Construction work has been completed at Tokyo’s National Stadium, set to be the centerpiece of next year’s Olympic Games, the site’s owners said on Tuesday.The Japan Sports Council said the final work had been completed on Thursday with just the final quality and safety checks remaining before the stadium opens …
your ad hereNew and Old Drugs May Offer New Ways to Fight Heart Disease
Novel drugs may offer fresh ways to reduce heart risks beyond the usual medicines to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.One new study found that heart attack survivors benefited from a medicine long used to treat gout. Several experimental drugs also showed early promise for interfering with heart-harmful genes without modifying …
your ad here‘Frozen 2’ Aims to Build on Power of Original
When Idina Menzel first started performing “Let It Go” live in concerts, she thought the lyrics and soaring vocals would empower all those young girls in the audience dressed up as Elsa.Instead, Menzel said she often walked away from those performances feeling just as inspired.”I feel an extreme sense of …
your ad hereHazardous Bushfire Smoke Blankets Sydney, Residents Warned to Stay Inside
Heavy winds stirred dozens of fires across Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, blanketing Sydney in hazardous smoke and prompting health warnings for the country’s most populous city.Wildfires have destroyed about 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of farmland and bush over the past couple of weeks, fuelled by tinder-dry conditions …
your ad hereCalifornia Sues E-Cigarette Maker Juul for Selling Nicotine Products to Youth
The state of California on Monday sued e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, alleging the San Francisco company engaged in a “systematic” and “wildly successful” campaign to attract teenagers to its nicotine devices.The lawsuit draws on internal correspondence and other evidence, asserting the company did little to prevent sales to underage customers. …
your ad here‘Hey Glasto!’: McCartney to Headline Glastonbury’s 50th Anniversary
Paul McCartney is to headline the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury in June next year, the world’s largest greenfield festival, organizers announced on Monday.”Hey Glasto – excited to be part of your Anniversary celebrations. See ya next year!” the 77-year-old former Beatle tweeted.The “Hey Jude” hitmaker will be the headline act …
your ad hereCalifornia to Stop Buying GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler Vehicles Over Emissions Fight
California said on Monday it will halt all purchases of new vehicles for state government fleets from GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler and other automakers backing President Donald Trump in a battle to strip the state of authority to regulate tailpipe emissions.Between 2016 and 2018, California purchased $58.6 million in …
your ad hereScientists Waging War Against Malaria Stumble into Bioethics Debate
The African continent accounts for a whopping 90-percent of the world’s malaria cases. Scientists in Burkina Faso recently deployed a new weapon in the war on malaria. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, their battle faces bioethical blowback. …
your ad hereUS Extends License For Businesses to Work With Huawei by 90 Days
The United States on Monday granted another 90 days for companies to cease doing business with China’s telecoms giant Huawei, saying this would allow service providers to continue to serve rural areas.President Donald Trump in May effectively barred Huawei from American communications networks after Washington found the company had violated …
your ad hereNigeria’s Oscar Disqualification Sparks Push for Films in Native Languages
Nigeria’s Oscar Committee is urging the country’s filmmakers to use more native languages in their productions. This, after the U.S. Academy Awards disqualified a Nigerian entry in the International Feature Film category because the movie used too much English. While some in Nigeria’s Hollywood – known as Nollywood – support …
your ad hereNigeria’s Oscar Disqualification Sees Push for Films in Native Languages
Academy Awards rejected first Nollywood Netflix original “Lionheart” from International Feature Film category for lacking non-English dialogue …
your ad hereReport: US Agriculture Uses Child Labor, Exposes Them to Health Hazards
New research has found that U.S. agriculture uses child workers without proper training and care for their safety. The report published last week in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine says 33 children are injured every day while working on U.S. farms, and more child workers die in agriculture than …
your ad hereTerry O’Neill, Whose Images Captured ’60s London, Dies at 81
