Forty seven years after he took the stage at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in a sequined-studded baseball uniform as the world’s biggest pop star, Elton John walked on to the same stage on Sunday night wearing a bedazzled Dodgers bathrobe, a uniform more fitting for a 75-year-old man on …
your ad hereMeet Benin’s Real-Life ‘Woman King’
“The Woman King” is a rare example of an African story told in the form of a Hollywood historical epic. Around the world, it has won praise for its acting, directing, and themes of female empowerment with women, led by General Nanisca, fighting a war that men cannot. While the …
your ad hereBob Iger Returning to Disney as CEO for Two Years
Former Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger is returning to the media company as CEO less than a year after he retired, a surprise appointment that comes as the entertainment company struggles to turn its streaming TV services into a profitable business. Iger, who retired last year after 15 …
your ad hereBeijing’s Biggest District Urges Residents to Stay Home as COVID Cases Rise
Beijing’s most populous district urged residents to stay at home Monday, extending a request from the weekend as the city’s COVID-19 case numbers rose, with many businesses shut and schools in the area shifting classes online. Nationally, new case numbers held steady on Sunday near April peaks as China battles …
your ad hereNo More Mad Cow Worries, Banned US Blood Donors Can Give Again
U.S. Army veteran Matt Schermerhorn couldn’t give blood for years because he was stationed in Europe during a deadly mad cow disease scare there. Now, he’s proud to be back in the donor’s chair. Schermerhorn, 58, is among thousands of people, including current and former military members, who have returned …
your ad hereHistoric Compensation Fund Approved at UN Climate Talks
Negotiators early Sunday approved a historic deal that would create a fund for compensating poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich countries’ carbon pollution, but an overall larger agreement still was up in the air because of a fight over emission reduction efforts. After the decision …
your ad hereMusk Restores Trump’s Twitter Account After Online Poll
Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump’s account on Twitter on Saturday, reversing a ban that has kept the former president off the social media site since a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was poised to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. Musk made the announcement …
your ad hereNew Measures for Size, As World’s Population Surpasses 8 Billion
What is bigger: A ronna or a quetta? Scientists meeting outside of Paris on Friday — who have expanded the world’s measuring unit systems for the first time this century as the global population surges past 8 billion — have the answer. Rapid scientific advances and vast worldwide data storage …
your ad hereRussian Prison Activist Paints Picture of Life Facing Griner
U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been taken to the Russian region of Mordovia, notorious since Soviet times for its penal colonies, to serve a nine-year sentence on drugs charges. Here are excerpts from a Reuters interview with Olga Romanova, a representative of the prison rights group Russia Behind Bars, …
your ad hereWorld Cup Draws Attention to Equal Rights, Including Attire
Official-looking flyers have circulated on social media describing cultural expectations for fans attending the World Cup in Qatar. Some include rules for women’s attire: Shoulders and knees must be covered. Problem is, it’s bogus. While the local organizing committee suggests that fans “respect the culture,” no one will be detained …
your ad hereSnow Leopard Photographs Cheer Wildlife Conservationists in Kashmir
Wildlife conservationists are heartened by a rare sighting of a snow leopard in what they say is the first member of the endangered species to be captured on camera in Indian-administered Kashmir. The adult animal was identified from images taken last month using infrared camera traps in a remote region …
your ad hereProtests, Online Dissent Daily Occurrence in China, Report Says
China’s zero-COVID policy prompted hundreds of Chinese citizens to march in the streets in Guangzhou this week after hearing that ongoing lockdowns had been extended. In videos shared on Chinese social media and later on Twitter, demonstrators were seen tearing down COVID lockdown barriers in the streets and chanting slogans …
your ad herePfizer Booster Spurs Immune Response to New Omicron Subtypes
Pfizer said Friday that its updated COVID-19 booster may offer some protection against newly emerging omicron mutants, even though it’s not an exact match. Americans have been reluctant to get the updated boosters rolled out by Pfizer and rival Moderna, doses tweaked to target the BA.5 omicron strain that until …
your ad hereEarly Flu Adding to Woes for US Hospitals
As Americans head into the holiday season, a rapidly intensifying flu season is straining hospitals already overburdened with patients sick from other respiratory infections. More than half the states have high or very high levels of flu, unusually high for this early in the season, the government reported Friday. Those …
your ad hereBotswana Records Surge in Lithium Batteries Theft as Global Demand Soars
Authorities in Botswana are reporting increased thefts of lithium batteries from mobile phone towers amid a surge in global demand for the battery in electric vehicles. The southern African nation’s biggest mobile network operator says it has lost more than $100,000 worth of lithium batteries in the past week alone. …
your ad hereWebb Space Telescope Spots Early Galaxies Hidden from Hubble
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now were hidden from view, including one that may have formed a mere 350 million years after the cosmic-creating Big Bang. Astronomers said Thursday that if the results are verified, this newly discovered throng of stars would beat the …
your ad hereSharks Move Closer to More Protections as Wildlife Summit Takes Action
A global wildlife summit in Panama took an important step Thursday toward upgrading protection for sharks, the ancient ocean vertebrates targeted for their fins used in a status-symbol soup. A committee voted to approve a proposal to include requiem and hammerhead sharks on Appendix II of the Convention on International …
your ad hereMalawi Faces Sharp Rise in Cholera Cases
Malawi is struggling to contain one of the worst cholera outbreaks in years. It has spread nationwide, killing more than 250 people and infecting more than 8,000. Authorities and aid groups have stepped up cholera vaccination and hygiene campaigns, as Lameck Masina reports from Blantyre, Malawi. …
your ad hereRobert Clary, Holocaust Survivor, ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ Star, Dies at 96
Robert Clary, a French-born survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II who played a feisty prisoner of war in the improbable 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 96. Clary died during the night Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, niece Brenda Hancock …
your ad hereNASA’s Mighty Moon Rocket at Long Last Launches
NASA once again makes moonshot history. Plus, the space agency’s astronauts take a stroll, and a piece of tragic space history found by accident. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
your ad hereRussia’s Arts Scene Becomes Casualty of Putin’s War
As the Kremlin escalates its war on Ukraine and tightens its clampdown on any domestic opposition to the invasion, the world of Russian arts and culture, historically opposed to violence and war, descends into pessimism. Marcus Harton narrates this report from VOA’s Moscow bureau. …
your ad hereTaiwan’s APEC Envoy at the Center of Processor Chip Tension
Taiwan’s envoy to a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders is the 91-year-old billionaire founder of a computer chip manufacturing giant that operated behind the scenes for decades before being thrust into the center of U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security. Morris Chang’s hybrid role highlights the clash between Taiwan’s status as …
your ad hereWith Twitter’s Human Rights Team Gone, Some Experts Say Users’ Safety Jeopardized
With Twitter’s human rights team eliminated, legal experts voice alarm about what it could mean for users around the world. Tina Trinh reports. Camera: Daniel Brody. …
your ad hereClimate Change Fueled Rains Behind Deadly Nigeria Floods, Study Finds
Heavy rains behind floods that killed more than 600 people in Nigeria this year were about 80 times likelier because of human-induced climate change, scientists reported Wednesday. The floods mainly struck Nigeria but also Niger, Chad and neighboring countries, displacing more than 1.4 million people and devastating homes and farmland …
your ad hereNASA’s Return to the Moon Begins With Launch of Artemis 1
After mechanical issues and inclement weather forced a series of delays, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission to the moon finally took off from Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Florida. Camera: Adam Greenbaum …
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