U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday came one step closer to his first major political victory: passage of his coronavirus economic relief package.What is it? A $1.9 trillion bill that Democrats said would help the country defeat the coronavirus and repair the economy. Republicans say it is more expensive than …
your ad hereUS Researchers Say COVID-19 Antiviral Shows Promise
Pharmaceutical giant Merck and an American laboratory announced progress Saturday in the design of an oral drug against COVID-19. Their antiviral has shown positive effects in reducing the viral load in current tests.”Knowing that there is an unmet need for antiviral therapy for SARS-CoV-2, we are encouraged by these preliminary …
your ad hereStop ‘Fussing and Whining’ Over COVID Response, Says Brazil President
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has recorded more than 116 million global coronavirus cases. The U.S. is on the verge of having 30 million infections, followed by India with 11 million and Brazil with 10.8 million.Earlier this week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had callous words for fellow Brazilians unhappy with …
your ad hereWomen Survive Slavery, Challenge Status Quo in Documentaries
Two documentaries shine a light on women defying the odds in the face of brutality and corruption. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the filmmakers and has the story. Camera: Penelope Poulou Producer: Penelope Poulou …
your ad hereInternational Women’s Day Marks Year of Increased Hardships for Women Worldwide
For more than a century, International Women’s Day has celebrated women’s achievements across the globe, overcoming persistent gender inequality. This year’s observance comes as the UN reports women, particularly women of color, face especially high rates of unemployment. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more. Camera: Karen Sánchez and Rebaz Majeed …
your ad hereNASA’s New Mars Rover Hits Dusty Red Road, 1st Trip 6.6 Meters
NASA’s newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 6.5 meters on the odometer in its first test drive.The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position Thursday, two weeks after setting down on the Red Planet to seek signs of past life.The roundabout, back and forth drive …
your ad hereMeghan Markle, Ahead of Oprah Interview, Says She’s ‘Ready to Talk’
Meghan Markle, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, says she is now “ready to talk” along with husband Prince Harry, ahead of a highly anticipated weekend airing of an interview with Oprah Winfrey.Markle credits her newfound freedom for opening up about the limitations put on her by the royal family and her …
your ad hereWhite House COVID Team: Take Any Vaccine You Can Get
The White House COVID-19 response team said Friday that all coronavirus vaccines currently available were safe and effective and urged Americans to take whichever one they had access to, after the mayor of Detroit reportedly declined an allocation of the Johnson & Johnson drug.At a news briefing Thursday, Detroit Mayor …
your ad hereEffort to Curb Ebola in Guinea, DR Congo Gathering Steam
The World Health Organization says it is using every measure it has to curb the spread of parallel Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the biggest lessons learned from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa — the largest in history — is the critical …
your ad hereRwanda Begins COVID-19 Vaccinations
The east-central African nation of Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccination program Friday, using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, making it the first African nation to administer the drug. The nation received 102,960 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 240,000 doses of AstraZeneca through the international vaccine cooperative, COVAX facility earlier this week. Rwandan health authorities …
your ad hereWHO Cancels Interim Report on Origins of COVID in China
A Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account …
your ad hereWorld Semiconductor Shortage Raises Taiwan’s Bargaining Power with US
U.S. President Joe Biden’s order to secure semiconductor supply chains for high-tech hardware production offers a commercial boost to Taiwan, one of the world’s biggest providers of chips, and gives Taipei new weight in any free-trade talks, analysts say.Biden signed an executive order Feb. 24 for the United States to …
your ad hereWHO Cancels Interim Report on China COVID Investigation
A Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account …
your ad hereCOVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Grows as Side Effect Worries Fade
Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is growing, with people’s willingness to have the shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey showed on Friday.Co-led by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) and the polling firm …
your ad hereUS Tech Competition With China Draws Bipartisan Support
This week a U.S.-government backed commission of technology experts completed a three-year review of the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, urging the development of a new national technology strategy to stay competitive with China.The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has been studying how artificial intelligence and machine learning can …
your ad hereSpaceX Takes Flight With and Without Success
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week built the bones for much-needed power upgrades. Also, SpaceX took flight with and without success, and flaming space junk lights up Australian skies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. …
your ad hereKenyan Women’s Rights Groups Hail Lifting of US Abortion Funding ‘Gag Rule’
Women’s rights activists in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s order revoking the ban blocking U.S. funding to women’s health organizations that provide abortion or abortion-related services. Critics say the so-called gag rule left women uninformed about safe options to end a pregnancy. Forty-five-year-old Najma Wangoi …
your ad hereFood Waste Problem Needs Better Data: UN Report
A lot of food is wasted around the world, and the United Nations says it needs better data to determine just how much. Citing the environmental impact of food production, the U.N. says understanding the scope of food waste is crucial. Despite the lack of data, the …
your ad hereSpaceX Test Rocket Launches, Lands, Then Explodes
An unmanned SpaceX Starship SN10 test rocket – designed to take humans to the moon and beyond – perfectly launched and touched down on Earth Wednesday, but then exploded on the launch pad shortly after landing.It was third consecutive test flight of the rocket to end in an explosion, though …
your ad hereHospitalized Prince Philip Has Successful Heart Procedure
Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure at a London hospital and is expected to remain for several days of “rest and recuperation,” Buckingham Palace said Thursday. The palace said the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II “underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s …
your ad hereEnding Mask Mandates Reflects ‘Neanderthal Thinking,’ Biden Says
U.S. President Joe Biden, while expressing frustration, has limited power to overrule decisions by state governors who are ending mask mandates and lifting other restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.”I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told a small group of reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office when asked about Republican …
your ad hereCountries Roll Out Chinese-Made COVID Vaccines
Nearly 50 countries have either received or ordered at least one of the three Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccines, according to an Associated Press survey. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo on the vaccine rollouts. …
your ad hereVietnam Tapping Hackers to Silence Critics, Experts Warn
An international advocacy group’s claim that the Vietnamese government has tapped hackers to target activists shows that the communist Southeast Asian state is widening the use of technology to quash its biggest opponents, experts believe. Ocean Lotus, a shadowy group suspected of working with the Vietnamese government, is “behind a sustained …
your ad hereUS Health Official: ‘Now is Not the Time’ to End COVID-19 Restrictions
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday “now is not the time” to lift COVID-19 restrictions, one day after the governor of Texas announced the southern U.S. state was “100 percent open.” At a virtual news briefing for the White House COVID-19 response, …
your ad hereCOVID-19 Exposes Hearing Problems
The World Health Organization says one in 10 people worldwide is expected to suffer from hearing loss by 2050. But in the United States, health officials say around 20 percent of America’s adult population is already experiencing some level of hearing loss and the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the problem …
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