Iranian crude oil imports by Asia’s top four buyers dropped to the lowest volume in three years in 2018 amid U.S. sanctions on Tehran, but China and India stepped up imports in December after getting waivers from Washington. Asia’s top four buyers of Iranian crude — China, India, Japan and …
your ad hereFacebook Takes Down Vast Iran-Led Manipulation Campaign
Facebook said Thursday it took down hundreds of “inauthentic” accounts from Iran that were part of a vast manipulation campaign operating in more than 20 countries. The world’s biggest social network said it removed 783 pages, groups and accounts “for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior tied to Iran.” The pages …
your ad hereUS Researchers Looking For Long Lasting Ebola Vaccine
The World Health Organization reports that more than 700 people have been sickened with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And now, neighboring countries of South Sudan and Rwanda are bracing for the virus to spread. But, half a world away, U.S. researchers are hoping to develop a new, …
your ad hereKing Tut Tomb Restored to Prevent Damage From Visitors
The tomb of Egypt’s famed boy pharaoh, King Tutankhamun, has undergone restoration to help minimize damage by tourists. The work, done by the Getty Conservation Institute after years of research and officially presented Thursday, aims to minimize scratches, dust damage and microbiological growth from breath and humidity brought in by …
your ad hereNearly Half of US Adults Have Heart or Blood Vessel Disease
A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that’s mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure. The American Heart Association said Thursday that more than 121 million …
your ad hereGhirardelli, Russel Stover Fined over Chocolate Packaging
Ghirardelli and Russell Stover have agreed to pay $750,000 in fines after prosecutors in California said they offered a little chocolate in a lot of wrapping. Prosecutors in Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Fresno, Santa Cruz and Yolo counties sued the candy makers, alleging they misled consumers by selling chocolate products …
your ad hereApple Busts Facebook for Distributing Data-Sucking App
Apple says Facebook can no longer distribute an app that paid users, including teenagers, to extensively track their phone and web use. In doing so, Apple closed off Facebook’s efforts to sidestep Apple’s app store and its tighter rules on privacy. The tech blog TechCrunch reported late Tuesday that Facebook …
your ad hereChicago Police Still Looking for Video of Attack on Actor
Detectives have recovered more surveillance footage of “Empire” actor Jussie Smullett walking in downtown Chicago before and after he says he was attacked by two masked men, but they still haven’t found video of the attack, a police spokesman said Thursday. Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said there are hundreds of …
your ad hereTrump Order Asks Federal Fund Recipients to Buy US Goods
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday pushing those who receive federal funds to “buy American.” The aim is to boost U.S. manufacturing. Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, told reporters during a telephone briefing the policies are helping workers who “are blue collar, …
your ad hereWHO: Cervical Cancer Preventable, Can Be Eliminated
Ahead of World Cancer Day (February 4), the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for accelerated action to eliminate cervical cancer, a preventable disease that kills more than 300,000 women every year. Cervical cancer ranks among leading causes of death for women worldwide. Nine in 10 deaths occur in poor …
your ad hereSurvey: 2018 ‘Worst Year Ever’ for Smartphone Market
Global smartphone sales saw their worst contraction ever in 2018, and the outlook for 2019 isn’t much better, new surveys show. Worldwide handset volumes declined 4.1 percent in 2018 to a total of 1.4 billion units shipped for the full year, according to research firm IDC, which sees a potential …
your ad hereDoga — Doing Yoga With Your Dog
Some people take their pet dogs everywhere they can. One place where they are always welcome is at doga — yoga classes for dogs and humans. While the pet parents get into their yoga poses, like downward-facing dog, their pups get petted and held. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to …
your ad hereNeed for Speed: Carts on Rails Help Manila’s Commuters Dodge Gridlock
Thousands of commuters flock to Manila’s railway tracks every day, but rather than boarding the trains, they climb on to wooden carts pushed along the tracks, to avoid the Philippine capital’s infamous traffic gridlock. The trolleys, as the carts are known, most of them fitted with colorful umbrellas for shade …
