On a visit to Texas less than 100 days before this year’s election, U.S. President Donald Trump promoted his energy policies, warning that the state’s oil and gas industry would be destroyed if his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, was elected.“The radical left,” Trump said Wednesday, “is fighting to abolish American energy, destroy the…
read moreMore than $21.5 billion in past-due rent is looming over Americans struggling to make ends meet, global advisory firm Stout, Risius and Ross estimated on Wednesday, as Republicans and Democrats fight over a new COVID-19 relief package.Senate Republicans this week proposed a new plan that would not reinstate the recently lapsed federal eviction ban, which…
read moreThe summer’s third and final mission to Mars — featuring NASA’s most elaborate life-hunting rover — is on the verge of liftoff.The rover Perseverance will follow China’s rover-orbiter combo and a United Arab Emirates orbiter, both launched last week. It will take the spacecraft seven months to reach Mars after traveling 300 million miles.Once on…
read moreThe outbreak of the novel coronavirus has the world in its grip. Not since the Spanish flue outbreak of 1918 has a disease spread across the world so far and so fast. But how did we get here, and what have we learned? This is the story behind the virus called SARS-CoV-2 that has left…
read moreLiving microbes, possibly millions of years old, have been discovered more than five kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean’s surface, in an area believed to have been devoid of life.In a study published Tuesday, Japanese and American scientists described what they found in sediment samples taken from a flat, wide area 3.7 kilometers to 5.7 kilometers…
read moreU.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas says he has tested positive for the coronavirus.Gohmert, a Republican, had been seen recently without a mask on Capitol Hill, including at least part of the time while he attended the House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday to hear testimony from Attorney General William Barr.In a video, Gohmert said he…
read moreThe Chinese-owned app TikTok is under a security review by the U.S. government, which will make a recommendation on the matter to President Donald Trump next week, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.Trump said Wednesday, “we are thinking about making a decision” about TikTok.The video-sharing social media app, is extremely popular in both the US.…
read moreThey control the digital spaces where many around the world spend their time, shop, work, and talk to friends and family. Together, the companies’ combined annual sales are roughly the same as the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia, as Axios notes.Now the CEOs of four top U.S. technology companies — Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google – are set to answer questions Wednesday in…
read moreOne of the most frustrating symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus is the loss of the sense of smell and scientists now say they think they understand why it happens. The experts writing in the journal Science Advances said the coronavirus infiltrates the cells that provide major structural support to sensory neurons — the neurons that detect odors and send those messages to the brain. Since the sense of smell is linked to the sense of taste, the coronavirus also affects the…
read moreHolocaust survivors around the world are lending their voices to a campaign launched Wednesday targeting Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to take action to remove denial of the Nazi genocide from the social media site. Coordinated by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the #NoDenyingIt campaign uses Facebook itself to…
read moreA U.S. House of Representatives committee is set to discuss Wednesday an order by President Donald Trump calling for undocumented immigrants to be excluded from the national census that takes place every 10 years. Those scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee include Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham, as well as four of his predecessors. The…
read moreThe New York Times Wednesday said the Vatican’s computer networks have been breached by Chinese hackers since May, in an apparent espionage effort before the start of sensitive talks between the Roman Catholic Church and Communist China. The Times says the attack, discovered by private U.S.-based cybersecurity and monitoring firm Recorded Future, appears to be the first time hackers…
read moreOne of the most frustrating symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus is the loss of the sense of smell and scientists now say they think they understand why it happens. The experts writing in the journal Science Advances said the coronavirus infiltrates the cells that provide major structural support to sensory neurons — the neurons that detect odors and send those messages to the brain. Since the sense of smell is linked to the sense of taste, the coronavirus also affects the…
read moreMajor League Baseball (MLB) has suspended all Miami Marlins games for the rest of the week after at least 15 players and coaches reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.The team is in Philadelphia where the affected players are in quarantine. The Philadelphia Phillies, who hosted the Marlins earlier this week, will also be idle through…
read moreThe U.S. government says it will use the Defense Production Act to help transform a legacy photographic film maker into a producer of pharmaceutical ingredients, including those for hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial President Donald Trump has touted as a treatment to ward off the coronavirus.President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House,…
read moreNew study results are boosting hopes that there soon may be a simple, reliable way to help family doctors diagnose the most common form of dementia. Researchers say an experimental blood test was able to distinguish people with Alzheimer’s disease from those without it in several studies. The accuracy ranged from 89% to 98%, though…
read moreNegotiations launched, the differences over the next coronavirus aid package are vast, a gulf between Democrats’ $3 trillion proposal and Republicans $1 trillion counteroffer, with millions of Americans’ jobless benefits, school reopenings and eviction protections at stake. As top White House negotiators return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday the leverage is apparent: They are meeting…
read moreTurkey is poised to introduce drastic measures to control social media platforms. The proposed legislation is drawing growing international criticism with social media remaining one of the few venues for dissent. FILE – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech at the Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center in Ankara, July 21, 2020.Infuriated by tweets…
read moreIs it possible to get the coronavirus more than once? Scientists don’t know for sure yet, but they believe it’s unlikely. Health experts think people who had COVID-19 will have some immunity against a repeat infection. But they don’t know how much protection or how long it would last. There have been reports of people…
read moreTwitter has limited Donald Trump Jr.’s account and deleted one of his tweets for violating Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policies. The tweet, posted on Monday, had what Twitter termed a misleading video on the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine. An adviser to Trump Jr., Andrew Surabian, tweeted an angry response, in which he said that Trump Jr.’s account…
read moreEveryone attending the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next month will have to wear a face mask, consent to daily testing for COVID-19, fill out questionnaires and maintain a physical distance from others.Organizers of the convention released details of the coronavirus safety plan Monday, three weeks before the Aug. 17 start of the four-day event.…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s lawyers filed fresh arguments Monday to try to block a criminal subpoena for his tax records, saying it was issued in bad faith, might have been politically motivated and calling it a harassment of the president. Lawyers filed a rewritten lawsuit in Manhattan federal court to challenge the subpoena by a state prosecutor…
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