The man tasked with overseeing Texas’ Hurricane Harvey rebuilding efforts sees his job as “future-proofing” before the next disaster, but he isn’t empowered on his own to reshape flood-prone Houston or the state’s vulnerable coastline, which has been walloped by three major hurricanes since 2006. Texas A&M Chancellor John …
your ad hereMars Research Crew Emerges After 8 Months of Isolation
Six NASA-backed research subjects who have been cooped up in a Mars-like habitat on a remote Hawaii volcano since January emerged from isolation Sunday. They devoured fresh-picked tropical fruits, vegetables and a fluffy egg strata after eating mostly freeze-dried food during their isolation. The crew of four men and …
your ad hereMcDonaugh’s ‘Three Billboards’ Wins TIFF Audience Award
Martin McDonaugh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” took the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award on Sunday, an early bell-weather for Hollywood’s coming awards season. Piers Handling, chief executive and director of the festival, announced the awards for the 42nd annual Toronto festival. The People’s Choice Award, …
your ad hereIrma’s Damage a Reminder of Florida Economy’s Vulnerability
Florida’s economy has long thrived on one import above all: People. Until Irma struck this month, the state was adding nearly 1,000 residents a day – 333,471 in the past year, akin to absorbing a city the size of St. Louis or Pittsburgh. Every jobseeker, retiree or new birth, …
your ad hereWarm Water Off US West Coast Has Lingering Effects for Salmon
The mass of warm water known as “the blob” that heated up the North Pacific Ocean has dissipated, but scientists are still seeing the lingering effects of those unusually warm sea surface temperatures on Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead. Federal research surveys this summer caught among the lowest numbers …
your ad hereBrazil’s Odebrecht Quits Argentine Subway Construction Project
Scandal-hit Brazilian construction company Odebrecht said on Sunday it has sold its 33 percent stake in a massive subway project in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, but vowed to keep working in the country. Odebrecht is involved in a sprawling corruption saga and has already paid $3.5 billion in settlements in …
your ad here‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Wins Top Prize at Emmy Awards
The critically acclaimed “The Handmaid’s Tale” won the prize for best drama television series at the 69th annual Emmy awards Sunday night in Hollywood. Its star, Elizabeth Moss, who portrayed one of the few fertile women left in a world ruled by a totalitarian regime, won the award for best …
your ad here2017 Emmys: New Shows, New Platforms, and Politics
American television’s biggest stars are walking the red carpet Sunday in Los Angeles, posing for photos and interviews before the 69th annual Emmy awards presentation. Late-night talk show personality Stephen Colbert will host the award show, which is sure to get political this year. Colbert, who’s Late Show often pokes …
your ad hereNew Technology Helps Stranded Refugees in Greece
Stuck in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios with poor internet and little credit, Abrar Hassan, like many others, was unaware that the tech world had been falling all over itself to help him. More importantly, he was unaware of his rights and how best to prepare …
your ad hereIndia PM Modi Inaugurates Controversial Dam Project
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s biggest dam on Sunday, ignoring warnings from environment groups that hundreds of thousands of people will lose their livelihoods. The controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river in the country’s western state of Gujarat that will provide power and water to three big …
your ad hereProgram Breathes Calmer New Life into Angry Young Men
In Greek, “Pneuma” means breath and spirit. That’s the core philosophy of a program in Baltimore, Maryland, with the same name. Pneuma combines exercise, yoga and leadership training. Behind this program is a near-death experience that made a young man bitter and angry, then led him to become forgiving and …
your ad hereIceland Experiments with Volcanic Energy
Iceland is often called the land of ice and fire. It has plenty of ice and glaciers, but is also a geothermal hotspot of bubbling hot water cauldrons, geysers and volcanos. Harnessing all that energy is something Icelanders have been doing for generations, but they’re about to take that concept …
your ad hereEye Prosthesis Still the Best Artificial Eye Solution
