A World Health Organization Emergency Committee warns the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remains a global health threat despite significant progress in containing the spread of this deadly virus. WHO reports a total of 3,431 cases of Ebola, including 2,253 deaths in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.The Emergency Committee declared the outbreak…
read moreFor decades, the U.S Justice Department has aspired to serve as a model law enforcement agency that largely operates independent of political influence. Federal prosecution decisions and sentencing recommendations have been made by career lawyers operating under strict rules of conduct, a rarity in countries with a weak rule of law. Now that image is being severely…
read moreSplintered results for Democratic presidential contenders from the first two state nominating contests have further muddled the race and divided the moderate wing of the party. With no clear front-runner, some see an opening for former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s media-driven campaign for the nomination. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on the billionaire businessman’s unconventional strategy.…
read moreIt took a year of campaigning, countless stump speeches and an especially strong night on the debate stage for little-known Democratic presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar to break into the top tier of the 2020 campaign in New Hampshire.Now she has less than two weeks to make it count.The Minnesota senator began working Wednesday to turn…
read moreEpilepsy, a neurological disorder typically associated with seizures, affects millions in the United States alone. Now, patients are helping scientists find new treatments by donating living brain tissue for research. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi takes us into the operating room. …
read moreDemocratic presidential challengers turned their focus Wednesday to the next two party nominating contests — in the western state of Nevada and in the southeastern state of South Carolina — in the marathon chase to pick a party nominee to face Republican President Donald Trump in the November national election. In both states, Democratic candidates will face much more racially diverse electorates than in either of the…
read moreU.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday won endorsements from three Congressional Black Caucus members, a positive sign for his campaign, which has drawn scrutiny lately over his past support for a controversial policing tactic.The three included Democratic U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks of New York City, where Bloomberg was mayor for 12 years.As a senior…
read moreSocial media giant Facebook on Wednesday removed two unconnected networks of accounts, pages, and groups “engaging in foreign or government interference,” one originating in Russia and the other one in Iran, both of which have alleged ties to intelligence services.Calling the behavior “coordinated” and “inauthentic,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said both operations…
read moreThe tiny southern African mountain nation of Lesotho made history in 2017 by becoming the first on the continent to issue licenses for the production of medical cannabis. It made history again, when it signed tens of millions of dollars worth of deals with foreign investors to develop the lucrative marijuana industry and to manufacture…
read moreConcerns have been growing that next week’s Nevada caucuses could offer a repeat of the chaos that ensnared the Iowa vote, with Nevada facing many of the same organizational and technical challenges that crippled Iowa’s process.Volunteers who will be leading the Feb. 22 caucuses said key information had yet to be shared. There has been…
read moreA meeting with nearly 80 black pastors in Detroit. A speech before a black Democratic organization in Montgomery. A rally at a historically black university. A tour of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church. An early voting kickoff at an African American museum. All in the past two weeks. While Mike Bloomberg’s rivals battled it out…
read moreVermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic primary Tuesday, as the race to be the party’s candidate to take on President Donald Trump in November starts to come into focus after months of battling among a wide group of challengers.Sanders captured 26% of the vote, edging out former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete…
read moreChinese health officials reported Wednesday the number of dead from a coronavirus outbreak has risen to more than 1,100.The National Health Commission figures included 97 new deaths and a total of 44,653 people confirmed infected since the outbreak began last month. Some experts have cast doubts about whether the total number of cases are being…
read moreThe earliest fans of the internet wondered if it could be a democratizing technology, giving all people access to information, regardless of their income, social status, or level of freedom under their governments. Today another computer technology — artificial intelligence — raises similar questions, depending on whether it will bring benefits for all, or worsen…
read moreVermont Senator Bernie Sanders claimed victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, lifting him to front runner status for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Close behind in second place was former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg followed by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar who surprised many with a strong third place showing, re-energizing her campaign. …
read moreSamsung on Tuesday unveiled a new foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, its second attempt to sell consumers on phones with bendable screens and clamshell designs.The company announced the phone at the start of a product event in San Francisco. The new phone can unfold from a small square upward into a traditional smartphone form,…
read moreDemocrat Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur who created buzz for his presidential campaign by talking about his love of math and championing a universal basic income that would give every American adult $1,000 per month, suspended his 2020 bid on Tuesday.”I am the math guy, and it is clear to me from the numbers that we…
read moreFrom “it’s my civic duty as an American” to “it’s my first vote” to simply a desire to see a change in Washington, many who who cast a ballot Tuesday in New Hampshire had a special and deeply personal reason for voting.Many voters said they were still struggling to make up their minds right up…
read moreThe polls are starting to close in New Hampshire in the nation’s first Democratic presidential primary of 2020, where the results could solidify Senator Bernie Sanders as the front-runner or further damage former vice president Joe Biden’s fading campaign.But surprises have been a tradition in early primaries and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who had a…
read moreU.S. defense and intelligence officials are voicing renewed concerns about the spread of increasingly capable terror groups in Africa, warning some have become so powerful it is no longer possible to “degrade” them.The warnings, part of a newly released report by the Defense Department’s inspector general, echo earlier warnings by the U.S. military’s Africa Command…
read moreHave you ever stored something on the cloud and wondered where that data goes? You might be surprised to learn it’s in a quiet residential community located about 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C. The majority of the world’s internet traffic passes through the town of Ashburn in Loudoun County, Virginia — home to one…
read moreHave you ever stored something in the cloud and wondered where that data goes? You might be surprised to learn it’s in a quiet residential community about 30 miles outside the capital city of Washington, where people jog or walk their dogs around human-made lakes, children’s teams practice on soccer fields, and teens play pick-up…
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