Fitch Ratings has upgraded Greece’s credit rating from CCC to B-, a one-notch improvement that still leaves the bonds issued by the crisis-battered country well below investment grade. The ratings agency said Friday that the outlook of the Greek economy was positive and that it expected talks with the country’s …
your ad hereEntrepreneurs Hope Pence’s Latin America Trip Sparks Ideas
More public backing for innovation, more idea exchanges to nurture global trade and more stability. That’s what two transnational entrepreneurs hope will result from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s travels this week to Latin America, where he has promoted prosperity, security and democracy for the Americas. Liliana “Lili” Gil Valletta, …
your ad hereDeath Defying Trails No Deterrent to National Parks Traveler
As national parks traveler Mikah Meyer wrapped up the last leg of his journey across the western state of Utah, he appears to have saved the best for last — with visits to Bryce and Zion national parks — the last two of the five national parks that make up …
your ad hereNASA Launches Last of its Longtime Tracking Satellites
NASA launched the last of its longtime tracking and communication satellites Friday, a vital link to astronauts in orbit as well as the Hubble Space Telescope. The end of the era came with a morning liftoff of TDRS-M, the 13th satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network. It …
your ad hereOther-worldly Desert Landscapes
As national parks traveler Mikah Meyer wraps up the last leg of his journey across the western state of Utah, he appears to have saved the best for last – with visits to Bryce and Zion national parks — the last two of the five national parks that make up …
your ad hereAt Global Competition, Girls Push Frontiers of Technology
A group of Cambodian girls who recently traveled to California to compete in a mobile app competition offered inspiration for other girls worldwide to consider careers in technology. Their pitch in Silicon Valley wasn’t a bid to be the next billion-dollar company. Instead, they want to help their country with …
your ad hereCambodian Girl Coders Push Frontiers for Women in Tech
A group of young Cambodian girls recently took part in a mobile app competition for girl coders in California. Traveling from their home country to participate in the global competition, their story offers inspiration for other girls around the world to consider a career in tech. VOA’s Sophat Soeung reports …
your ad hereVietnam Dengue Cases Soar 42 Percent
Vietnam has been battling raging dengue fever outbreaks, with more than 10,000 new infections reported in the past week stretching its medical system. The number of admitted patients represents a 42 percent increase over the same period last year along with seven more deaths, the Ministry of Health said Friday. …
your ad hereIn North Korea, Rise of Consumer Culture is the Real Revolution
Like all North Korean adults, Song Un Pyol wears the faces of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather pinned neatly to her left lapel, above her heart. But on her right glitters a diamond-and-gold brooch. Song is what a success story in Kim Jong Un’s North Korea is …
your ad hereStudy Highlights Rise in Opioid Drug Cases
In what is being called the first study of its kind, medical researchers have attempted to quantify the rise in opioid-related admissions and deaths at U.S. hospitals. The team studied hospital records over a seven-year period, between 2009 and 2015. The results put numbers to a drug epidemic that is …
your ad hereBen’s Chili Bowl Appeals to Longtime DC Regulars, Newcomers Alike
America is the birthplace of fast food and many of the restaurants that serve it have gained famed and fortune worldwide. Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington is a neighborhood landmark. Its spicy sausages are loved by presidents, movie stars and locals. During its almost six-decade history, it has survived tough …
your ad hereAt NAFTA Talks, Businesses Eager to Say: Do No Harm
Steps away from this week’s NAFTA trade negotiations, business unified in hopes of sending a singular message: do no harm. Representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico convened behind closed doors at a Washington hotel in an effort to strike a new North American Free Trade Agreement. And not …
your ad hereOnline Companies Bar Far-Right Groups
They are being booted off or locked out of their websites. Some can no longer blog. Their electronic payment systems are being canceled. Even their music can’t be heard. For some white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, operating online has become much harder in the wake of last week’s “Unite the …