Scientists say bionic eyes are not too far away, but, until they become widely available, many people around the world will have to continue living with prosthetic eyes. Still, highly trained technicians called ocularists can manufacture prosthetic eyes hardly distinguishable from normal ones, making the lives of their patients much …
your ad hereSouthern California Launches Exhibit Focusing on Latin American, Latino Art
Beginning this weekend, “Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA,” presents a wide variety of Latin American art exhibitions, music events and film screenings to Southern California audiences through January 2018. Arturo Martinez has the story from Los Angeles. …
your ad hereUnexpected Beauty Off the Beaten Path to the Pacific Northwest
After leaving the majesty of the Grand Canyon in the American Southwest, national parks traveler Mikah Meyer headed north to the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, he stopped by some of the region’s most picturesque and historic national parks. “I kind of fit along the way …
your ad hereChina Builds an ‘Orlando’ Aside its ‘Vegas’ and ‘New York’
Just a stone’s throw across a narrow waterway from the world’s largest gambling hub Macau, a former oyster farming island is being transformed into China’s newest tourism haven. Dubbed by some as China’s answer to Florida’s Orlando — a global tourist magnet with its cluster of major theme parks — …
your ad hereNew Tropical Storms Forming in Active Hurricane Season
Hurricane season roared on Saturday as Jose threatened heavy surf along the U.S. East Coast, Tropical Storm Norma edged toward Mexico’s resort-studded Baja California Peninsula, and Tropical Storm Maria formed in the Atlantic and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane, taking aim at some already battered Caribbean islands. Meanwhile, …
your ad hereSuicide Rates Among Veterans Highest in Western US, Rural Areas
Suicide among military veterans is especially high in the western U.S. and rural areas, according to new government data that show wide state-by-state disparities and suggest social isolation, gun ownership and access to health care may be factors. The figures released Friday are the first-ever Department of Veterans Affairs data …
your ad hereEU Climate Commissioner: US Changing Its Tune on Paris Deal
The European Union’s top energy official says the United States has signaled that it may be willing to re-engage in the Paris climate pact, despite President Donald Trump’s announcement in June that the U.S. would withdraw in order to renegotiate the deal. Miguel Arias Canete, European commissioner for climate action …
your ad hereBeloved Character Actor Harry Dean Stanton Dies at 91
For more than 60 years, Harry Dean Stanton played crooks and codgers, eccentrics and losers. He endowed them with pathos and compassion and animated them with his gaunt, unforgettable presence, making would-be fringe figures feel central to the films appeared in. The late critic Roger Ebert once said no movie …
your ad hereWorld Hunger Swells as Conflict, Climate Change Grow
The United Nations reports world hunger is rising because conflicts and problems related to climate change are multiplying. The report finds about 815 million people globally did not have enough to eat in 2016 — 38 million more than the previous year. The statistics in this report are particularly grim. …
your ad hereUS Wheat Production Lowest in Recorded History
Farmer Russ Higgins’ ancestors settled a wide expanse of land south of Morris, Illinois, in 1858. Through the U.S. Civil War and every major event since then, there has been someone from the Higgins family planting and harvesting on the land. Since the first plow churned up the fertile soil …
your ad hereKilling to Conserve? ‘Trophy’ Raises Difficult Questions
An American dentist’s killing of Cecil the lion, a collared 13-year-old lion monitored by the University of Oxford in Zimbabwe, sparked widespread outrage and condemnation of big-game hunting. But Trophy, a new documentary by filmmakers Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, offers a more complex perspective on trophy hunting as an …
your ad hereBritish Butler With Royal References Is Available for Hire
Imagine having a butler to keep you home in perfect order. Well, you don’t have to be a blueblood anymore to get that kind of service. As VOA’s Olga Loginova shows us, a British butler with royal references is available for hire. …
your ad hereRussia’s Digital Weapons Refined on Virtual Battlefield’ of Ukraine
It was a Friday in June, a short workday before a public holiday weekend in Ukraine, and cybersecurity expert Victor Zhora had left the capital, Kyiv, and was in the western city of Lviv when he got the first in a torrent of phone calls from frantic clients. His clients’ …
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