Passenger pigeons were once so plentiful they could darken the daytime sky when they flew over North America, but oddly, their abundance may have played a role in their extinction, researchers said Thursday. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, the pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius), evolved quickly and in the process, lost certain …
your ad hereCarpenters Return with Vinyl Remasters of Hit Albums
Carpenters fans have a dozen reasons to be on top of the world this week. Nearly 30 years since the last LP album of new Carpenters material was released, remastered vinyl versions of 12 of the duo’s albums will be released Friday, offering fans clearer versions of tracks including the …
your ad hereSchools Are Best Means of Ending Child Labor, Experts Say
Access to education is key to ending child labor, but many countries are not investing enough to rescue 150 million children globally from often hazardous work, experts said. When schools offer meals, transport and occupational training, children can often stop working, experts said Thursday at the fourth annual Global Conference …
your ad here$1 Million Price Tag in Spotlight as Gene Therapy Becomes Reality
Battle lines are being drawn as the first gene therapy for an inherited condition nears the U.S. market, offering hope for people with a rare form of blindness and creating a cost dilemma for health care providers. Spark Therapeutics, whose Luxturna treatment has been recommended for U.S. approval, told investors …
your ad hereIn Only 4 Days, Taylor Swift Sells the Most Albums of 2017
In just four days, Taylor Swift’s new album has sold more traditional albums than any other release this year. Billboard reports the album, “reputation,” sold 1.05 million copies in the first four days after its Nov. 10 release. Before Swift released her album, Ed Sheeran’s “Divide” was the …
your ad hereDid Data Mining Influence Kenya’s Annulled Election?
Kenya’s annulled 2017 presidential election was among Africa’s most expensive. President Uhuru Kenyatta and main challenger Raila Odinga spent tens of millions of dollars on their campaigns, including sizeable investments in global PR firms that mined data and crafted targeted advertisements. As experts sort through the historic election’s aftermath, the involvement …
your ad hereExperts Question Role of Data Mining Firms in Kenya’s Annulled Election
Kenya’s annulled 2017 presidential election was among the African continent’s most expensive. President Uhuru Kenyatta and main challenger Raila Odinga spent tens of millions of dollars on their campaigns, including sizeable investments in global PR firms that mined data and crafted targeted advertisements. As experts sort through the historic election’s …
your ad hereNews Outlets, Social Media Team Up to Qualify Credible News
Seventy-five news organizations teamed with social media giants Facebook and Twitter as well as Google and other tech firms Thursday in an initiative to identify “trustworthy” news sources shared online. The “Trust Project,” a consortium of news agencies and tech firms meeting in Santa Clara, California, is creating a “trust …
your ad hereTesla to Enter Trucking Business With New Electric Semi
After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company was set to unveil its new electric semitractor-trailer Thursday night near its design center in Hawthorne, California. The move …
your ad hereNepal’s Musicians Retune to Tradition
Nepal’s musical heritage is enjoying a revival as young musicians fuse the sounds of traditional instruments once at risk of disappearing with lyrics that examine the modern challenges facing the country. The Himalayan country has a rich folk tradition, but its unusual traditional instruments — which include a leaf from …
your ad hereFrom Football to Kung Fu, Women Use Sports to Score Equality Goals
From using football to highlight women’s rights in Africa to defying stereotypes in the Middle East through climbing Mount Everest, campaigners said sports have become an effective way for women to smash taboos to achieve greater equality. Millions of girls globally are kept from school due to poverty or early …
your ad hereInfluenza Virus Can Be Deadlier Than War
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the deadliest flu pandemic in recorded history. More people died in the 1918 flu pandemic than in World War I. Despite medical breakthroughs in controlling many diseases, influenza is one that remains elusive. VOA medical correspondent Carol Pearson reports. …
your ad hereIBM Urged to Avoid Developing Tech for ‘Extreme Vetting’
A coalition of rights groups launched an online petition on Thursday urging IBM Corp to declare that it will not develop technology to help the Trump administration carry out a proposal to identify people for visa denial and deportation from the United States. IBM and several other technology companies and …