your ad hereLawmakers Attempt to Rein in President’s Tariff Power
U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation to limit the president’s power to levy import tariffs for national security reasons. The bills face an uncertain future but underscore bipartisan concerns on Capitol Hill over the rising costs of the Trump administration’s trade policies. The United States in 2018 slapped duties on …
your ad hereTrump Organization to Use E-Verify for Worker Status Checks
The Trump Organization, responding to claims that some of its workers were in the U.S. illegally, said on Wednesday that it will use the E-Verify electronic system at all of its properties to check employees’ documentation. A lawyer for a dozen immigrant workers at the Trump National Golf Club in …
your ad hereStudy: E-cigs Beat Patches, Gums in Helping Smokers Quit
A major new study provides the strongest evidence yet that vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, with e-cigarettes proving nearly twice as effective as nicotine gums and patches. The British research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, could influence what doctors tell their patients and shape the debate …
your ad hereGeorgia O’Keeffe Museum Buys Her ‘Ritz Tower’ Painting
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has purchased the American artist’s “Ritz Tower” painting, a rare work of her take on a New York skyscraper, the museum announced this week. Officials at the Santa Fe, New Mexico, museum said it bought the 1928 piece in October from a private collector but declined …
your ad hereDrought Threatens Thousands of Flamingo Chicks in S. Africa
Rescuers are moving hundreds of dehydrated lesser flamingo chicks from their breeding ground at a drought-stricken South African dam to a bird sanctuary in Cape Town, to save them from death by starvation and lack of water. Their birthplace, Kamfers Dam in the Northern Cape, is one of only three breeding …
your ad here‘Life-Threatening’ Temperatures Shock Even Routinely Cold US Cities
Millions of Americans are experiencing temperatures so cold that a burst of wind could cause frostbite within minutes — conditions that have caused the suspension of regional train service, work and school schedules, and even production of television and stage shows. The National Weather Service said Wednesday some 25 million …
your ad hereTrapped in Gaza, Star of Sundance Documentary Misses Film Festival
A new documentary called Gaza is hitting the screens at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival this week, providing a colorful glimpse of life in the blockaded Hamas-ruled territory. But one of its main subjects, Gaza actor and playwright Ali Abu Yaseen, won’t be attending the gathering due to the very …
your ad hereEgypt Sentences Senior Official to 12 Years Over Corruption
An Egyptian court has sentenced the deputy governor of the country’s second-largest city to 12 years in prison on corruption charges. The Cairo criminal court also sentenced Souad el-Kholy, deputy governor of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, to a one-year suspended sentence for bribery, profiteering and squandering public funds …
your ad hereJapan’s Nikkei: Ghosn Says Arrest Due to Plot Within Nissan
Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn, in his first interview since his arrest in November, blamed fellow executives opposed to forging closer ties with the automaker’s French alliance partner Renault for scheming against him, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Wednesday. The financial daily said it spoke with Ghosn for 20 minutes …
your ad here‘Empire’ Actor Alleges Homophobic Attack in Chicago
A cast member on the hit television show “Empire” alleged he was physically attacked by men in Chicago who shouted racial and homophobic slurs, police said Tuesday (January 29). The police did not release the actor’s name but a statement from Fox, which airs “Empire,” identified him as Jussie Smollett, …
your ad hereThe Old Man and the Play: Friend Keeps Word to Hemingway
When the 1958 film adaptation of “The Old Man and the Sea” hit theaters, Ernest Hemingway happened to be in New York City to watch the World Series and invited his close friend A.E. Hotchner to go see the movie with him. “About 12 or 13 minutes after we sat …
your ad hereApple Opens New Chapter Amid Weakening iPhone Demand
Apple hoped to offset slowing demand for iPhones by raising the prices of its most important product, but that strategy seems to have backfired after sales sagged during the holiday shopping season. Results released Tuesday revealed the magnitude of the iPhone slump – a 15 percent drop in revenue from …
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