A new era in American spaceflight was unveiled Friday, with NASA presenting the flight crews that will carry out the first test flights and operational missions aboard commercial spacecraft to be launched from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011. The test flights of …
your ad herePolish Beekeepers Concerned When Banned Chemicals Temporarily Approved
Honeybees are essential to our food supply, but bee colonies around the world are declining. Among the main culprits are insecticides containing chemicals known as neonicotinoids, which are highly toxic to honeybees. In Europe, where about 80 percent of crops rely to some degree on insect pollination, the chemical is …
your ad hereChinese Proposed Tariffs Aim at US Energy Dominance Agenda
China’s targeting of U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil exports opens a new front in the trade war between the two countries, at a time when the White House is trumpeting growing U.S. energy export prowess. China included LNG for the first time in its list of proposed tariffs …
your ad hereWHO: Yemen May Be on Verge of New Deadly Cholera Epidemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns Yemen may be on the verge of another cholera epidemic, which could be deadlier than previous ones because of widespread malnutrition in the war-torn country. Yemen has had two major waves of cholera epidemics in recent years. The World Health Organization reports that an …
your ad hereAfrican Small Businesses, Farmers Get Protection with Micro-Insurance
George Kamau Githome uses a feather duster to clean off hardware and bootleg movies displayed for sale at his kiosk in Mathare, one of Nairobi, Kenya’s largest slums. Githome and his family of 10 kids recently lost everything they owned in a fire. But he was able to rebuild because …
your ad hereWHO: Congo’s Newest Ebola Outbreak Poses Huge Challenge
Preparations are being made to send thousands of Ebola vaccines next week to North Kivu, the site of the latest outbreak of this deadly disease. The World Health Organization says it foresees huge difficulties ahead in efforts to combat the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. North …
your ad hereFrom Cancers to Obesity, Small Implant May Replace Life-Saving Drugs
Remembering to take medications can be challenging for some people. But one day an implant may replace medications that need to be taken orally in certain cases. One lab in Houston is developing refillable implants placed under the skin to potentially deliver life-saving medicine at a low cost for various …
your ad hereTiny Implant of the Future Means Never Forgetting Some Medicines
Many people on medication may find it challenging to remember to take the drugs. For some illnesses, an implant may one day replace the need to ingest the medicines. A lab at Houston Methodist Research Institute is developing unique implants that can potentially deliver lifesaving medication, at a low cost …
your ad hereUS Unemployment Drops Slightly; Job Growth Slows
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped slightly in July, while job gains were lower than many analysts predicted. Friday’s report from the Labor Department shows the jobless rate fell one-tenth of a percent to 3.9 percent, one of the lowest figures in years. The world’s largest economy also had a net …
your ad herePakistani Engineer Turns Straw Waste Into Fuel
A Pakistani engineer has designed a system to help developing countries avoid fuel imports by making ethanol with the millions of tons of straw that are wasted each year. Faith Lapidus reports. …
your ad hereRare Finds and Loyal Customers at New York’s Poster Museum
Not many museums can say they have 500,000 items on display, but the Poster Museum in New York can. Established in 1973 in Manhattan by a passionate collector, the museum has the largest collection of posters in the world. Olga Loginova has the story. …
your ad hereStudy: Obese Individuals Shed Flu Virus Longer
New research suggests obesity may be a factor in the transmission of the influenza virus. In a study conducted in Managua, Nicaragua, obese adults spread the influenza virus for significantly longer than non-obese individuals. The findings have significant ramifications, given that worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, according to …
your ad hereUS Objects to China’s Internet Restrictions
The U.S. “remains deeply concerned with China’s long-standing restrictions on freedom of expression online,” a State Department official said Thursday, reacting to Google’s reported plan to relaunch its search engine in China. “We strongly object to all efforts by China to force U.S. companies to block or censor online content …
your ad hereStates Vow to Continue Fight Against Trump’s Car Fuel Rules
State prosecutors who pre-emptively sued months ago to block anticipated efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken car fuel-efficiency standards blasted the Trump administration Thursday for doing so and vowed to continue their fight in the courts. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the rollback of Obama-era mileage standards …
your ad hereApple is 1st Public US Company to be Valued at $1 Trillion
Apple made history Thursday when it became the first publicly listed U.S. company to be valued at $1 trillion. The tech giant’s share price climbed well over 2 percent in mid-session trading, boosting it about 9 percent higher since Tuesday, when it announced better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and a buyback of …
your ad hereWHO Quick-Starts Efforts to Tackle New Ebola Outbreak in Congo
The World Health Organization says expert staff and equipment have been sent to northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to quick-start the process of combating a new outbreak of Ebola.The last outbreak of this fatal virus in Congo was declared over just a week ago. Ebola is a constant threat in …
your ad hereChinese Actress Drops off Social Media Amid Tax Rumors
Chinese actress Fan Bingbing has disappeared from social media amid rumors she is the target of a tax evasion investigation. Fan, 36, usually maintains a prominent presence on China’s main microblogging service Weibo, where she has more than 62 million followers. However, her account hasn’t been updated since June 2, …
your ad hereAlarms on Russian Meddling Sounded on Capitol Hill
One day after Facebook shut down 32 fake social media accounts that spewed politically divisive messages, U.S. lawmakers were warned that Russian efforts to confuse and polarize the American people are as robust and pernicious as ever. VOA Senate correspondent Michael Bowman reports both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned. …
your ad hereSmall LA Theater Amplifies Voice of Hispanic Community
A small theater in the heart of a Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles is giving voice to the immigrant community there. The place has provided a stage for new artists at risk of social exclusion. Some of them had been catapulted to the Hollywood sets. Arturo Martinez has this report …
your ad hereConservation Detection Dogs Sniff out Threatened Species
Canines have served as working dogs for thousands of years. They guard our homes, help in search and rescue missions and assist people with disabilities. But now scientists are training a special group of Australian dogs to use their sensitive noses — and ears — to help find one of …
your ad herePrint Yourself a Mobile House
Imagine this – a fully autonomous 3D-printed mobile house that can survive any weather and is completely self-powered. This is not a technological dream – it’s the ambitious project of a Ukrainian company called PassivDom. It’s working on the prototype of a printed home in Reno, Nevada. VOA’s Iuliia Iarmolenko …
your ad herePakistan Halts Decline of Critically Endangered Vulture
The population of the white-backed vulture, which inhabits Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia, has declined significantly over the past several decades to the point that it is now considered an endangered species. But a decade-long conservation effort in Pakistan appears to have stopped the vulture’s decline, as …
your ad hereFields Medal Stolen from Kurdish Mathematician in Rio
A winner of the Fields Medal, often called the “Nobel Prize of mathematics,” had his prize stolen shortly after receiving it during a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. Caucher Birkar, a Kurdish refugee from Iran teaching at Cambridge University, put the gold medal, worth around $4,000, in a …
your ad hereCongress Passes Bill Forcing Tech Companies To Disclose Foreign Software Probes
The U.S. Congress is sending President Donald Trump legislation that would force technology companies to disclose if they allowed countries like China and Russia to examine the inner workings of software sold to the U.S. military. The legislation, part of the Pentagon’s spending bill, was drafted after a Reuters …
your ad hereBritish Businesses Told to Do More to Close ‘Obscene’ Gender Pay Gap
More British businesses should be made to report the difference in how much they pay male and female staff, lawmakers said Thursday, citing “obscene” gender pay gaps in some companies. Businesses and charities with more than 250 workers must publish figures on their gender pay gap each year under a …
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