A new type of solar panel promises a cheap, flexible way to get more power from the sun. They may help the growing renewable energy industry expand even faster. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more. …
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is set to travel to the border at El Paso, Texas, for a rally Monday night to focus on his demands for a wall to prevent people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico. El Paso’s former congressman, Beto O’Rourke, who is considering a possible run for the Democratic nomination…
read moreIn Algeria, it was banned from bidding for public contracts after one of its executives was convicted of bribery. In Zambia, it was probed over allegations of bribery involving a multi-million-dollar contract to build cell towers in rural areas. In the Solomon Islands, it was accused of offering millions of dollars to the…
read moreAnother candidate has entered the crowded Democratic 2020 presidential sweepstakes. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar formally announced her candidacy Sunday at a freezing and snowy rally in Minneapolis. “I don’t have a political machine. I don’t come from money. But what I do have is this: grit,” Klobuchar said, seemingly proving it by speaking for nearly…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s planned trip Monday to the border city of El Paso, Texas comes days before U.S. government funding is due to lapse once again and as suspense builds over Trump’s vague but persistent threat to declare a national emergency if Congress declines to pay for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. “The president…
read moreInternational Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and assured him that IMF stands ready to support his country. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, both IMF and prime minister Imran Khan’s office said. “I…
read moreThe U.S. government is facing a Friday deadline for funding about a quarter of its operations, struggling to avert another shutdown after a record 35-day closure was ended last month. Construction money for a barrier at the U.S. southern border with Mexico remains at the center of the dispute, with President Donald Trump asking for…
read moreA joint study by the International Labor Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund finds the vast majority of the world’s children lack effective social protection coverage. It says this dooms them to a life of extreme poverty, with negative implications for society. The study finds only one third of children between zero and 14 years of…
read moreU.S. Senator Cory Booker made the nation’s complicated history with race relations and racial disparities a focal point at events in the key state of Iowa during his first 2020 presidential campaign swing over the weekend. Booker, 49, a former Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, frequently discussed incarceration and employment disparities, while also telling…
read moreHow do editorial cartoons fit into the U.S. political realities? What can they change, and who can they inspire or shame? Anna Rice talked with seasoned editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes who, for more than two decades, has been drawing Washington’s political players and bringing attention to their political blunders. …
read moreScientists are helping patients fight flu, diabetes and other maladies with the help of a smart watch that monitors body chemistry for blood sugar, sweat and other data. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas say it can also help couples get pregnant by tracking the stress. Mariia Prus traveled to Texas to learn…
read moreA new kind of electric car charging point has been switched on in London. It’s designed to make electric vehicle, or EV, charging infrastructure cheaper and greener. It also acts as a data port, as VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports. …
read moreIn the year since the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school, a number of states have passed laws making it easier to take guns away from people who may be suicidal or bent on violence against others, and courts are issuing an unprecedented number of seizure orders across the country. Supporters say…
read moreDemocratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren made her bid for the presidency official on Saturday in this working-class city, grounding her 2020 campaign in a populist call to fight economic inequality and build “an America that works for everyone.” Warren delivered a sharp call for change at her presidential kickoff, decrying a “middle-class squeeze” that has left…
read moreOne of the world’s top research universities, the U.S.-based University of California, Berkeley, has stopped new research projects with Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications giant. The university’s suspension, which took effect on January 30, came after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the corporation and some of its affiliates two days earlier.…
read moreAs President Donald Trump prepares to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un for a second time, he’s out to replicate the suspenseful buildup, make-or-break stakes and far-flung rendezvous of their first encounter. The reality star American president will soon learn if the sequel, on this matter and many others, can compete with the original. In…
read moreTime is running out for U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional lawmakers to compromise on a border security deal that would prevent another partial government shutdown next Friday. Just days after Trump repeated his call for $5.7 billion in funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, a bipartisan committee is expected to present a compromise proposal.…
read moreCan the presidential retreat that produced the landmark Camp David Mideast peace accord do anything to help bridge the divides in polarized Washington? White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney isn’t setting any lofty goals, but he’s invited a bipartisan mix of legislators to the rustic Maryland campus for an informal get-together this weekend…
read moreLawmakers in the U.S. Northwestern state of Washington, which is battling a measles outbreak, are considering a bill that would prohibit parents from claiming a personal or philosophical exemption to their children receiving vaccinations. Hundreds of people opposed to the bill lined up early Friday to attend a hearing in Olympia, the state capital, where…
read moreUp to 85 percent of the jobs that today’s college students will have in 11 years haven’t been invented yet. That’s according to a panel of experts assembled by the Institute for the Future, although an exact percentage is impossible to predict. The IFTF, a nonprofit that seeks to identify emerging trends and their impacts…
read moreThe U.S. Capitol is the most recognizable workplace in the country, and for an estimated 80 to 100 lawmakers, it’s also the place they literally call home while in Washington, D.C. For three to four nights each week — 30 to 40 weeks a year — these lawmakers don’t leave Capitol Hill at the end…
read more