your ad hereNew Medical Therapy Urges Body to Fix Its Own Genetic Defect
It is difficult to overstate the potential that gene editing holds for the future of medicine. An attempt to explore its potential was undertaken in California this week when a man suffering from a rare genetic disease received an infusion of gene-altering tools that could lead to a cure. VOA’s …
your ad herePope Denounces Health Care Inequality
Pope Francis condemned on Thursday inequality in health care, particularly in rich countries, saying governments had a duty to protect all citizens. “Increasingly sophisticated and costly treatments are available to ever more limited and privileged segments of the population,” Francis said in an address to a conference of European members …
your ad hereFamed London Theater Receives 20 Allegations Against Spacey
London’s Old Vic Theatre said Thursday it has received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by its former artistic director Kevin Spacey, and acknowledged that a “cult of personality” around the Hollywood star had made it difficult for the alleged victims to come forward. The London theater launched an investigation into …
your ad hereRussia’s Failing WADA Compliance Risks Korea Olympics Ban
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has refused to reinstate Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), declaring it to still be non-compliant with the global sports watchdog’s rules and raising the risk Russian athletes could be banned from the South Korean-hosted Winter Olympics in February 2018. At a meeting in Seoul Thursday, WADA’s …
your ad hereThe Ultimate in Luxury Air Travel
If you’re wealthy and you want to buy an airplane, no matter how big, you want to go to the biennial Dubai Air Show. There, you will find everything, from a small two-seater to a diamond-encrusted jet. Aircraft manufacturers say business is booming as more and more rich people try …
your ad hereHRW Report: Rohingya Women Gang Raped by Myanmar Soldiers
Burmese soldiers have gang raped Rohingya women in continued violence against the Muslim minority in the Rakhine state, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Human Rights Watch cited firsthand interviews with 52 Rohingya women and girls who fled to Bangladesh and reported being raped by security forces in Myanmar. …
your ad hereMexico Rejects Special Benefit in NAFTA for AT&T
Mexico shot down a proposal by the United States to include provisions in the North America Free Trade Agreement that would benefit AT&T, Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Wednesday. “AT&T, which is North American, asked its government to reflect its interests in the negotiation,” Guajardo said in an interview …
your ad hereBorder Jam Threatens Mongolia’s Coal Lifeline
In Mongolia’s Gobi desert, thousands of heavy-duty trucks laden with coal inch along a cluttered highway toward the Chinese border in a journey that can take more than a week. Truckers cook, eat and sleep in vehicles covered in coal dust, many subsisting on the same meat soup that fueled …
your ad hereAdidas Leads Way as 4 Companies Win ‘Stop Slavery’ Award
German sportswear giant Adidas led the pack as four companies won a global award on Wednesday for shining a light on their own supply chains to eradicate modern slavery from their operations. Adidas was revealed as the overall winner of the second Thomson Reuters Foundation Stop Slavery Award, which celebrates …
your ad hereAlejandro Sanz Celebrated as Latin Grammy Person of the Year
If he could travel back in time, Alejandro Sanz says he would stop and enjoy the moment when his career started taking off two decades ago. “Maybe I would ask life for a little more consciousness during those years so I could have realized all the things that I …
your ad hereCould Giant Rats Help Fight Tuberculosis in Major Cities?
Giant rats are probably not the first thing that come to mind to tackle tuberculosis but scientists hope their sniffing skills will speed up efforts to detect the deadly disease in major cities across the world. Tuberculosis, which is curable and preventable, is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, …
your ad hereNAFTA Unlikely to Hurt Mexico-US Security Ties, But Election Might
Mexico’s threats to weaken U.S. narcotics and migration co-operation if NAFTA dies are pure bluster, Mexican and U.S. officials say, with next year’s election posing a far greater challenge to future collaboration. Mexican officials have threatened to strike back if U.S. President Donald Trump kills the North American Free Trade …
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