First, the sun. Now: the wind and the rain.The Tokyo Olympics, delayed by the pandemic and opened under oppressive heat, are due for another hit of nature’s power: a typhoon arriving Tuesday morning that is forecast to disrupt at least some parts of the Games.“Feels like we’re trying to prepare …
your ad hereJuly 25, 2021
A look at the best news photos from around the world …
your ad hereMadrid’s Retiro Park, Prado Avenue Join World Heritage List
Madrid’s tree-lined Paseo del Prado boulevard and the adjoining Retiro park have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list.The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, holding an online meeting from Fuzhou, China, backed the candidacy on Sunday that highlighted the green area’s introduction of nature into Spain’s capital. The influence the properties …
your ad hereUNESCO Leaves Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Off Endangered List
After much lobbying, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will not appear on a list of “in danger” World Heritage Sites. Environmentalists call this a “terrible” decision fueled by political pressure. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …
your ad hereFauci Sounds New Virus Warnings
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, sounded new alarms Sunday about the surge in coronavirus cases in the country, especially in regions where people have been resistant to getting vaccinated even as the delta variant spreads rapidly.“We’re going in the wrong direction,” Fauci said on CNN’s “State …
your ad herePlugged in with Greta Van Susteren
Most Deaths from Drowning Are Preventable
On this first World Drowning Prevention Day, the World Health Organization offers life-saving solutions to prevent most of the 236,000 estimated deaths from drowning every year. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in April establishing this international day to raise awareness of drowning as a serious problem.Summertime has …
your ad hereMarsupial Resurgence in Outback Australia
Experts have said that rare footage of an endangered marsupial in outback Australia is a sign that native animals are beginning to recover from years of feral cat predation.Feral cats threaten the survival of over 100 native species in Australia, according to federal environment officials.The opportunistic predators have caused the …
your ad hereSouth Africa Turmoil
On this edition of Encounter, Ambassador Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador to Botswana, and Frans Cronje, CEO of the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations, analyze with host Carol Castiel the political, economic and social situation in South Africa following …
your ad hereJackie Mason, Comic Who Perfected Amused Outrage, Dies at 93
Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93. Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for more than two weeks, celebrity lawyer Raul …
your ad hereThousands Around Globe Protest COVID-19 Shots, Lockdowns
Tens of thousands of people protested in Australia, France, Italy and Greece on Saturday, sparking clashes with police as they railed against COVID-19 measures and government sanctions against the unvaccinated aimed at prodding more people into getting their shots.Dozens of protesters were arrested after an unauthorized march in Sydney, with …
your ad hereSmoke From Nearby Wildfires Helps Crews Gain on Biggest US Blaze
Scores of wildfires raging across forest and scrubland in the Western United States have belched so much smoke that it is helping an army of firefighters gain ground on the nation’s biggest blaze, Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, by blocking sunlight, officials said Saturday. Both the National Weather Service and officials with …
your ad hereUS, Spain Set Scoring Records in Water Polo
The world champion U.S. women’s water polo squad began its quest for a third straight Olympic gold medal Saturday by storming into the record books with a 25-4 humbling of hosts Japan at the Tatsumi Water Polo Center. But the U.S. record for most goals scored in a single match …
your ad hereRights Chief Condemns Iran’s Violent Suppression of Water Shortage Protests
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is condemning the violent suppression by Iranian security forces of protesters demanding action to resolve chronic water shortages in Khuzestan province. Peaceful protests took place last week in several cities across Khuzestan in southwestern Iran over water shortages and mismanagement. Iranian security …
your ad here45% of Unvaccinated Americans Say They Will Definitely Not Get the Vaccine
Forty-five percent of the Americans who have not been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines say they definitely do not have any plans to get the shots, according to a new poll.Another 35% are a little less sure and say they will probably not get the vaccines, the survey, conducted by the …
your ad hereUS Buys 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccine Doses
The United States says it is buying 200 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to anticipate future needs, including the possibility of booster shots as well as doses for children under 12 if regulators approve its use.White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday the additional doses would …
your ad hereSomali-American Designer Debuts Hijabs at Nordstrom
A Somali-American fashion designer is launching a line of headscarves with a major North American retailer to give Muslim women more options and to make hijabs more visible to U.S. shoppers. VOA Somali’s Maxamud Mascadde has our story from the Midwest state of Minnesota, narrated by Radhia Adam. …
your ad hereCleveland’s Major League Baseball Team Goes from Indians to Guardians
Known as the Indians since 1915, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team will be called Guardians.The ballclub announced the name change Friday — effective at the end of the 2021 season — with a video on Twitter narrated by actor and team fan Tom Hanks. The decision ends months of internal …
your ad hereUnvaccinated US Swimmer Sparks Debate as Olympics Start
A debate is brewing between former gold medalist Maya DiRado and some American swimmers over U.S. medal threat Michael Andrew’s decision not to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus as he prepares to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.DiRado sparked the discourse this week with a lengthy thread on Twitter in …
your ad hereUS Ships Moderna Vaccine to Pakistan Amid Delta Variant Surge
As Pakistan deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant, the Biden administration is sending 3 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine Friday, set to arrive in the country Sunday.The doses, sent through COVAX, the United Nations vaccine-sharing mechanism, are in addition to the 2.5 …
your ad hereUN Chief Calls on Warring Parties to Observe Olympic Truce
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all warring parties to observe the traditional Olympic truce during the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan, and to pursue cease-fires and lasting peace after the competitions end.The U.N. chief said in a video message Thursday that athletes from around the world have …
your ad hereItaly Extends Its COVID-19 State of Emergency to Dec. 31
Italy on Thursday announced new anti-COVID 19 measures as infections have started rising again, mainly due to the highly contagious delta variant. The number of new coronavirus infections has doubled in the past week, with the country now recording more than 5,000 new cases daily. With fears that the number …
your ad hereCDC Director: Delta Variant ‘One of the Most Infectious Respiratory Viruses’
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, said Thursday the delta variant of the coronavirus that results in COVID-19 “is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of and that I have seen in my 20-year career.”Officials in Washington on Thursday urged …
your ad hereInterior Secretary: Drought Demands Investment, Conservation
Confronting the historic drought that has a firm grip on the American West requires a heavy federal infrastructure investment to protect existing water supplies but also will depend on efforts at all levels of government to reduce demand by promoting water efficiency and recycling, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Thursday.Haaland …
your ad hereOver 600,000 Notified to Quarantine in British ‘Pingdemic’
Over 600,000 users of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service’s (NHS) COVID-19 test and trace app were “pinged” alerts recommending self-isolation earlier this month.In what has been dubbed the “pingdemic,” the app told users to begin a 10-day quarantine if they tested positive for the coronavirus or had been in …
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