Sixty years ago, children accounted for more than one-third — 36% — of the U.S. population. Today, that CLICK ON GRAPHIC TO ENLARGE — Courtesy Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data CenterMeanwhile, the overall adult population has continued to climb since 2009.The decline in births might be attributable to …
your ad hereWorldwide Protest Launched Against Climate Change
A day of worldwide protests against climate change is underway that organizers predict will draw more than one million participants, the largest-ever expected demonstration decrying the man-made causes of a warming planet.Friday’s protests began across Asia, where hundreds of thousands of students and others took to the streets calling for …
your ad hereUgandan Youth March Against Degradation of Environment
Nearly 1,000 young people marched Friday in Kampala to protest land, forest and wetland degradation around the country.Statistics from Uganda’s forest authority show that between 1990 and 2015, the country’s forest cover dropped by half — from 24 percent to 12.4 percent.In addition, a 2015 report by the U.N. Development …
your ad hereNigeria’s Disabled Athletes Face Surprising Challenges
Nigeria’s paralympic athletes have outshined their able-bodied counterparts in world competitions year after year. Yet, these athletes face such challenges as lack of proper training facilities and inadequate funding. Abdulazeez Ibrahim, who’s known as Nigeria’s para powerlifting champion, is training hard for the powerlifting competition at the Paralympic Games next year …
your ad hereGoogle Plans to Invest 3 Billion Euros in Europe
Google is planning to invest 3 billion euros to expand its data centers across Europe in the next two years.The tech giant’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, says it will bring the company’s total investments in the continent’s internet infrastructure to 15 billion euros since 2007.Pichai met with Finnish Prime Minister Antii …
your ad hereMaryland Gem: Extravagant Art House Made of Scraps
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure is Clarke Bedford’s philosophy. The former museum conservator spent his first career overseeing art, but then decided to make his own. His palette, a world of leftovers. Maxim Moskalkov traveled to Hyattsville, Maryland, to meet with the artist. …
your ad hereMusic Starts for Earthlings Around Area 51 Events in Nevada
Sound checks echoed from a distant main stage while Daniel Martinez whirled and danced at dusty makeshift festival grounds just after sunset in Rachel, the Nevada town closest to the once-secret Area 51 military base.Martinez’s muse was the thumping beat from a satellite set-up pumping a techno tune into the …
your ad hereHundreds of Thousands Rally Across Australia, Asia Against Climate Change
The Associated Press contributed to this report.SYDNEY/BANGKOK — Thousands of students took to the streets of Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries Friday to kick off a global strike demanding world leaders gathering for a U.N. climate summit adopt urgent measures to stop an environmental catastrophe.“We didn’t light it, but we’re …
your ad hereStudy: North American Bird Population Falls 3 Billion Since 1970
If the skies above North America seem quieter, it’s because of the massive drop in the bird population in the past 50 years.A report in the journal Science says there are 3 billion fewer birds in the United States, Canada and Mexico than 1970 — a 29% drop.Conservationists call it …
your ad hereFDA Opens Criminal Probe into Vaping-Related Lung Illnesses
Federal regulators have opened a criminal probe into e-cigarette-related lung illnesses in the United States.There were seven deaths and 530 confirmed or suspected cases of serious illness related to vaping by late Thursday.The Food and Drug Administration says it has no intention of prosecuting e-cigarette users, but says its criminal …
your ad hereFrench Experts Restore Three Sudanese Relics
A team of French diggers has restored three Sudanese artifacts, including a 3,500-year-old wall relief, and it handed them to the African country’s national museum Thursday, a French archaeologist said. The three artifacts were discovered at separate archaeological sites in recent years in Sudan and were restored by a …
your ad hereWashington Monument Reopens
The Washington Monument reopened to the public Thursday after years of closure to replace its aging elevator and security system. First lady Melania Trump helped with the ribbon-cutting ceremony and took a ceremonial first ride to the top of the monument with fourth-graders from nearby Amidon-Bowen Elementary School. The iconic …
your ad hereSenate Tech Critic to Facebook CEO: Sell WhatsApp, Instagram
As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met Thursday with President Donald Trump and other critics of the tech industry, the Senate’s most vocal detractor offered a challenge: Sell your WhatsApp and Instagram properties to prove you’re serious about protecting data privacy.It may have been more than Zuckerberg expected from his private …
