China’s Rival to GPS Navigation Carries Big Risks

After more than 20 years of effort, China completed its satellite navigation system last Tuesday when the last of BeiDou’s 35 satellites reached geostationary orbit.China’s domestically developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, designed to rival the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System (GPS), is now offering worldwide coverage, allowing global users to access its high-accuracy positioning, navigation and…

read more

Biden-Sanders Task Forces Unveil Joint Goals for Party Unity

Political task forces Joe Biden formed with onetime rival Bernie Sanders to solidify support among the Democratic Party’s progressive wing recommended Wednesday that the former vice president embrace major proposals to combat climate change and institutional racism while expanding health care coverage and rebuilding a coronavirus-ravaged economy.  But they stopped short of urging Biden’s full endorsement…

read more

US ‘Dangerously Dependent’ on Foreign Suppliers to Fight COVID-19, Biden Says

The United States is too dependent on foreign sources for critical supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign said, promising to bring back production “to U.S. soil.” “Under President Trump, our supply chains have actually gotten less secure,” a senior Biden campaign official told reporters Tuesday.  The official said Biden…

read more

US Formally Starts Withdrawal From WHO

U.S. President Donald Trump has formally started the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization, making good on threats over the U.N. body’s response to the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. The United States is the largest financial contributor to the WHO – which leads the fight on global maladies from polio to measles to…

read more

What Is Known about ICE’s Rule Change for Foreign Students

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities that switch to online-only courses will have to leave the country or risk deportation. Here’s an overview of what is known about the most recent changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program during the pandemic. How many colleges and universities are planning online-only classes?Nine percent of 1,090…

read more

Fossils Reveal Dinosaur Forerunner Smaller Than a Cellphone

Meet Kongonaphon kely, a pocket-sized dinosaur forerunner that was smaller than your cellphone.  The creature, which predated dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs, was just shy of 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall, according to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Some of these things would have been quite cute animals,” said study lead…

read more