British photographer Terry O’Neill, whose images captured London’s Swinging ’60s and who created iconic portraits of Elton John, Brigitte Bardot and Winston Churchill, has died at age 81.O’Neill died Saturday at his home in London following a long battle with cancer, according to Iconic Images, the agency that represented O’Neill.“Terry …
your ad hereWHO Calls for Stricter Regulations on E-Cigarettes
The World Health Organization is calling for stricter regulations on the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes as more information comes to light about the potentially harmful impact of these products. Health officials are increasingly worried about the risks posed by e-cigarettes as reported cases of deaths and illnesses from these …
your ad hereMeasles Spread Prompts Samoa to Declare State of Emergency
Samoa declared a state of emergency this weekend, closing all schools and cracking down on public gatherings, after several deaths linked to a measles outbreak that has spread across the Pacific islands.The island state of about 200,000, south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, declared …
your ad herePakistani Women Advance in Tech
A few Pakistani women friends, working for big tech companies in the U.S., decided they wanted to create the mentoring and professional network they wished they’d had when coming up in the business. The result is the Seattle based Pakistani Women in Computing or PWIC. VOA’s Nadeem Yaqub recently visited …
your ad hereFemale Artists Underrepresented in Predominantly Male Comic Book Industry
While men tend to dominate the comic book industry, there are female voices rising through the industry. VOA Indonesia’s Dhania Iman reports on some women artists who are overcoming the gender bias. …
your ad hereHeart Disease Study Finds Meds Work as Well as Surgery
People with severe but stable heart disease from clogged arteries may have less chest pain if they get a procedure to improve blood flow rather than just giving medicines a chance to help, but it won’t cut their risk of having a heart attack or dying over the following few …
your ad hereReport Deplores Conditions for Sanitation Workers in Developing Countries
A new report by leading health and safety agencies finds millions of sanitation workers in developing countries are forced to work under horrific conditions that put their health and lives at risk.Sanitation workers everywhere occupy the lowest rung of society and are stigmatized and marginalized because they do the dirty …
your ad hereHouse, Senate Agree on Something: A Way to Fight Robocalls
It’s looking like an anti-robocall bill will be sent to President Donald Trump this year, helping tackle an infuriating problem in the U.S.House and Senate leaders said Friday they’ve reached an agreement in principle on merging their two bills against robocalls.The House bill had gone further than the Senate one. …
your ad hereWhite House Wants Patients to See Health Care Prices Upfront
New rules from the Trump administration Friday would require insurers and hospitals to disclose upfront the actual prices for common tests and procedures to promote competition and push down costs.But the sweeping changes face stiff pushback from the health care industry. A coalition of major hospital groups quickly announced that …
your ad hereUS Approves Drug to Prevent Sickle Cell Pain, Organ Damage
U.S. regulators on Friday approved a new medicine that can prevent some extremely painful sickle cell disease flare-ups.The Food and Drug Administration approved Novartis AG’s Adakveo for patients 16 and older. The monthly infusion, which halves occurrences of sickle cell pain episodes, will carry a list price of roughly $85,000 …
your ad hereTwitter Details Political Ad Ban, Admits It’s Imperfect
Twitter’s new ban on political ads will cover appeals for votes, solicitations for campaign contributions and any political content. But the company quickly acknowledged Friday that it expects to make mistakes as individuals and groups look for loopholes. Twitter is defining political content to include any ad that references a candidate, …
your ad hereWith Collapse of Health System, Yemen Struggles to Contain Disease Outbreaks
The World Health Organization warns disease outbreaks are flourishing in Yemen and many people are dying from a lack of health care and serious shortages in supplies and personnel.Yemen’s economy is in tatters and its health care system in a state of near total collapse after more than five years …
your ad hereBotswana’s HIV Patients Relieved as Legal Battle Over Medicine Ends
There was a collective sigh of relief for more than 350,000 HIV-positive patients in Botswana, after the southern African country’s Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the government in a legal tussle over the supply of life-prolonging anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.In January, Botswana’s government was taken to court by a …
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