Kristin Zaitz is confident that her nuclear power plant is safe. Zaitz, an engineering manager, was at Diablo Canyon Power Plant during both her pregnancies and has scuba dived to inspect the plant, which hugs the California coast. Zaitz wears a pendant with a tiny bit of uranium inside, …
your ad hereWomen Stepping Up As Nuclear Energy Advocates
Nuclear power in the U.S. is under threat: power plants are closing and new construction is being abandoned. At a recent conference in San Francisco, women working in the industry talked about how more should be done to make nuclear power’s case to the public, and how they may be …
your ad hereYellen: Financial System Safer, But Adjustments May Be Needed
The head of the U.S. central bank says the financial system is safer now than it was before the recession, and urges Washington to make some adjustments in financial regulations, rather than trash them. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the recession of 2008 cost nine million American jobs and …
your ad hereTop 5 Songs for Week Ending Aug. 26
We’re interfacing with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending August 26, 2017. We greet a new song this week, but that’s not the big story. Number 5: Charlie Puth “Attention Let’s open in fifth place, where Charlie Puth jumps …
your ad hereUK Police Slammed for Missing Clues to Stop Rock Star’s Sex Abuse
Detectives missed chances to stop pedophile rock star Ian Watkins in the years before he was charged with child sex abuse, Britain’s police watchdog said Friday. Watkins, lead singer of the Welsh band Lostprophets, was sentenced in 2013 to 29 years in prison for crimes against children as young as …
your ad hereRosa Parks’ House May Be Returned to US From Germany
Section by section, American artist Ryan Mendoza painstakingly disassembled the small wood-frame home of civil rights icon Rosa Parks after learning that the struggling city of Detroit was going to have it demolished. He shipped it across the Atlantic Ocean and rebuilt it in the German capital of Berlin, saving …
your ad hereTaylor Swift Releases New Song ‘Look What You Made Me Do’
You can finally shake it off: Taylor Swift has released her new single. The 27-year-old singer dropped the upbeat song “Look What You Made Me Do” – which uses an interpolation from Right Said Fred’s 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy’” – late Thursday to streaming platforms and iTunes. The …
your ad hereS. Korea Pushes Back on US Call to Renegotiate Trade Pact
South Korea this week pushed back against the United States’ demand to renegotiate the free trade agreement (FTA) between the close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the five-year-old Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA as a horrible deal that created a $27 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea last …
your ad hereVietnamese Consumers Resist China as Officials Try to Get Along
When Ha Tran of Ho Chi Minh City shops for food, clothes or electronics, she avoids merchandise she can tell comes from Vietnam’s giant neighbor, China. It might not work, she said, and China is no friend of Vietnam anyway. “China exports many low-quality products to Vietnam, but we know …
your ad hereSamsung Leader Jay Y. Lee Given 5-Year Jail Sentence for Bribery
The billionaire head of South Korea’s Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, was jailed for five years for bribery on Friday after a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down the president. Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favors from then president Park Geun-hye, according to a landmark ruling …
your ad hereGrowing Mini Organs May Save Lives
After decades of a one-therapy-fits-all approach to fighting deadly diseases such as cancer or cystic fibrosis, physicians and researchers around the world are increasingly turning to a new tactic called personalized medicine. Practices are tailored to individual patients because different people’s response to the same drug may be different. And …
your ad hereHalibut Fishing Contest Draws Thousands to Alaska Town
On Alaska’s Kenai peninsula, the city of Homer proudly calls itself the halibut fishing capital of the world. For more than 30 years it has held an annual “Halibut Derby.” VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya and Aleksandr Bergan were there for this year’s big event. …
your ad hereDecree Opening Brazil’s Amazon to Mining Criticized
Environmentalists are condemning a decree by Brazilian President Michel Temer allowing mining in the heart of the Amazon. The measure strips protection from a national reserve between the northern states of Para and Amapa and clears the way for the private mining sector to explore the forest. The gold-rich area …
your ad hereStonehenge: Australia’s Forgotten Farmers
Stonehenge is dry and has been for too long — seven years too long. You can taste the dust well before you cross the cattle grids that cut the only road into town. More than 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) northwest of Sydney, Australia’s Stonehenge could not be more different from …
your ad hereCanada: Next Few Weeks Crucial for Resolving Lumber Dispute With US
Canada said on Thursday the next few weeks would be critical to determine whether it could resolve a lumber dispute with the United States and threatened again that it would start litigation if no deal were struck. The U.S. Commerce Department this year slapped anti-dumping duties on imports of Canadian …
your ad hereArgentina Reserves Right to Legal Action on US Biodiesel Duties
Argentina’s government is investigating all options and reserves the right to take legal action over the United States’ imposition of steep duties on imports of Argentine biodiesel, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. The statement said the imposition of duties above 50 percent, announced Tuesday, does not correspond …
your ad hereTesla’s ‘Long-haul’ Electric Truck Aims for 200 to 300 Miles on a Charge
Tesla next month plans to unveil an electric big-rig truck with a working range of 200 to 300 miles, Reuters has learned, a sign that the electric car maker is targeting regional hauling for its entry into the commercial freight market. Chief Executive Elon Musk has promised to release a …
your ad hereHigh-tech Yarn Shows Promise as Energy Generator
A new, high-tech yarn that generates electricity when stretched or twisted could use ocean waves and human motion to lower man’s dependency on fossil fuels, researchers said Thursday. An international team of scientists said in a study they had developed a stretchy yarn made of carbon nanotubes — tiny strands …
your ad hereEgyptian Students Produce Fuel From Discarded Car Tires
A group of Egyptian students have built a machine they say can produce fuel from worn-out vehicle tires. The device heats the tires until they reach evaporation point. The vapor then enters a condenser. The result is a product “very similar in properties to pure diesel, and the carbon or …
your ad hereUS Interior Chief Says He Won’t Eliminate Protected Lands
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Thursday he won’t seek to rescind any national monuments carved from the wilderness and oceans by past presidents. But he said he will press for some boundary changes and left open the possibility of allowing drilling, mining or other industries on the sites. Twenty-seven monuments …
your ad hereAfrica to Break New Ground with World Championships Bid
One of six African nations will bid to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships as the continent hopes to stage the global meet for a first time, the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) president Hamad Kalkaba Malboum has said. African countries have previously held several major sporting events with South …
your ad hereArctic Melting Is Speeding Up
The oceans are rising faster and faster, threatening coastal cities around the world. The quickening pace is due, in part, to changes happening in the Arctic that scientists are just beginning to understand. From Greenland, VOA’s Steve Baragona reports on how warming temperatures are driving more warming. …
your ad hereEbola Survivors Found to Suffer Multiple After-effects
Patients who survive infection with the Ebola virus often continue to face numerous health problems. New research finds 80 percent of Ebola survivors suffer disabilities one year after being discharged from the hospital. Approximately 11,000 people died in the Ebola outbreak that hit West Africa from 2014 to 2016; tens …
your ad hereUS Space Company Makes History with Client from China
In recent years, the U.S. space program has been supporting a broader range of commercial interests, which has led to more companies getting into the space business. One such U.S. company, NanoRacks, is a full-service operation that gets science experiments from around the world into space. The company made history …
your ad hereOnce Banned, Lotteries are Big Money for US States
A lottery player in the U.S. state of Massachusetts won the $759 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, the second highest in the game’s history and an amount that prompted millions of Americans to buy tickets in hopes they would have the lucky numbers. The odds of winning the top prize …
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