Only seven countries met WHO air quality standards in 2024, data shows
Voice of America
FILE - A bird flies through a thick layer of smog in New Delhi, India, Nov. 20, 2024.
Only seven countries met World Health Organization air quality standards last year, data showed on Tuesday, as researchers warned that the war on smog would only get harder after the United States shut down its global monitoring efforts.
This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel shows damaged and burnt cars following a Ukrainian drone attack in Domodedovo, outside Moscow, Russia, on March 11, 2025.
FILE - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sits on his ceremonial chair after he arrived at the Tsuglakhang temple to give a sermon at the request of a Buddhist group from Taiwan in Dharamshala, India, Sept. 30, 2024.
FILE - A bird flies through a thick layer of smog in New Delhi, India, Nov. 20, 2024.
Russian documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky in 2023.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference on the sideline of the National People's Congress in Beijing, March 7, 2025.
FILE - Laborers carry sacks of ore at the SMB coltan mine near the town of Rubaya in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug. 13, 2019.
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman meets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the Royal Palace grounds in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 10, 2025. Deputy Governor of the Holy City of Mecca Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 10, 2025. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters)
Police try to detain a protesting exile Tibetan during a protest outside Chinese embassy to mark the 1959 uprising in Tibet against the Chinese rule on this day, in New Delhi, March, 10, 2025. Penpa Tsering, center, president of the Central Tibetan Administration, observes a minute's silence with others as they mark the 66th anniversary of an uprising in Tibetan capital Lhasa, at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, March 10, 2025.
FILE - Teachers lead vision tests on students at a school in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Oct. 12, 2016, aided in part by Sightsavers International. In recognition of International Women’s Day 2025, the charity called to close the gender employment gap, particularly for the disabled.
The British Embassy building is seen in Moscow, Russia, March 10, 2025.
FILE - Calin Georgescu and his wife Cristela Georgescu arrive at the Central Electoral Bureau where Georgescu submitted his candidacy for the May presidential ballot re-run, in Bucharest, March 7, 2025. Inquam (Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via Reuters)
Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025.
Painters apply liquid-applied membrane coating that, according to the authorities, helps bring down the temperature inside the shanties at a slum in Ahmedabad, India, Jan. 30, 2025.