One August day in 2017, a 31-year-old man with a cough boarded a crowded minibus in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo.The man was dead before he could reach his destination.That touched off the most lethal outbreak of pneumonic plague in decades. By the end of November, more than 2,400 people had been infected and 209 had died.Basketball…
read moreThe Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers, in an action ramping up tensions with China.The U.S. Commerce Department said it was amending an export rule to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.”The reaction from…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s long-standing accusation of criminality against his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, has taken on a new name: Obamagate.In this new iteration being hotly promoted by Trump and his right-wing allies, Obama officials in the waning days of his administration conspired to entrap Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of a…
read moreThe Democratic-controlled House is pressing ahead Friday with votes on another massive rescue bill that would pump almost $1 trillion to state and local governments, renew $1,200 cash payments for individuals, and extend a $600 weekly supplemental federal unemployment benefit. The first four coronavirus response bills were bipartisan measures that passed by sweeping votes, but…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump and his allies continue to push “Obamagate,” a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was responsible for masterminding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. As White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, the Obamagate conspiracy theory is being touted just months from the November presidential election. …
read moreA Taiwan-based company is planning a $12 billion semiconductor factory in the U.S. state of Arizona.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computer chips.The firm said Friday the factory will create as many as 1,600 jobs. Thousands more jobs are expected to be created along the supply lines to support production…
read moreIt’s a race against time.As communities start to open, governments are rushing to put together smartphone apps that can be part of their arsenal to curtail the spread of COVID-19.But the apps — and the technologies they rely on — vary, and for many that has led to confusion about what to expect.“It’s overwhelming how…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump and his allies continue to push “Obamagate,” a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was responsible for masterminding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. As White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, the Obamagate conspiracy theory is being touted just months from the November presidential election. …
read moreThe Senate has passed legislation that would extend a series of expired federal surveillance tools designed to help law enforcement officials track suspected terrorists, moving one step closer to reviving them. The legislation passed the Senate 80-16 Thursday. The bill is a bipartisan compromise that has the support of Attorney General William Barr, House Speaker Nancy…
read moreScientists around the world are working to battle the coronavirus – an effort that extends to a space-travel lab that worked overtime to help sick earthlings. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has This Week in Space. …
read moreNorth Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr has stepped down as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee while the FBI investigates allegations that he sold stocks using inside information about the coronavirus update. “The work the Intelligence Committee and its members do is too important to risk hindering in any way. I believe this step is necessary to allow the Committee to continue its essential work free of external distractions,” Burr said in…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is eyeing ways to crack down on China as retribution for the way it handled the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.”There are many things we could do,” Trump told Fox News. “We could cut off the whole relationship.””Now, if you did, what would happen?,” Trump asked rhetorically. “You’d…
read moreThe United States lacks a comprehensive plan to respond to the coronavirus, a U.S. health official warned lawmakers Thursday.Dr. Rick Bright, an immunologist for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued the warning in testimony before a congressional committee. He alleged in a whistleblower complaint that he was removed from his position for…
read moreBurundi has expelled four officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring them persona non grata and ordering them to leave the country by Friday, a leaked memo from the country’s foreign ministry reveals. The decision comes days before the May 20 presidential elections and amid a global coronavirus pandemic.Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs assistant minister,…
read moreAn Australian parliamentary report has debunked a conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G technology. Anti-lockdown protesters in Australia and beyond have claimed a connection between the new coronavirus and the rollout of the mobile communications standard.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparate groups of conspiracy theorists together. Some believe the disease was deliberately spread around the…
read moreBy many accounts, Gov. Tom Wolf has helped mitigate Pennsylvania’s coronavirus outbreak and avoided the full-blown disasters seen elsewhere. His success in the next challenge — containing the growing resistance to his efforts — is to be determined. The Democrat at the helm in one of the premier battlegrounds in November’s presidential election is…
read moreNearly eight years after he was last on the ballot, Barack Obama is emerging as a central figure in the 2020 presidential election.Democrats are eagerly embracing Obama as a political wingman for Joe Biden, who spent two terms by his side as vice president. Obama remains the party’s most popular figure, particularly with black voters…
read moreAmerica faces the “darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job after warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic. Immunologist Dr. Rick Bright makes his sobering prediction in testimony prepared for his appearance…
read moreThe European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a “best-case scenario.” Dr. Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator’s vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines…
read moreAn Australian parliamentary report has debunked a conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G technology. Anti-lockdown protesters in Australia and beyond have claimed a connection between the new coronavirus and the rollout of the mobile communications standard.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparate groups of conspiracy theorists together. Some believe the disease was deliberately spread around the…
read moreLong-suffering California Republicans finally have something to celebrate. Former Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia captured an open U.S. House seat north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, giving Republicans a rare victory in one of the nation’s most Democratic states. Garcia defeated Democrat Christy Smith in a special election to complete the remainder of the term of…
read moreCancer deaths have dropped more in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act than in states that did not, new research reveals. The report Wednesday is the first evidence tying cancer survival to the health care change, which began in 2014 after the law known as “Obamacare” took full effect, said one study…
read more
