A new coalition of tech giants and conservationists is looking to drastically reduce the amount of wild, and often endangered, animals that are trafficked via online services. As Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, they hope to cut 80 percent of the illegal trade by the end of the decade. …
your ad hereCosby Judge Won’t Step Aside as Attorneys Target Accuser
The judge in Bill Cosby’s retrial rejected demands Thursday from the comedian’s attorneys to step aside during a hearing in which they made clear they plan to attack his accuser as a greedy liar who falsely accused the comedian of sexually assaulting her to collect a payoff. Judge Steven O’Neill …
your ad hereSocial Media Use in Tween Girls Tied to Well-Being in Teen Years
Girls who spend the most time on social media at age 10 may be unhappier in their early teens than peers who use social media less during the tween years, a U.K. study suggests. Researchers looked at social media use and scores on tests of happiness and other aspects of …
your ad hereUnder Armour: 150 Million Fitness App Accounts Breached
Under Armour Inc. said Thursday that data from 150 million MyFitnessPal diet and fitness app accounts were compromised in February, in one of the biggest hacks in history, sending shares of the athletic apparel maker down 3 percent in after-hours trade. The stolen data include account user names, email addresses …
your ad hereFacebook’s Zuckerberg Disavows Memo Saying All User Growth Is Good
A Facebook Inc. executive said in an internal memo in 2016 that the social media company needed to pursue adding users above all else, BuzzFeed News reported Thursday, prompting disavowals from the executive and Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. The memo from Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, had not been previously …
your ad hereUN: US on Track to Meet Climate Accord Targets
The United States is on track to meet the targets of the Paris climate agreement despite President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw from the accord, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. Guterres said emissions-cutting plans put in motion by American businesses, regional governments and cities meant that the goals set …
your ad hereJudge Orders Coffee Sellers in California to Put Cancer Warning on Products
A Los Angeles judge Thursday ordered coffee companies to abide by California state law and put cancer warning labels on their products. A nonprofit group called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics is suing such popular coffee roasters and retailers as Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. They say …
your ad hereAds Pulled from Ingraham Show After She Mocked Parkland Survivor
At least three companies said Thursday they were pulling advertisements from a Fox News show hosted by conservative pundit Laura Ingraham, heeding a call from a teenage survivor of the Florida school massacre whom Ingraham mocked on Twitter. Parkland student David Hogg, 17, tweeted a list of a dozen companies …
your ad hereNew York Offers Free Cybersecurity Tools to Public to Deter Hackers
New York City will offer free cybersecurity tools to the public as part of a new effort to improve online safety, officials said Thursday, a week after Atlanta was hit with a ransomware attack that knocked some municipal systems offline. The program, dubbed NYC Secure, will launch a free smartphone …
your ad hereNASA Intensifying Search for Planets Orbiting Stars Beyond Solar System
The search for worlds circling star far beyond our solar system will intensify in the coming weeks with NASA’s launch of a spacecraft scientists hope will enlarge the known catalog of so-called exoplanets believed capable of supporting life. NASA plans to send the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, into …
your ad hereFacebook Says It’s Making Progress in Election Preparedness
Facebook says it is making progress weeding out fake accounts and fake news on its service. The moves are aimed at preventing election interference ahead of the U.S. midterms. Samidh Chakrabarti, a product manager, said in a conference call Thursday that Facebook is using machine learning to block fake accounts …
your ad hereUber Avoids Legal Battle With Family of Self-Driving Vehicle Victim
The family of a woman killed by an Uber Technologies Inc self-driving vehicle in Arizona has reached a settlement with the ride services company, ending a potential legal battle over the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle. Cristina Perez Hesano, an attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in …
your ad hereLohan Fails to Convince Court Her Image Is in Video Game
