U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday he was certain that the awarding of a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was done fairly. The Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft in late October, and Amazon said there was “unmistakable bias” on the government’s part and it …
your ad hereAustralia’s Qantas Tests 19 ½-hour London-Sydney Flight
Australia’s national carrier Qantas Friday successfully completed a 19½-hour, nonstop flight from London to Sydney, which was used to run a series of tests to assess the effects of ultralong-haul flights on crew fatigue and passenger jetlag.The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from London’s Heathrow Airport Thursday morning and touched …
your ad hereMalawian Midwife’s Clinic Report Record Number of Safe Births
The founder of a Malawian maternity clinic for poor women says it has set a record – delivering more than 8,800 babies with not a single death of mother or child. For her efforts improving access to safe childbirth, Charity Salima has become known as “Malawi’s Florence Nightingale,” the English …
your ad hereCigarette Smoking Falls to Record Low Among US Adults
Cigarette smoking among American adults fell to an all-time low last year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The report, out Thursday, said 13.7% of adults smoked cigarettes in 2018, a dramatic drop from the 42% adult smoking rate in 1965, when the …
your ad herePlan Would Protect 21 Coral Hot Spots in Gulf of Mexico
A plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico is close to becoming a law, drawing cheers from environmental groups who believe leaving the corals alone would help vulnerable ocean ecosystems to grow.The plan would create 21 protected areas off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. …
your ad hereSterilizing Mosquitos Could Save Thousands of Lives
U.N. agencies say early next year, several countries will begin testing a nuclear technique that sterilizes male mosquitoes to control the spread of dengue, Zika and chikungunya to humans. Guidance for testing countries has been developed by the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, the International Atomic …
your ad hereFacebook Signs Lease for Office Space in Hudson Yards
Facebook Inc signed a lease for over 1.5 million square feet of office space across 30 floors and three buildings in New York City’s Hudson Yards, according to a statement by the luxury and commercial real estate development on Thursday.Hudson Yards is a $25 billion complex of commercial and residential …
your ad hereDespite Female Push, Garth Brooks Bests Carrie Underwood At CMAs
The Country Music Association Awards almost fully honored and highlighted the women of country music — whose songs have been heavily dismissed on country radio over the years — until two words were uttered when they named its entertainer of the year: Garth Brooks.Wednesday night’s show kicked off with a …
your ad hereOld Dogs, new Tricks: 10,000 Pets Needed for Science
Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too.The project will collect a pile of pooch data: vet records, DNA samples, gut microbes and information on food and walks. …
your ad hereSanta Claus Back at Work in Germany Answering Christmas Mail
Santa Claus is at it again, answering thousands of Christmas letters from children around the world at a special post office in the northern German town of Himmelpfort. As part of the annual event organized by Germany’s Deutsche Post, Santa and 20 helpers last year responded to 277,200 …
your ad hereChina Tests Mars Lander in Push for International Cooperation
China invited observers to a successful test Thursday of its Mars lander as the country pushes for inclusion in more global space projects.The demonstration of hovering, obstacle avoidance and deceleration capabilities was conducted at a site outside Beijing simulating conditions on the Red Planet, where the pull of gravity is …
your ad hereFacebook Removes Millions of Posts and Billions of Fake Accounts
Facebook released its Community Standards Enforcement Report on Wednesday, detailing its work in regulating its main app and Instagram from terrorist groups to child porn.The company said it removed more than 3.2 billion fake accounts between April and September, compared with more than 1.5 billion during the same period last year. …
your ad hereMaking the Digital More Tangible: Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 Brings Holograms to Work
Microsoft is bringing holograms to the office. The company recently started shipping its 2nd version of HoloLens, a headset that allows users to touch and interact with 3D holograms in everyday settings. Various industries have begun experimenting with the new computing device and VOA’s Tina Trinh had a chance to …
your ad hereTeen Receives Double Lung Transplant After Vaping Injuries
A 17-year-old male in Michigan is said to be the first person in the United States to receive a bilateral lung transplant for vaping-related injuries.The boy’s severe injuries included extreme lung inflammation, scarring and dead tissue, which alarmed medical professionals — especially given the patient’s age.”What I saw in his …
your ad hereFlying This Thanksgiving? Expect Record Crowds at Airports
Record throngs of travelers are expected to jam into airports over the Thanksgiving break and airlines are adding hundreds of flights a day in response.The Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that it expects to screen more than 26.8 million passengers and airline crew members between Nov. 22 and Dec. 2. …
your ad herePorn Actress Fights Trump Request For Settlement Dollars
Attorneys for porn star Stormy Daniels are challenging a request by President Donald Trump’s lawyers to stake claim to a settlement between Daniels and Ohio’s capital city.A federal judge last year said Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, must pay Trump nearly $293,000 for his attorneys’ fees and another …
your ad hereHow Los Angeles is Taking On Cybercriminals
As the world becomes more connected people are vulnerable of being victims of cybercriminals. Police departments, hospitals, universities and businesses everywhere are also at risk. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee shows how the city of Los Angeles is fighting this problem, by sharing and pooling critical information about cyberattacks. …
your ad hereCDC: Superbug Infections Rising, but Deaths Falling
Drug-resistant “superbug” infections have been called a developing nightmare that make conquered germs once again untreatable.So there’s some surprising news in a federal report released Wednesday: U.S. superbug deaths appear to be going down.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated about 36,000 Americans died from drug-resistant infections in 2017. …
your ad hereInitiative Aims to Expand Diabetes Treatment
On the eve of World Diabetes Day, November 14, the World Health Organization is launching a new initiative it believes will allow greater access to life-saving insulin at lower prices for a greater number of people suffering from diabetes. More than 420 million people globally suffer from diabetes and are in …
your ad herePrivacy, Consumer Groups Seek to Block Google-Fitbit Deal
Nine privacy, social justice and consumer groups are calling for the U.S. government to block Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness-gadget maker Fitbit, citing antitrust and privacy concerns.They say in a Wednesday letter to the Federal Trade Commission that the deal would consolidate Google’s dominance over internet services like search, …
your ad hereMichigan Teen Who Vaped Received Double Lung Transplant
A Michigan teenager was the recipient of what could be the first double lung transplant on a person whose lungs were severely damaged from vaping, health officials said Tuesday.Doctors at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit described to reporters Tuesday the procedure that saved the 17-year-old’s life and pleaded for the …
your ad hereJohn Legend Named People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’
Multi-talented singer and actor John Legend was named People magazine’s “sexiest man alive” on Tuesday, but said he wondered whether he could live up to the title.Legend, 40, is married to model Chrissy Teigen with whom he has two children and is the first black man to have achieved coveted …
your ad hereSomething Old, Something New for Michael Stipe
After Michael Stipe opens a gate to the abandoned Manhattan storefront that serves as his studio, you find a man easily traversing his past, present and future creative lives.He’s promoting a 25th anniversary package of the R.E.M. album “Monster” while excited by the response to the first single he’s released …
your ad hereTeen Climate Activist Leaving US, Setting Sail for Spain
Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg will leave North America and begin her return trip across the Atlantic on Wednesday aboard a 48-foot (15-meter) catamaran sailboat whose passengers include an 11-month-old baby.The boat leaves little to no carbon footprint, boasting solar panels and a hydro-generators for power. It also has …
your ad hereBringing World’s Buried Wetlands Back From the Dead
The ghosts are all around the gently rolling farmlands of eastern England. But you have to know where to look.These are not the kind of phantoms that scare or haunt — they are ghost ponds. Over the years, landowners buried them, filling in wetlands so they had more land for …
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