The first all-private charter to the International Space Station. Plus, a look back in history at a moon mission gone wrong, and an auction offering some of the most-expensive dust on Earth. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
your ad hereAbortion Restriction Bill Signed by Florida Gov. DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law Thursday as the state joined a growing conservative push to restrict access ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could limit the procedure nationwide. The new law marks a significant blow to abortion access in the South, where …
your ad hereEarth Day Angst: Young People Cope with Sense of Urgency, Hopelessness about Climate Change
Climate change will accelerate at an unprecedented pace if governments don’t act soon, according to a recent report by the United Nations. For many people, such news can spur conflicting emotions. Hopelessness that it’s all too late? A sense of urgency to do something? VOA’s Julie Taboh spoke with a …
your ad hereElon Musk Offers to Buy Twitter
Businessman Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter, saying the social media giant “needs to be transformed as a private company.” “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative …
your ad hereRussian Netflix Users Sue Streaming Giant for Leaving Market – RIA
Russian users of Netflix NFLX.O have launched a class action lawsuit against the streaming giant for leaving the Russian market, demanding 60 million roubles ($726,000) in compensation, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday. Netflix Inc said in March that it suspended its service in Russia and had temporarily stopped …
your ad hereFormer California Executive Gets Prison for $1 Billion Solar Fraud
A former energy executive in California who took part in $1 billion solar power fraud that bilked Warren Buffett’s company and many others was sentenced Tuesday to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay $624 million in restitution. Robert A. Karmann, 55, of Clayton was the chief financial …
your ad hereElon Musk Accused of Breaking Law While Buying Twitter Stock
Elon Musk’s huge Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices. The complaint in New York federal court accuses Musk of …
your ad hereUN: COVID Plunged 77 Million Into Poverty Before Ukraine War
The pandemic plunged 77 million more people into extreme poverty last year and many developing countries can’t recover because of the crippling cost of debt repayments — and that was before the added impact of the war in Ukraine, a U.N. report said Tuesday. The report said rich countries could …
your ad hereCOVID-19, Overdoses Pushed US to Highest Death Total Ever
2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad. The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on death statistics. The agency …
your ad hereGilbert Gottfried, Actor and Comic’s Comic, Dies at 67
Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, has died. He was 67. Gottfried died from a rare genetic muscle disease that can trigger a dangerously abnormal heartbeat, his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz said in a statement. “In addition …
your ad hereUS, European Partners Announce Takedown of Hacker Website RaidForums
The U.S. said on Tuesday it had seized RaidForums, a popular website used by hackers to buy and sell stolen data, and at the same time unsealed charges against the website’s founder and chief administrator Diego Santos Coelho. Coelho, 21, of Portugal, was arrested in the United Kingdom on Jan. …
your ad hereCompanies and Celebrities Jump into NFT Craze
The world of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs is getting a boost from companies and celebrities, who are making the digital products. But the nascent technology comes with risks. Tina Trinh reports. …
your ad hereWHO Says It Is Analyzing Two New Omicron COVID Sub-variants
The World Health Organization said on Monday it is tracking a few dozen cases of two new sub-variants of the highly transmissible omicron strain of the coronavirus to assess whether they are more infectious or dangerous. It has added BA.4 and BA.5, sister variants of the original BA.1 omicron variant, …
your ad hereTwitter’s Top Shareholder Elon Musk Decides Not to Join Board
Twitter Inc’s biggest shareholder, Elon Musk, has decided not to join its board, Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said late on Sunday. Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist and has been critical of Twitter, disclosed a 9.1% stake on April 4 and said he plans to bring about significant improvements …
your ad here‘Cabaret,’ ‘Life of Pi’ Win Prizes at UK’s Olivier Awards
Sultry musical “Cabaret” and fantastical literary adaptation “Life of Pi” were among the winners Sunday at British theater’s Olivier Awards, which returned with a live ceremony and a black-tie crowd after a three-year gap imposed by COVID-19. The celebration of London theater, opera and dance came back to London’s Royal …
your ad here‘Sonic 2’ Steals Weekend Box Office, but ‘Ambulance’ Stalls
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” sped to the top of the charts in its opening weekend, earning an impressive $71 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount’s PG-rated sequel easily bested the weekend’s other major newcomer, Michael Bay’s “Ambulance,” which faltered in theaters. “Sonic 2,” which brings back the first film’s …
your ad hereMumbai Aims to be South Asia’s First Carbon-Neutral City by 2050
Facing an existential threat from climate change, Mumbai, India’s financial hub has embarked an ambitious climate action plan that aims to make the city carbon-neutral by 2050. It is the first city to set a timeline to reach zero emissions in South Asia, one of the world’s most vulnerable regions …
your ad hereLiving With COVID: Experts Divided on UK Plan as Cases Soar
For many in the U.K., the pandemic may as well be over. Mask requirements have been dropped. Free mass testing is a thing of the past. And for the first time since spring 2020, people can go abroad for holidays without ordering tests or filling out lengthy forms. That sense …
your ad hereFlorida Groups Canvass Spring Breakers to Warn of Fentanyl
In the days after a group of West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a South Florida house party, community activists sprang into action. They blitzed beaches, warned spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs cut with the dangerous synthetic opioid and offered an …
your ad hereSpace Station’s First All-Private Astronaut Team Docked to Orbiting Platform
The first all-private team of astronauts ever launched to the International Space Station (ISS) arrived safely at the orbiting research platform Saturday to begin a weeklong science mission hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight. The rendezvous came about 21 hours after the four-man team representing Houston-based startup company Axiom …
your ad hereShanghai Showing Strain of Life Under Strict COVID Lockdown
Shanghai is China’s most populous city, a place marked by its expansive worldview and keen sense of its own identity. But now it is chafing at Beijing’s rigid containment methods designed in accordance with the national zero-COVID policy. Since a wave of infections struck the metropolis of some 25 million …
your ad hereSaudi Arabia to Allow 1 Million Hajj Pilgrims This Year
Saudi Arabia said Saturday it will permit 1 million Muslims from inside and outside the country to participate in this year’s hajj, a sharp uptick after pandemic restrictions forced two years of drastically pared-down pilgrimages. The hajj ministry “has authorized 1 million pilgrims, both foreign and domestic, to perform the …
your ad hereSmith Gets 10-Year Oscars Ban Over Slap
The motion picture academy on Friday banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years following his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. The move came after a meeting of the academy’s Board of Governors to discuss a response to Smith’s actions. …
your ad hereDonors Pledge Extra $4.8 Billion to Fight COVID Vaccine Inequity
An international donor conference on Friday raised $4.8 billion for the U.N.-backed COVAX plan to deliver coronavirus jabs to poorer countries, organizers said. “The pandemic is not over, far from it. Until we beat COVID-19 everywhere, we beat it nowhere. That is a fact, and a responsibility for all of …
your ad hereUN: Aging Supertanker Off Yemen at ‘Imminent Risk’ of Spilling Oil
The United Nations warned Friday that an old, neglected oil tanker carrying more than a million barrels of oil is a ticking “time bomb” at “imminent risk” of a major spill off the coast of Yemen that could cost $20 billion to clean up. “If it were to happen, the …
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