After initially acknowledging the authority of U.S. states to decide how best to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump has been encouraging anti-lockdown protests against Democratic governors in battleground states he needs to win to be reelected in November. As VOA’s Brian Padden reports, the president’s critics accuse Trump of trying to exploit the pandemic response for political gain, while supporters say Trump is channeling the frustration of American workers who say they are harmed more by the economic shutdown than the deadly…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump traveled to Michigan on Thursday to visit an auto plant that has been making medical supplies during the pandemic. This is Trump’s third visit to a battleground state this month, where he hopes to drum up support ahead of the November election. But as White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, his…
read moreNASA and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have welcomed the two astronauts who, next Wednesday, are scheduled to head to space, becoming the first humans to do so from U.S. soil in nine years. NASA test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived from their home base in Houston aboard one of the space agency’s jets Wednesday. They will also make history as the first astronauts to go into space…
read moreHealthcare workers at British hospitals will be the first participants in a global study testing the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to see if they can be used to treat or prevent COVID-19. The University of Oxford-led study, kicking off Thursday, will test over 40,0000 frontline health workers in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, testing…
read moreA new Columbia University study released this week suggests the U.S. delay in reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic cost the nation tens of thousands of lives.The study, conducted by three Columbia University researchers, and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, suggests that if control measures designed to control…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s recent purge of nearly a half dozen independent government watchdogs marked a new first: a president firing an inspector general at the urging of an agency head who was being investigated for possible wrongdoing.Trump fired State Department inspector general Steve Linick last Friday at the behest of Secretary of State Mike…
read moreSecretary of State Mike Pompeo admits he asked President Donald Trump to fire the internal State Department watchdog but denies it was in retaliation for the watchdog investigating him. Democrats in Congress and the American Academy of Diplomacy see the firing as a troubling pattern in the Trump administration. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has…
read moreRussia continues to pose “serious” and “growing” threats to U.S. interests in space, according to the top military officer for space defense. “They’re real, they’re serious and they’re concerning,” Gen. John Raymond, chief of the newly established U.S. Space Force and head of U.S. Space Command, told reporters Wednesday. “Our advantage has been diminished, and that’s why the establishment of the Space Force…
read moreEvidence of the formation of a new planet has been collected by scientists working at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The discovery is the first of its kind, says lead scientist Anthony Boccaletti, from Observatoire de Paris. “Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but…
read moreThe Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily prevented the House of Representatives from obtaining secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The court’s unsigned order keeps previously undisclosed details from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election out of the hands of Democratic lawmakers at least until early summer. The court…
read moreA Republican-led U.S. Senate committee authorized a subpoena on Wednesday for information in an investigation related to Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, President Donald Trump’s main rival as he runs for re-election in November. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted 8-6, with every Republican voting yes, and every Democrat…
read moreA key Senate panel Thursday is set to consider President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that oversees Voice of America among other entities. Documentary filmmaker Michael Pack’s nomination has been under consideration for nearly two years, held up in part because of concerns from Democrats over alleged…
read moreNASA announced Wednesday it will name its next-generation space telescope in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, the space agency’s first chief astronomer. In a release posted on its website, the space agency calls Roman the “mother” of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched 30 years ago, this year. NASA says Roman tirelessly advocated for new tools that would allow scientists to study the broader universe from space. Roman, who…
read moreAdjusting to online education could be tough. For deaf and hard of hearing students and educators, it’s probably more so. Now teachers are creating their own online resources in American Sign Language to overcome this difficult time. VOA’s Calla Yu has more.Camera: Austin Ao …
read moreThousands of Nigerians are receiving free mental health care through a program to help people cope with stress and isolation from COVID-19. The program, Mentally Aware Nigeria, or MANI, was formed by psychologists and medical experts to create an environment where people can seek mental health care without fear of stigma or discrimination. Timothy Obiezu…
read moreAmidst the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump picked a fight Wednesday with the key electoral swing state of Michigan over its expanded plan for absentee voting in the November presidential election. An election official in the midwestern state, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, announced Tuesday that absentee ballot applications are being sent to all 7.7…
read moreCongressional Democrats are protesting President Donald Trump’s decision to remove the Transportation Department’s acting inspector general, the latest in a string of actions by Trump to fire or replace government watchdogs. The Democratic chairs of three House panels on Tuesday demanded that Mitch Behm be reinstated immediately as acting inspector general. FILE – President Donald Trump,…
read moreA federal judge Tuesday ordered Texas to allow any of the state’s 16 million voters to cast a ballot by mail over fears of the coronavirus, paving the way for what would be one of the most dramatic expansions of mail-in voting in the country. The decision is unlikely to be the last word. Republican Texas…
read moreIn early May, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked during a Fox News virtual town hall when the country would no longer be dependent on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers for 94% of antibiotics used in this country. “I think we will have it done within two years,” Trump answered. “Everybody makes our drugs, except us.” U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters…
read moreJohnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it will stop selling one of its flagship products — talc-based baby powder — in the United States and Canada.The pharmaceutical company said its decision is part of a “portfolio reassessment related to COVID-19.”But J&J is facing more than 16,000 lawsuits from consumers who claim the powder is contaminated with…
read moreAs she settled down to work from home when India announced a lockdown in March, Shweta Andrews thought exultantly “this is the way to go.” After all she no longer had to do the grinding commute between office and home in the Indian capital that took up two hours daily.Two months on, the digital editor…
read moreThe Senate Intelligence Committee approved the nomination Tuesday of Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe for the position of National Intelligence director.The committee’s decision on the nomination was a narrow partisan vote of 8 to 7, with all Democrats on the opposing side. If approved by the full Senate, Ratcliffe would become the permanent director of National…
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