A U.S. judge early Sunday blocked the Commerce Department from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads by late Sunday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said in an order that WeChat users who filed a lawsuit “have shown serious questions …
your ad hereNewspaper: Facebook Tells Irish Court That Probe Threatens Its EU Operations
Facebook has told Ireland’s High Court it cannot see how its services could operate in the European Union if regulators freeze its data transfer mechanism, the Sunday Business Post reported, citing court documents seen by the paper.The U.S. social media giant last week said that the Irish Data Protection Commission, …
your ad hereRobert W. Gore, Inventor of Gore-Tex Fabric, Dead at 83
Robert W. Gore, whose invention of what created the breathable-yet-waterproof fabric known as Gore-Tex revolutionized outdoor wear and helped spawn uses in numerous other fields, has died. He was 83.Gore, who was president of W. L. Gore & Associates for almost 25 years and company chairman for 30 years, died …
your ad hereHealth Officials Advise Flu Shot to Avoid Dealing With Flu, COVID at the Same Time
Health officials are warning the public to get a flu shot this year to avoid having to deal with COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously.Both are highly contagious and share similar symptoms. The flu, however, is seasonal, while COVID-19 does not appear to have a timeline as it snakes around the …
your ad hereHealth Officials Advise Flu Shot to Avoid Dealing with Flu, COVID-19 at the Same Time
Health officials are warning the public to get a flu shot this year to avoid having to deal with COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously.Both are highly contagious and share similar symptoms. The flu, however, is seasonal, while COVID-19 does not appear to have a timeline as it snakes around the …
your ad hereTrump Administration Announces Bans of TikTok, WeChat
The Trump administration issued a sweeping ban Friday that will begin barring downloads and use of the Chinese-owned mobile apps WeChat and TikTok from U.S. app stores as of midnight Sunday. The announcement is the latest escalation in America’s tech fight with China.Officials from the U.S. Commerce Department cited national …
your ad hereForecasters Turn to Greek Alphabet After Storm Names Run Out
Weather forecasters have started using the Greek alphabet to designate new storms after running out of conventional names.The U.S. National Weather Service says Tropical Storm Wilfred formed Friday in the eastern Atlantic, followed by Subtropical Storm Alpha off the coast of Portugal a short time later.Meanwhile, forecasters say tropical depression …
your ad hereDrug Shows Promise in 1st Largely Minority COVID-19 Study
A drug company said Friday that a medicine it sells to tamp down inflammation has helped prevent the need for breathing machines in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the first large study that primarily enrolled Hispanics and Blacks.Switzerland-based Roche reported the results for tocilizumab, sold now as Actemra and RoActemra for …
your ad hereProgress Made Toward Phasing Out Planet-Warming ‘Super’ Greenhouse Gases
Rare bipartisan support for new climate legislation brings the U.S. one step closer to ditching a group of potent planet-warming chemicals.Democratic and Republican senators recently introduced an FILE – A coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyoming, July 27, 2018. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have been found …
your ad hereOfficials: Trump to Block US Downloads of TikTok, WeChat on Sunday
The U.S. Commerce Department said it will issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20.Commerce officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still rescinded by President Donald …
your ad hereAustralia Warns Pregnant Women of Bushfire Smoke
Pregnant women living in bushfire-prone areas in Australia are being urged to protect themselves and their unborn babies from smoke as the fire season returns. Doctors in the worst-affected regions say they are horrified by the effects of the smoke from last summer’s catastrophic conditions.Doctors have said particles from bushfire …
your ad hereSurvey: Almost Half of Americans Say ‘No’ To COVID Vaccine If Available Today
Nearly half of Americans, or 49%, said they definitely or probably would not get an inoculation if a coronavirus were available today, while 51% said they would, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted earlier this month.The 49% who lean toward rejecting the inoculation cited concerns about side effects …
your ad hereChina Data Leak Points to Massive Global Collection Effort
A Chinese firm with suspected ties to the Chinese government has been amassing a database of detailed personal information on 2.4 million people, including more than 50,000 Americans, according to findings by an independent researcher and an Australia-based cybersecurity firm. Christopher Balding, an American professor who taught at …
your ad hereByteDance Plans TikTok IPO To Win US Deal as Deadline Looms, Sources Say
President Donald Trump has threatened a US ban on TikTok could happen as early as next week …
your ad hereSocial Media Firms Deleting Evidence of War Crimes, Human Rights Watch Says
Social media companies are taking down videos and images that could be vital in prosecuting serious crimes, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are increasingly using artificial intelligence algorithms to remove material deemed offensive or illegal. Human Rights Watch says vital evidence is …
your ad hereLife on Venus, Counterpunching an Asteroid, and a Stargazers’ Perch
Researchers on a quest to find life in the universe got promising news this week. Space agencies are joining forces to defend the planet from an aggressive asteroid, and a look at one of the best places on Earth to view the stars. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us “The Week …
your ad hereChristie’s to Put Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton Up for Auction
The British auction house Christie’s announced this week that it would sell the largest and most complete known skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex in early October.The auction house said the dinosaur skeleton is nearly 12 meters long and just under 5 meters tall. It has been known as Stan, named …
your ad hereUS Experts say Solar Storms Likely on the Upswing
Experts from the U.S. National Atmospheric and Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the sun is in the first year of a new cycle of activity, and they are watching it closely in an effort to guard against solar storms that could cause problems on Earth.Officials at NOAA explain that the …
your ad hereFirst Volume of Barack Obama’s Memoir Coming Nov. 17
The first volume of former President Barack Obama’s memoir is coming out Nov. 17, two weeks after Election Day. It’s called “A Promised Land” and will cover his swift and historic rise to the White House and his first term in office. The publication date for the second volume …
your ad hereFrance Launches Effort to Right Classical Music’s Gender Imbalance
Only about six percent of the world’s professional classical music orchestras are headed by women. But in France, there is a drive to change that, including La Maestra – an international competition for women conductors in Paris. The winner of the contest, which attracted more than 200 applicants from Asia, …
your ad hereFlu Season Looms as COVID-19 Rages
As if the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t bad enough, flu season is about to begin in the Northern Hemisphere, adding millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths to the already-strained American health care system.”We really, really want to emphasize the potential for disaster, actually,” …
your ad hereIn Europe, Native American History Celebrated During Mayflower Commemoration
Much has been written about the 102 Europeans who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Much less has been written about the Wampanoag Native American community the Europeans met on the other side. After four centuries, a new exhibition in the place where the ship set sail aims …
your ad hereScientists Discover Ancient Fossilized Giant Sperm
Scientists say they have found what may be the oldest specimen of fossilized sperm ever discovered, inside a tiny crustacean trapped in a piece of amber 100 million years ago.The researchers say the discovery in amber from Myanmar’s Kachin province, described in a paper published Wednesday in the science journal …
your ad hereUN Chief: COVID-19 Pandemic ‘Out of Control’
The U.N. Secretary-General warned Wednesday the coronavirus pandemic is “out of control,” and he called for global solidarity in making a future vaccine affordable and available to all. “The virus is theNo. 1global security threat in our world today,” Antonio Guterres told reporters. There have been nearly 30 million confirmed …
your ad hereUS Sanctions 2 Russians in Crypto Theft Scheme
The U.S. government announced sanctions Wednesday on two Russian nationals for their role in the theft of at least $16.8 million worth of cryptocurrency.In the phishing scheme, which was conducted in 2017 and 2018, Danil Potekhin and Dmitrii Karasavidi allegedly created web sites that looked like legitimate currency exchange sites. …
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