your ad here‘Use the Force, Disney’: Obi-Wan Kenobi to Get his Own ‘Star Wars’ Movie
Walt Disney Co. is developing a “Star Wars” standalone movie based on the beloved character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the wise and noble Jedi master, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety reported Thursday. The Hollywood trade publications cited unnamed sources as saying that the project was in the early stages of development …
your ad hereAuto Groups Side with Canada, Mexico on NAFTA Origin Rules
Auto industry groups from Canada, Mexico and the United States are pushing back against the Trump administration’s demand for higher U.S. automotive content in a modernized North American Free Trade Agreement. At talks underway this week in Washington, automaker and parts groups from all three countries were urging negotiators against …
your ad hereName, Shame Countries That Don’t Protect Doctors in War, Expert Tells UN
The United Nations should name and shame countries that fail to protect health workers in war zones and audit what steps they take to keep medics safe, an aid expert said on Thursday. International law bounds all warring parties to respect and protect medical personnel, but the provision is largely …
your ad hereJohnny Cash’s Children ‘Sickened’ to See His Name on White Supremacist T-Shirt
The late American entertainer Johnny Cash was a country music legend who embraced all races and religions. His children say they were “sickened” to see his name on the T-shirt of a white supremacist who marched through Charlottesville last Saturday. In a message posted on social media, Cash’s five children …
your ad hereAlgorithms Could Tie Trafficking Ads to Their Buyers
A U.S. researcher says she has developed automated ways to identify links between online sex trafficking ads and the digital currency Bitcoin, techniques that may help locate children being sold for sex. Law enforcement and anti-trafficking groups could use the methods to investigate Backpage.com, an online classified advertising site where …
your ad hereCitizen Scientists Gear Up for Eclipse
The August 21 solar eclipse, the first to travel coast to coast in the United States in nearly a century, has inspired dozens of citizen science projects involving solar physics, atmosphere and biology. “Millions of people … can walk out on their porch in their slippers and collect world-class data,” …
your ad hereUS VP Pence: US Wants Increased Trade with Latin America
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday that Washington wants more trade and investment with Latin America, pushing back against perceptions in the region that the Trump administration has an isolationist agenda. Speaking during a visit to the Panama Canal at the end of a Latin American tour, Pence …
your ad hereCosmonauts Release 3-D-printed Satellite
Spacewalking cosmonauts on Thursday set free the world’s first satellite made almost entirely with a 3-D printer. In all, Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy ended up releasing five nanosatellites by hand. One by one, the tiny craft — no more than 1 to 2 feet in size — tumbled …
your ad hereWith Congo Finances Collapsing, Desperate Government Has Few Options
As Congo’s government was soliciting urgent help from Western donors and the International Monetary Fund last month to contain an economic crisis, the chairman of the state mining company brought an unusual guest to the prime minister’s office. It was Raymond O’Leary, a vice president from Russia’s second-largest bank, state-owned …
your ad hereBlood, Passion Fuel Italian City’s Street Horse Race
The sounds of thundering hooves and a roaring crowd have filled Siena’s Piazza del Campo almost every year since the mid-1600s. The passion that surrounds the bareback horse race between riders from competing city districts — the Palio di Siena — is palpable to the point of sometimes being violent. …
your ad hereTurkey Bones May Help Trace Fate of Ancient Cliff Dwellers
Researchers say they have found a new clue into the mysterious exodus of ancient cliff-dwelling people from the Mesa Verde area of Colorado more than 700 years ago: DNA from the bones of domesticated turkeys. The DNA shows the Mesa Verde people raised turkeys that had telltale similarities to turkeys …
your ad hereInvestors Exhibit ‘More Signs of Fatigue Than Euphoria’
Here’s how much hope and expectation has been built into the stock market: Big companies are healthy and making fatter profits than Wall Street expected, yet it’s barely enough to keep the market from falling. Consider Home Depot, which gave an earnings report on Tuesday that was seemingly fantastic. The …
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