The Indian capital’s severe air pollution, which has failed to improve despite efforts, is prompting a small but growing number of people to leave New Delhi to escape the health hazards posed by dirty air. Many are relocating to the western coastal city of Goa, which has witnessed an influx of what are being called pollution migrants. Anjana Pasricha spoke to two families on why they decided to quit the capital. Video: P. Pallavi
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The World Health Organization says that in Zambia over 70% of men and over 30% of women are drinking too much, too often. Some nonprofit organizations are intervening to help those on the path to recovery from alcohol addiction. Kathy Short reports from Lusaka, Zambia. Video editor: Elias Chulu
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A secondary school dropout from rural Malawi has brought electricity to his community using what he says is a groundbreaking air-powered generator, bypassing use of fuel, oil or batteries. Experts have questions about how the system works, but Malawi’s government is pledging support. Lameck Masina reports from Dowa District.
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SAVANNAH, Ga. — A company’s plan to mine minerals near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge neared final approval Friday as regulators in the U.S. state of Georgia released draft permits for the project, which opponents say could irreparably harm a natural treasure.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division said it will take public comments on the draft permits for 30 days before working up final versions to send to the agency’s director for approval.

Twin Pines Minerals of Birmingham, Alabama, has worked since 2019 to obtain government permits to mine titanium dioxide less than 4.8 kilometers from the southeastern boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest U.S. refuge east of the Mississippi River.

Federal scientists have warned that mining near the Okefenokee’s bowl-like rim could damage the swamp’s ability to hold water. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022 declared the proposed mine poses an “unacceptable risk” to the fragile ecosystem at the Georgia-Florida line.

“This is a dark day in Georgia’s history,” said Josh Marks, an Atlanta environmental attorney and leader of the group Georgians for the Okefenokee. “EPD may have signed a death warrant for the Okefenokee Swamp, our state’s greatest natural treasure.”

In documents released Friday, state regulators echoed past comments that their analysis shows the proposed 312-hectare mine won’t significantly harm the Okefenokee or lower its water levels.

“EPD’s models demonstrate that the mine should have a minimal impact” on the Okefenokee refuge, the agency said, “even during drought periods.”

Twin Pines President Steve Ingle applauded regulators’ decision to move forward after what he called a “thorough evaluation of our application.”

Ingle has insisted for years that his company can mine without hurting the Okefenokee.

“We expect stringent government oversight of our mining-to-reclamation project, which will be fully protective of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the region’s environment,” Ingle said in a statement.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge covers nearly 1,630 square kilometers in southeast Georgia and is home to alligators, bald eagles and other protected species. The swamp’s wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw roughly 600,000 visitors each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge.

In February 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote that the proposed mine could pose “substantial risks” to the swamp, including its ability to hold water. Some impacts, it said, “may not be able to be reversed, repaired, or mitigated for.”

C. Rhett Jackson, a hydrology professor at the University of Georgia, warned state regulators in a written analysis that the mining pits planned by Twin Pines would siphon off enough groundwater to triple the frequency and duration of severe droughts in the swamp’s southeast corner.

Georgia regulators have an outsized role in deciding whether to approve the mine because the U.S. government, which normally considers environmental permits in tandem with state agencies, relinquished oversight of the Twin Pines project.

The Army Corps of Engineers was reviewing a federal permit for Twin Pines when the agency declared in 2020 that it no longer had jurisdiction authority because of regulatory rollbacks under then-President Donald Trump. Despite efforts by President Joe Biden to restore federal oversight, the Army Corps entered a legal agreement with Twin Pines to maintain its hands-off position.

The mining project is moving forward as the National Park Service seeks designation of the Okefenokee wildlife refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Conservation groups say the rare distinction would boost the Okefenokee’s profile as one of the world’s last intact blackwater swamps and home to more than 400 animal species.

The draft permits were released barely two weeks after Twin Pines agreed to pay a $20,000 fine ordered by Georgia regulators, who said the company violated state laws while collecting soil samples for its permit application.

