From the president of Mozambique to the US Secretary of Commerce, greater US economic engagement in Africa is the dominant theme at this year’s business summit organized by the Corporate Council on Africa. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo was there and reports. …
your ad hereGreat Wall Restored as It Was Built, With Bricks and Simple Tools
At one of the most treacherous and least restored stretches of China’s Great Wall, a line of pack mules halted upon emerging from the gloom of a dense forest draped in mist and dew. Laden with 150 kg (330 pounds) of bricks each, the seven animals finally began moving in …
your ad hereUS Moves to Seize DiCaprio’s Picasso, ‘Stolen’ Funds in 1MDB Case
U.S. authorities moved on Thursday to seize a Picasso painting given to American movie star Leonardo DiCaprio and the rights to two Hollywood comedies, as they filed complaints to recover about $540 million they say was stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund. The U.S. Justice Department filing …
your ad hereWhite House Lacks Plan to Address Debt Ceiling
The White House lacks a unified plan to increase the government’s borrowing cap as a likely September deadline is drawing near, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget. A failure by Congress to raise the debt ceiling could send dangerous shock waves through the global economy. …
your ad hereMilitary-linked Business Enterprises Dominate in Cuba
American tourists strolling the ample squares and narrow streets of colonial Havana may not know it, but from novelist Ernest Hemingway’s famed Floridita bar to Sloppy Joe’s eatery, they are probably patronizing businesses owned by Cuba’s military. It is that lucrative line of business that President Donald Trump will target …
your ad hereStudy: Three Mutations Could Make Bird Flu a Potential Pandemic
Scientists have identified three mutations that, if they occurred at the same time in nature, could turn a strain of bird flu now circulating in China into a potential pandemic virus that could spread among people. The flu strain, known as H7N9, now mostly infects birds but it has infected …
your ad hereIndonesia Plows Ahead on Fisheries Protection, Despite Resource Constraints
Foreign fishing in Indonesian waters has long been a concern for the government, for which it has recently taken a literally explosive approach: blowing up illicit fishing boats. But the country’s wildly popular Minister of Marine Affairs lobbied the United Nations last week to declare illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing …
your ad hereVideo Game Helps Unlock Animal Vision, Camouflage Secrets
Like many online video games, the one developed by scientists at the University of Exeter challenges players to quickly find hidden objects, but with a twist. They’re not looking for gold or swords or magical mirrors in an imaginary universe, but for birds in real photos. And everyone who plays …
your ad hereTrump Administration Suspends Methane Gas Rules
The Trump administration is suspending regulations aimed at cutting dangerous methane gas emissions from oil and natural gas wells. The Interior Department is indefinitely putting on hold methane trapping rules imposed on wells on federal lands. The Senate rejected the suspension last month, prompting the department to act on its …
your ad hereFootsteps Through the Ancient Past in New Mexico
Strolling through a tranquil landscape of lush meadows and meandering streams in northern New Mexico, it was hard for national parks traveler Mikah Meyer to imagine that this area was once rocked by a violent force of nature. 1.25 million years ago, a supervolcano blew its top, creating a 21-kilometer …
your ad hereNo Longer the Hot New Thing? Teen Vaping Falls, Study says
Teen vaping, which has been skyrocketing, fell dramatically last year in the United States. A government survey released Thursday suggests the number of high school and middle school students using electronic cigarettes fell to 2.2 million last year, from 3 million the year before. Health officials have worried …
your ad hereNew HIV Infections Climb Among Young Women in South Africa
Among the people socializing in a tavern in Alexandra township in Johannesburg is Karabo Sathekge, who asked that VOA not give her real name. She is a slight, attractive 19-year-old in a veil of an orange dress, defying the winter chill. Sathekge often meets one of her partners here. He …
your ad hereGreece Reaches Deal with European Lenders for Bailout Installment
Greece’s European lenders agreed Thursday to release another $9.5 billion of a desperately needed bailout installment, while holding out the hope of debt relief. All sides reached a deal in Luxembourg Thursday after months of often bitter negotiations. The European Union’s top economy official, France’s Pierre Moscovici, said Greece has …
