Scientists with the U.S. space agency NASA say recent satellite data are showing as much as a 30 percent drop in air pollution along the U.S. East Coast compared with the same time last year.Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, studied March’s data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, which is onboard…
read moreAfter managing to keep on top of the first wave of coronavirus outbreaks, Singapore is grappling with an alarming rise in infections among migrant workers housed in crowded dormitories. Such cases now account for about a quarter of Singapore’s 1,910 infections. The government reported 287 new cases Thursday, its biggest daily jump. More than…
read moreU.S. military and government employees continue to use the popular videoconferencing application Zoom for official business, despite FBI warnings about privacy and security issues, an action experts fear is increasing the risk of government data breaches. Zoom has seen a surge in activity during the coronavirus pandemic as office workers across the country have turned to the free app…
read moreJoe Biden faces the most important decision of his five-decade political career: choosing a vice president.The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee expects to name a committee to vet potential running mates next week, according to three Democrats with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. Biden, a former…
read moreSoutheast Asian foreign ministers have endorsed the setting up of a regional fund to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and discussed a planned video summit of their leaders with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Friday that the top diplomats of the 10-member Association of Southeast…
read moreTaking a toy out of the box can make a mess.Hardly eco-friendly, the process can yield more clutter from plastic and cardboard than the actual toy.But there are moves to change that as some toy manufacturers say they’re going green with a series of environmentally friendly initiatives: Army soldiers and Kermit the Frog aren’t the…
read moreIt looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other.Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say. The find implies our…
read moreApollo 13’s astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later — on April 13.Jim Lovell and Fred Haise insist they’re not superstitious. They even use 13 in their email addresses.As mission commander Lovell sees it,…
read moreU.S. military and government employees continue to use the popular videoconferencing application Zoom for official business, despite FBI warnings about privacy and security issues, an action experts fear is increasing the risk of government data breaches. Zoom has seen a surge in activity during the coronavirus pandemic as office workers across the country have turned to the free app…
read moreAfrican officials pushed back Thursday against the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if the virus is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk. “We cannot be neglected in this effort,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong,…
read more“Congress” literally means to gather together. But the coronavirus pandemic and election year politics are forcing lawmakers to consider ways of legislating from afar, some for the first time in U.S. history.The virus’ continuing spread is raising doubts among lawmakers and aides that the House will reconvene in Washington as scheduled after April 20. Democrats…
read moreIran’s supreme leader suggested Thursday that mass gatherings may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic, as Amnesty International said it believed at least 35 Iranian prisoners were killed by security forces amid rioting over the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comment in a televised…
read moreIn a matter of weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has assumed extraordinary power and influence at a time of national crisis. In the fight against COVID-19, Trump has declared a national emergency that has enabled him to deploy military hospital ships to New York and Los Angeles, force carmakers to manufacture ventilators and relax vaccination and treatment regulations. These and other steps have been hailed…
read moreThe United States is “holding back” funding to the World Health Organization, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, who said the WHO “got it wrong” about the advance of COVID-19.Trump and members of his administration accuse the international agency of having a bias in favor of China, where the coronavirus was first reported.“It hasn’t accomplished…
read moreJust as the coronavirus outbreak has boxed in society, it’s also squeezed high-flying tech companies reliant on people’s freedom to move around and get together.Since the beginning of March, for instance, Uber shares have lost a quarter of their value. Rival Lyft is down 28 percent. Over the same period, the S&P 500 has fallen…
read moreLinda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died Wednesday at age 70. Her death was confirmed by attorney Joseph Murtha. He provided no further details.In August 1994, Tripp became a public affairs specialist at the Pentagon, where Lewinsky worked after being a…
read moreScientists studying data from a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite say they have observed a strong reduction in ozone concentrations over the Arctic, creating what they are calling a “mini-hole” in the ozone layer.The ozone layer is a natural, protective layer of gas in the stratosphere that shields life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation,…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is waging a new political fight against the adoption of mail-in voting rights throughout the U.S., claiming it is rife with possible fraud and would significantly benefit opposition Democrats.Trump himself recently requested an absentee ballot to vote in the Republican presidential primary in Florida, the Atlantic coastal state he now claims…
read moreIndia is considering plans to seal off coronavirus hotspots in Delhi, Mumbai and parts of the south while easing restrictions elsewhere as a way out of a three-week lockdown that has caused deep economic distress, officials said on Wednesday. The sweeping clampdown in the country of 1.3 billion people to prevent an epidemic of…
read moreLess than two weeks after U.S. lawmakers passed the largest economic relief package in the country’s history, Congress is set to advance even more funding Thursday to help struggling American workers. The measure would provide additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $350 billion program that is part of the broader Coronavirus Aid, Relief,…
read moreSen. Bernie Sanders, who saw his once strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the former vice president is too far ahead for him to have any reasonable hope of catching up.The Vermont senator’s announcement…
read moreThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering changing its guidelines for self-isolation to make it easier for those who have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus to return to work if they are asymptomatic. The public health agency, in conjunction with the White House coronavirus task force, is considering an announcement as…
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