Twin Pines denied wrongdoing, but said it agreed to the fine to avoid further permitting delays.

“It is inconceivable to anyone who actually values Georgia’s environment to claim that this mine will not harm the critically important wetlands and wildlife of the Okefenokee ecosystem,” Ben Prater, southeast director for the group Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. He added: EPD has one job. It must deny the permits.”

Some House lawmakers In the Georgia legislature are again pushing a bill that would ban future mining outside the Okefenokee. The proposal got a hearing last year, but has stalled in a House committee. While the measure wouldn’t stop Twin Pines from obtaining permits already pending, it would prohibit expansion of the company’s mining operation if it became law.
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SAN FRANCISCO — A bounty of 10 African penguin chicks has hatched in just over a year at a San Francisco science museum as part of an effort to conserve the endangered bird.

The penguins began hatching in November 2022, ending a four-year period without any new chicks, and continued through January of this year, the California Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday.

African penguins have dwindled to 9,000 breeding pairs in the wild, the academy said in a statement.

Threats such as overfishing, habitat degradation and oil spills have reduced colonies of the charismatic black-and-white birds, said Brenda Melton, director of animal care and well-being at the museum’s Steinhart Aquarium.

“Every chick we welcome strengthens the genetics and overall population of the species in human care,” she said.

Chicks spend their first three weeks with their penguin parents in a nest box. They then attend “fish school,” where they learn to swim on their own and eat fish provided by biologists. Once ready, they are introduced to the colony.

The 21 penguins at the museum in Golden Gate Park have distinct personalities and are identifiable by their flipper bands, according to the academy’s website.

Opal is the oldest and, at age 36, has perfected the ability to catch fish in mid-air. Her partner, Pete, is a messy eater and a flirt.

Partners Stanlee and Bernie, who both like to bray, produced four of the 10 chicks, including Fyn, named for a type of vegetation found on the southern tip of Africa. Fyn is the youngest on exhibit and older sister to Nelson and Alice, both hatched in November.

Fyn often runs up to biologists when they enter the habitat and shakes her head at them — typical courtship behavior that chicks and juveniles commonly display toward people who have cared for them since hatching.

The youngest chick hatched January 12, and its sex has not yet been determined.

African penguins can live to be 27 years old in the wild, and longer in captivity.
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vancouver, british columbia — The Canadian government is delaying access to medically assisted death for people with mental illness.

Those suffering from mental illness were supposed to be able to access Medical Assistance in Dying — also known as MAID — starting March 17. The recent announcement by the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the second delay after original legislation authorizing the practice passed in 2021.

The delay came in response to a recommendation by a majority of the members of a committee made up of senators and members of Parliament.

One of the most high-profile proponents of MAID is British Columbia-based lawyer Chris Considine. In the mid-1990s, he represented Sue Rodriguez, who was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS.

Their bid for approval of a medically assisted death was rejected at the time by the Supreme Court of Canada. But a law passed in 2016 legalized euthanasia for individuals with terminal conditions. From then until 2022, more than 45,000 people chose to die.

Considine said he was in favor of postponing an extension of the law to those with mental illness because depression can have numerous reasons, such as poor housing or job prospects. He pointed to the difficulty many people face in getting timely psychiatric help.

He said pressure for the delay came from numerous parts of Canadian society.

“I think that there was pressure from a number of sources, including provincial governments in Canada, a number of them who felt that they could not provide the funding nor the resources for persons who are depressed to receive access to health care professionals, such as psychologists and psychiatrists,” he said.

Pamela Wallin, a former journalist, was one of three senators in the minority on the parliamentary committee. She told VOA that medical experts say they are ready, but not the politicians. She feels continuing the delay is cruel.

“But if you have a mental illness, no, no, no. We’ve already made you work and wait for three years on this, and we promised you it would be ready,” she said. “But now we’re going to make you wait another three years while we think about it some more. I’m just appalled that we would do this to people who are suffering in ways that many of us can’t even understand.”