your ad hereVitamin A Supplement May Thwart Tuberculosis Infection
Family members who live with someone with tuberculosis may be shielded against the highly infectious disease by taking vitamin A. A new study finds that many of those who develop TB are deficient in the nutrient. In a study of 6,000 people in Lima, Peru, researchers found that those …
your ad hereTrump’s Plan to Gut EPA Gets Cool Reception on Capitol Hill
Lawmakers concerned about curbing pollution and a warming planet gave a cool reception to President Donald Trump’s environmental chief on Thursday as he defended the administration’s proposal to sharply reduce the budget of his own agency. Scott Pruitt, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, appeared before a House Appropriations …
your ad hereMacron: France Must Be Country That ‘Thinks and Moves Like a Startup’
French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for a digital future on Thursday, saying he wants France to undergo a revolution so that it becomes a country that “thinks and moves like a startup.” Speaking at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Macron repeated he wanted to reform labor …
your ad herePhone App Helps Doctors With Talks About Opioids
A phone app is helping doctors have difficult conversations with patients about lowering doses of opioids. Primary care doctors prescribe nearly half the opioids dispensed in the U.S. They’re increasingly being called upon to stem the flow of the highly addictive pills into medicine cabinets. That means writing lower-dose or …
your ad hereFrom Bleeps of ‘Pong’ and ‘Mario,’ Game Music Comes of Age
The electronic bleeps and squawks of “Tetris,” “Donkey Kong” and other generation-shaping games that you may never have thought of as musical are increasingly likely to be playing at a philharmonic concert hall near you. From the “ping … ping” of Atari’s 1972 ground-breaking paddle game “Pong,” the sounds, infectious …
your ad hereFacebook Uses Artificial Intelligence to Fight Terrorism
Facebook has revealed it is using artificial intelligence in its ongoing fight to prevent terrorist propaganda from being disseminated on its platform. “We want to find terrorist content immediately, before people in our community have seen it,” read the message posted Thursday. “Already, the majority of accounts we remove for …
your ad hereReports: US Job Market Stronger, But Credit Card Bills Rising
New data show the U.S. job market becoming a bit stronger, while credit card costs are increasing for American consumers. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department says the number of newly-laid off workers signing up for assistance fell 8,000 last week to a nationwide total of 237,000. Experts say any …
your ad hereUS Senate Approves Russia Sanctions
The U.S. Senate voted 98-2 Thursday to approve sweeping sanctions against Russia and make it harder for President Donald Trump to ease punitive measures against Moscow. “We have no time to waste,” said Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. “The United States of America needs to send a strong message …
your ad hereOxygen-Producing Bacteria Could Help Heart Attack Sufferers
Photosynthetic bacteria and light may offer hope to heart disease patients, a new study suggests. Researchers at Stanford University say that after injecting the bacteria into the hearts of rats with cardiac disease and using light to start photosynthesis, they were able to increase the flow of oxygen, improving heart …
your ad hereVideo Game Shows Importance of Color Vision in Finding Prey
Animal researchers have used a video game to better understand the differences between animals that could see a wide range of colors and those that are color blind. After 30,000 volunteers played the game, the researchers got some surprising results. Faith Lapidus reports. …
your ad hereThai Local Communities Want Their Say in Fighting Pollution
Thailand’s industrial development faces fresh calls for greater local community participation in addressing the challenges of environmental pollution, especially as reports point to an escalation in the production of hazardous industrial pollution. Industrialization has been a core of Thailand’s economic progress over the past three decades as the country progressed …
your ad hereUS Central Bank Hikes Key Interest Rate Amid Weaker Than Expected Data
The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday amid concerns about sluggish growth, a slowdown in consumer spending and low inflation. But the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve says the one-quarter of 1 percent increase in the federal funds rate demonstrates the committee’s confidence in the overall …
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