your ad hereMillions of Youths to Strike for Climate Action
With world leaders about to gather in New York for a U.N. Climate Action Summit next week, millions of young people from Australia to Iceland will take off from school or work on Friday to demand urgent measures to stop environmental catastrophe. Protests, inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 16, are planned in 150 countries. The aim …
your ad hereHuawei Faces Public Test as it Unveils Sanction-Hit Phone
Chinese tech giant Huawei launched its latest high-end smartphone in Munich on Thursday, the first of its mobile devices not to carry popular Google apps because of U.S. sanctions.”Today because of the U.S. ban … we cannot pre-install” Google’s applications, said Richard Yu, who heads Huawei’s consumer business group, as …
your ad hereUN: Most Child, Maternal Deaths Occur in Sub-Saharan Africa
New U.N. data shows sub-Saharan Africa lags behind all other regions in the world in reducing child and maternal mortality. Estimates by the World Health Organization and U.N. children’s fund UNICEF reveal conflict, fragile health systems, and poverty are some of the factors accounting for millions of preventable child and …
your ad hereNancy Pelosi Unveils an Ambitious Plan to Lower Drug Prices
Putting her stamp on the health care issue that worries consumers the most, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to lower drug prices for seniors on Medicare and younger people with private insurance.Pelosi, D-Calif., would empower Medicare to negotiate prices for the 250 costliest drugs, including …
your ad hereCalifornia Police Employs Robocop to Patrol Parks
The city of Huntington Park in the state of California has hired a new police office to patrol local parks. It’s always on duty and monitors the park 24 hours a day to make sure things are in order. Khrystyna Shevchenko met with this supercop and watched him work. Anna …
your ad hereAmerican Dream: Ukrainian Immigrants Bring Taste of Europe to Washington
The American Dream is many things to many people. For the Savchuk family who came to the U.S. from Ukraine more than 15 years ago, achieving their dream meant opening a small business and making a decent living. VOA’s Iryna Matviichuk met with the family and saw their dream come …
your ad hereTrump Cancels California’s Auto Pollution Rules
The state that made smog famous is losing its half-century-old authority to set air pollution rules. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on Twitter that the Environmental Protection Agency was withdrawing California’s authority to issue stricter vehicle efficiency rules than the federal government. The move was the latest in the administration’s efforts …
your ad hereFirst Vaping Hospitalization Reported in Canada
Canada reported its first hospitalization for severe respiratory illness linked to vaping Wednesday, following an outbreak in the U.S. that has killed seven people and sickened hundreds. The Middlesex-London Health Unit said in a statement that “a youth has been diagnosed with severe respiratory illness that has been linked to …
your ad hereGreen ‘Flying Taxi’ Spreads Wings on Paris’ Seine
A Parisian startup enterprise looks to ease congestion in one of the world’s densest urban transportation networks. Entrepreneurs created a green machine unlike any you have ever seen outside of Hollywood films. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi dredges this story from the river Seine. …
your ad hereResearchers: AI Surveillance is Expanding Worldwide
A growing number of countries are following China’s lead in deploying artificial intelligence to track citizens, according to a research group’s report published Tuesday.The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says at least 75 countries are actively using AI tools such as facial recognition for surveillance. The index of countries …
your ad hereFacebook Still Auto-Generating Islamic State, Al-Qaida Pages
In the face of criticism that Facebook is not doing enough to combat extremist messaging, the company likes to say that its automated systems remove the vast majority of prohibited content glorifying the Islamic State group and al-Qaida before it’s reported.But a whistleblower’s complaint shows that Facebook itself has inadvertently …
your ad hereIndia’s Government Approves Ban on E-Cigarettes
India’s government on Wednesday decided to ban e-cigarettes, expressing concern at the alarming rate at which vaping is becoming popular among the country’s youth and causing breathing illnesses.The ban was approved by the Cabinet. The government is expected to issue an ordinance soon prohibiting the manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale, …
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