Sally Thorne, a professor emeritus of nursing at the University of British Columbia, said if mentally ill people wish to apply for medical assistance in their deaths, they have to meet all the current requirements for people with physical ailments whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but who have chronic and life-limiting conditions.

These requirements include evaluations by multiple doctors, including a specialist in a patient’s particular condition, being offered other methods of treatment, and a 90-day waiting period.

Thorne said she was not worried about the argument that those with mental disorders lack the ability to give consent.

“Because such people do, in our society, buy a house or sign consent for cardiac surgery or something like that. We do as a society understand that there’s a difference between having a mental illness and having the capacity to provide informed consent,” she said.

Thorne said it was an interesting paradox that those with mental illness who also have qualifying physical conditions can legally access medical assistance in dying.

Arthur Schafer, the founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, said the pressure for the latest pause was entirely expected and was misguided.

“I think when people are asking their opinion when the general public is there, assuming, ‘Hey, if you’re mentally ill, you won’t really know what you want, or you won’t be capable, or you may be temporarily depressed, and that makes you vulnerable.’ But that isn’t what will happen,” he said.

Nicole Scheidl, the executive director of Ottawa-based Physicians for Life, who is strongly opposed to euthanasia, said the idea of extending MAID to cover mental health sufferers should be abandoned permanently.

“Frankly, I think they should drop it,” she said. “I don’t see how there’s any medical evidence to show that they can produce clinical practical guidelines, practice guidelines, that would be useful.”

The Trudeau government has announced the delay will last until at least 2027. This will move the issue until after the next federal election, which must happen no later than October 20, 2025.
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Two titans of space travel team up to study our planet’s health. Plus, a Russian cosmonaut breaks the record for the most time in space, and sky gazers in North America will get a treat in coming months. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.
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Brazil is set to launch a public mass vaccination campaign against dengue fever, amid a surge of cases nationwide. According to the country’s Health Ministry, Brazil has seen nearly five times more cases in the first five weeks of this year than in the same period in 2023. From Sao Paulo, Yan Boechat has the story.
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SYDNEY — A new study finds that marine heatwaves are changing the base of the marine food chain, disrupting ecosystems and potentially global food supplies.

Researchers in the investigation led by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, say their work has global implications.

The study monitored the health of microorganisms that lie at the base of the marine food chain. The survey is part of a long-term project spanning 12 years.

Tiny phytoplankton species developed smaller cells that are not easily consumed by larger animals. Researchers believe this could potentially have “profound changes all the way up the food chain.”

There could also be impacts on the ability of marine ecosystems to absorb – or sequester – carbon and the size of fish stocks.

The study’s lead author Mark Brown tells VOA that the study has far-reaching implications.

“This really is a global issue. Everywhere around the world is experiencing heatwaves. Even the warmest places like the Red Sea are pushing their temperatures higher and higher than the longterm average,” Brown said. “Places like the Arctic and the Antarctic can have marine heatwaves and those might be the places where it is really important to study because any changes to those large polar ecosystems will really have (a) significant impact on the global food stocks.”

Marine heatwaves involve extended periods of abnormally warm ocean water.

Scientists warn they can have significant impacts on marine life, including fish, coral reefs and kelp forests.

The basis of the research by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization was a marine heatwave in the Tasman Sea off the island state of Tasmania in 2015 to 2016.

The CSIRO team found that the extreme conditions “transformed the microbial community” to resemble those found in far warmer waters 1,000 kilometers to the north.

The CSIRO team says that climate change is intensifying the impact of marine heatwaves, which can also be influenced by naturally occurring weather phenomena, including the El Niño pattern.

Brown says while the organisms they study are small, their importance is huge.

“They are minuscule, and you cannot see them with the naked eye,” he said. “So, all these things are invisible. Just like your gut microbes enable you to have a healthy ecosystem in your body and turn nutrients into energy etcetera, the same processes occur in the ocean, but it is very difficult to study. So, this is why we need to use genomic techniques, DNA sequencing etcetera in order to really analyze what is there.”

The CSIRO findings have been published in the journal Nature’s Communications Biology.
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