It looks like “Game Over” for actress Lindsay Lohan in her state court fight against a software company for using what she claims is a likeness of her in a video game. Lohan’s lawyer argued before New York’s top court that Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. violated her right to privacy …
your ad hereSoybean Acres to Exceed Corn for the First Time in 35 Years
Corn has been dethroned as the king of crops as farmers report they intend to plant more soybeans than corn for the first time in 35 years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its annual prospective planting report released Thursday that farmers intend to plant 89 million acres (36 …
your ad herePlaque Honoring Jefferson Davis Removed at Kentucky Capitol
Kentucky has altered a statue of Jefferson Davis in the state Capitol, removing a plaque that declared the only president of the Confederacy to be a patriot and a hero. The plaque adorned a 15-foot (4.5 meter) marble statue, which sits in a corner of the state’s ornate Capitol rotunda …
your ad hereTrump Accuses Amazon of Not Paying Taxes, Putting Retailers Out of Business
U.S. President Donald Trump attacked online tech giant Amazon, accusing the company of paying too little taxes and being responsible for putting retailers out of business. In a Twitter post early Thursday, Trump blasted the online retail titan, saying “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,” …
your ad hereSuperjumbo Flight to Lebanon Brings Hope of Tourism Revival
The world’s largest passenger jet landed at Beirut’s international airport on Thursday, bringing with it hope for a revival of Lebanon’s vital tourism sector. The one-off Emirates Airbus A380 flight from Dubai was an acknowledgement of the substantial passenger traffic between Lebanon and Gulf nations, where many Lebanese nationals work …
your ad hereWorld’s Top Cocoa Producers Fight to Protect Forests
Park rangers in the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast, are waging a campaign to protect national forests from the illegal farming of the raw ingredient in chocolate. Last year the governments of Ivory Coast and other top cocoa producer Ghana, along with food giants Nestle, Mars and Hershey, pledged …
your ad hereResearchers Study Old Wooden Ship Remains on Florida Beach
A 48-foot section of an old sailing ship has washed ashore on a Florida beach, thrilling researchers who are rushing to study it before it’s reclaimed by the sea. The Florida Times-Union reports the well-preserved section of a wooden ship’s hull washed ashore overnight Tuesday on Florida’s northeastern coast. Researchers …
your ad hereChinese Pill Factories Fuel Opioid Crisis in America’s Heartland
On a freezing January night, Bailey Henke, 18, of Grand Forks, N.D. died in yet another tragic case of opioid overdose in America. Authorities later traced the pill he swallowed to a fentanyl factory in China – one the world’s top sources of the illegal drug. VOA traveled to America’s …
your ad hereAs Vietnam Clamps Down, Hanoi Artist Sings Out
She’s just spent about eight hours being interrogated by Vietnamese state security officials at the airport after a flight from Europe, but the intimidation hasn’t shaken Mai Khoi’s focus. “I’m busy,” she says on the phone over the clamor of rehearsing musicians hours later. “I can’t talk, I have to …
your ad hereHappiness Class Attracts Record Attendance at Ivy League University
The pursuit of happiness is among the unalienable rights listed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and so it is no wonder that the study of that elusive treasure makes for one of the most popular classes in the country. A record 1,200 students are attending a class that teaches …
your ad hereDistant Galaxy Baffles Astronomers With Its Lack of Dark Matter
It’s a double cosmic conundrum: Lots of stuff that was already invisible has gone missing. Astronomers have found a distant galaxy where there is no dark matter. Dark matter is called “dark” because it can’t be seen. It is the mysterious and invisible skeleton of the universe that scientists figure …
your ad hereThe 5 Other Accusers Chosen to Testify at Cosby’s Retrial
Prosecutors have selected the five additional accusers they plan to call to the witness stand at Bill Cosby’s April 2 sexual assault retrial. The accusers, including model Janice Dickinson, were chosen from a group of eight women whose allegations date as far back as the early 1980s. Prosecutors listed their …
your ad hereUS, Canada Differ on Quick NAFTA Resolution
The Trump administration is hopeful it can reach a deal on a new North American Free Trade Agreement before the July 1 presidential election in Mexico and U.S. midterm congressional elections in November. “I’d say I’m hopeful — I think we are making progress. I think that all three parties …
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