weeks, U.S. health officials say, with increases fueled by holiday gatherings, too many unvaccinated people and a new version of the coronavirus that may be spreading more easily.  High levels of flu-like illnesses were reported last week in 17 states — up from 14 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.  “Folks are traveling a lot more this season. They want to see their families,” said the CDC’s Dr. Manisha Patel. “And all of that sort of adds to the mix” in the spread of viruses.  Health officials are keeping an eye on a version of the ever-evolving coronavirus known as JN.1. The omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. in September and now accounts for an estimated 20% of cases. The CDC expects it to reach 50% in the …

Christmas for many is a time of family togetherness and good cheer, but for older adults, it can too often be one of the year’s loneliest days. Age UK, a charity group that deals with ageism and the problems of this demographic, says people can take simple steps to help. Umberto Aguiar has more from London in this report narrated by Elizabeth Cherneff. …

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PARIS — Bird flu is likely to spread further in the Antarctic region, causing immense damage to wildlife, according to experts on the highly contagious disease that has killed hundreds of millions of birds worldwide in recent years. The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, commonly called bird flu, to the remote southern region has raised concerns for isolated populations of species, including penguins and seals, that have never been exposed to the virus. The H5 strain of the virus was detected in the region on October 8 in a brown skua on Bird Island, part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, according to a report by OFFLU, which gathers experts from the World Organization of Animal Health and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Around the same time, the virus was detected in fulmars and albatrosses in the nearby Falkland Islands. …

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — Malawi, which already is suffering from food shortages, this week banned the import of unmilled maize from Kenya and Tanzania over concerns that the spread of maize lethal necrosis disease could wipe out the staple food. The ministry of agriculture announced the ban in a statement that said the disease has no treatment and can cause up to 100% yield loss. The statement said maize can be imported only after it is milled, either as flour or grit. Henry Kamkwamba, an agriculture expert with the International Food Policy Research Institute, told VOA that if the disease were introduced into the country, it would be difficult to contain. He used the banana bunchy top virus as an example of the potential danger. “Think of how we lost all of our traditional bananas in the past and now Malawi is a net importer of bananas … due to our lax …

SANTA FE, N.M. — Like Christmas trees, Santa and reindeer, the poinsettia has long been a ubiquitous symbol of the holiday season in the U.S. and across Europe. But now, nearly 200 years after the plant with the bright crimson leaves was introduced in the U.S., attention is once again turning to the poinsettia’s origins and the checkered history of its namesake, a slaveowner and lawmaker who played a part in the forced removal of Native Americans from their land. Some people would now rather call the plant by the name of its Indigenous origin in southern Mexico. Some things to know: Where did the name poinsettia come from? The name comes from the amateur botanist and statesman Joel Roberts Poinsett, who happened upon the plant in 1828 during his tenure as the first U.S. minister to the newly independent Mexico. Poinsett, who was interested in science as well as potential …

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Injecting billions of dollars into green solutions to fight climate change has been a top priority of the Biden administration in 2023. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at this year’s achievements and setbacks in the president’s environmental agenda. …