South Korea, widely seen as a global model of coronavirus containment, faces its biggest pandemic challenge yet, as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise after the country began removing pandemic related restrictions. Daily caseloads surpassed 7,000 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That is quadruple the daily numbers reported at the beginning …
your ad hereFormer U.S. Football Player Presses for Cancer Cure in Honor of Late Wife
Lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. But it doesn’t get nearly the same amount of research dollars as breast or prostate cancer. That may be changing, thanks to one man’s efforts and new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and …
your ad hereAl Unser, Four-time Winner of Indianapolis 500, Dies at 82
Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday following a long illness. He was 82. Unser died at his home in Chama, New Mexico, with his wife, Susan, by his side, Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday. He had been …
your ad hereUS Campaign to Vaccinate Young Children Off to Sluggish Start
The United States rushed millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses for children ages 5-11 across the nation, but demand for inoculations for younger kids has been low, more than a dozen state public health officials and physicians said. Of the 28 million eligible U.S. children in that age group, around 5 …
your ad hereExperts: Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Games Needs More Nations for Impact
Experts say that for the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to be effective, more countries will need to participate. But that could be challenging given some countries’ economic ties to China or recognized prowess in winter sports. Since the Biden administration’s announcement this week that it would …
your ad hereUS Actor Convicted of Staging Attack, Lying to Police
Former Empire actor Jussie Smollett was convicted Thursday on charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself nearly three years ago and then lied to Chicago police about it. In the courtroom as the verdict was read, Smollett stood and faced the jury, showing no visible reaction. The jury …
your ad hereUN Chief to Attend Beijing Games Despite Boycotts
Despite a growing number of Western countries announcing diplomatic boycotts of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, will attend the Games. “The Secretary-General received an invitation from the International Olympic Committee to attend the Beijing Winter Games, and he has accepted it,” said U.N. spokesman …
your ad hereCalls Grow Worldwide for COVID Booster Shots
Health officials in the United States, Israel and other nations have for months been pushing for COVID-19 booster shots among older populations, and those calls are now growing worldwide. The issue was discussed at an extraordinary meeting at World Health Organization in Geneva convened by SAGE, the 15-member Strategic Advisory …
your ad hereSouth African Hospitals Say Omicron Symptoms Less Severe
As cases of COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant soar in South Africa, hospital officials monitoring the outbreak say patient reports offer compelling evidence the variant causes illness that is less severe than previous forms of the disease. “Most of the people we’re seeing are having mild or moderate form …
your ad hereTwo Sisters Hit New York to Get City to Sing – With Them
During COVID when all the theaters were closed, two sisters decided to take their musical talents to the only stage available: the street. The rest, as they say, is history. Anna Nelson reports. Anna Rice narrates her story. Camera: Natalia Latukhina, Vladimir Badikov …
your ad herePakistan Reports First Case of Omicron
Pakistan has detected its first case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Official said Thursday the infection was found in a 57-year-old unvaccinated woman in Karachi, the country’s largest city and capital of the southern Sindh province. Local media reported the patient, who was isolating at home after being …
your ad hereNew Zealand’s Plan to End Smoking: A Lifetime Ban for Youth
New Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those 14 or younger. Under a new law the government announced Thursday and plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after …
your ad hereUS Authorizes AstraZeneca COVID Drug for a Few Who Can’t be Vaccinated
U.S. health authorities on Wednesday authorized the use of synthetic antibodies developed by AstraZeneca to prevent COVID-19 infections in people who react badly to vaccines. It was the first time the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency authorization for such a purely preventative treatment. The FDA warned the drug …
your ad hereUS Senate Rejects Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for Businesses
The Senate narrowly approved a resolution Wednesday to nullify the Biden administration’s requirement that businesses with 100 or more workers have their employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing. The vote was 52-48. The measure now goes to the Democratic-led House, which is unlikely to take …
your ad hereCalifornia Plans to Be Abortion Sanctuary if Roe Overturned
With more than two dozen states poised to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court gives them the OK next year, California clinics and their allies in the state legislature on Wednesday revealed a plan to make the state a safe place for those seeking reproductive care, including possibly paying …
your ad hereWhat Caused Amazon’s Outage?
Robotic vacuum cleaners halted in their tracks. Doorbell cameras stopped watching for package thieves, though some of those deliveries were canceled anyway. Netflix and Disney movies were interrupted, and The Associated Press had trouble publishing the news. A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at …
your ad hereOmicron Spreading Rapidly as Answers on Risk Remain Elusive
The World Health Organization says new data is emerging every day about the potential impact of the new omicron variant on the coronavirus pandemic, but that it is premature to draw conclusions about the severity of the infection. Since omicron was detected two weeks ago in South Africa, it has …
your ad hereGoogle Releases 2021’s ‘Most Searched’ Items
While the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on, one might not know it by looking at 2021’s most searched items on Google. According to the list released by Google Wednesday, “NBA” was the most searched term in the U.S., but it’s unclear why. Other most searched topics were rapper DMX, who died; Gabby …
your ad here98-Year-Old NYC Photographer Shows Life as Is – From WWII to Today
98-year-old photographer Tony Vaccaro was a simple infantryman, but he unofficially photographed World War II for 272 days. Anna Nelson met with Vaccaro to talk about his role in documenting the war. Anna Rice narrates her story. …
your ad hereAustralia Announces Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics
Australia will stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, mirroring a similar move by the United States. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the boycott Wednesday in Canberra, citing a range of issues including accusations of human rights abuses against China and Beijing’s refusal to hold bilateral talks …
your ad hereJapanese Tycoon Takes Off for International Space Station
A Japanese billionaire and his producer rocketed to space Wednesday as the first self-paying space tourists in more than a decade. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, who plans to film his mission, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The trio …
your ad hereAmazon Cloud Outage Hits Major Websites, Streaming Apps
A major outage disrupted Amazon’s cloud services on Tuesday, temporarily knocking out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, a wide range of apps, and Amazon.com Inc.’s e-commerce website as consumers shopped ahead of Christmas. “Many services have already recovered; however, we are working towards full recovery across services,” Amazon said …
your ad hereUN Chief Isolating After COVID-19 Exposure
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was exposed to the coronavirus Tuesday by a U.N. official who already had COVID-19 and is isolating for the next few days, diplomatic sources said. Guterres, 72, has canceled his upcoming in-person engagements, sources told AFP. The U.N. chief was to be the guest of …
your ad hereAmerica Should Prepare for More Omicron Cases, US Health Officials Say
The omicron variant is making headlines as the world’s newest strain of coronavirus. In the United States, where nearly 200,000 new coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University, top public health officials warn Americans to stay vigilant even as vaccination rates rise and travelers from countries where the …
your ad hereArtificial Intelligence Works to Outsmart Governments’ Internet Censorship
Two computer scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a new artificial intelligence system that evolves to detect and evade internet censorship in repressive countries. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …
your ad here