Scientists at the U.S. space agency NASA say a small asteroid – roughly the size of a bus – passed close to Earth on Thursday, flying just 22,000 kilometers above the surface, within the orbit of geostationary satellites that ring the planet. While the proximity to Earth might raise alarm, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory…
read moreU.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has begun late-stage human trials of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Dr. Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, told reporters Wednesday that 60,000 participants have begun receiving the vaccine across 215 locations in the United States, as well as internationally in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has declined to confirm he is willing to agree to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses his November 3 bid for re-election to Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” said the president in response to a reporter’s question during a White House news conference on Wednesday evening. “I’ve been complaining very strongly about…
read moreA weakened Beta continued its slow trek across several Southern states on Wednesday, bringing rainfall to parts of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi after having flooded homes and roadways in Texas. Houston began drying out on Wednesday after some parts of the metro area got nearly 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of rain over the last three days,…
read morePresident Donald Trump met with nine Republican state attorneys general on Wednesday to discuss the fate of a legal immunity for internet companies after the Justice Department unveiled a legislative proposal aimed at reforming the same law. Trump met with attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. Also Wednesday,…
read moreThe United Nations and Britain will co-host a global climate summit on December 12, the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement, the world body said Wednesday.The announcement came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping told the U.N. that the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter would peak emissions in 2030 and attempt to go carbon…
read moreTikTok asked a U.S. judge on Wednesday to block a Trump administration order that would require Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove the short video-sharing app for new downloads starting Sunday. A federal judge in San Francisco on Saturday issued a preliminary injunction blocking a similar Commerce Department order from taking effect Sunday on…
read moreThe rows of lettuce, microgreens and herbs that Himanshu Aggarwal and his mother grow in an enclosed room in a busy New Delhi market began flourishing six months ago, just when the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in India.Himanshu Aggarwal grows lettuce, microgreens and herbs in an 800-square-foot enclosed room in New Delhi. (Anjana Pasricha/VOA)It…
read moreU.S. election security officials are bracing the American public for a new type of worst-case scenario for the Nov. 3 presidential election — a flood of disinformation in the hours after the polls close, casting doubt on the results and on the process itself, as voters wait to learn who will lead the country for…
read morePope Francis once again used his weekly general audience Wednesday at the Vatican to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and urged the world’s leaders to remember all segments of society as they fight the coronavirus and work to rebuild world economies. Speaking before a limited group of masked faithful in a Vatican courtyard, Francis said everyone has…
read moreThe head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday “science will guide our decisions” as the agency decides whether to give full or emergency authorization to a coronavirus vaccine.Speaking to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Dr. Stephen Hahn said those decisions will be made by career FDA scientists following…
read moreCindy McCain, widow of the late U.S. Republican presidential contender John McCain, is endorsing Democrat Joe Biden in the November election, and Republican President Donald Trump says he doesn’t care one bit.Cindy McCain, who spoke on Biden’s behalf at the Democratic National Convention last month, said on Twitter late Tuesday, “My husband John lived by…
read moreThe 75th U.N. General Assembly is breaking new ground by going virtual this year due to the coronavirus. Along with that comes a whole new set of challenges and security risks. Aaron Fedor reports for VOA from New York City. …
read moreTwo Republican-led Senate committees issued a politically charged report Wednesday alleging that the work Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son did in Ukraine constituted a conflict of interest for the Obama administration at a time when Biden was engaged in Ukraine policy as vice president. But the report said it was ultimately “unclear” what impact…
read moreGermany’s health ministry Wednesday said its coronavirus smartphone app has been downloaded more than 18 million times and transmitted 1.2 million test results from labs to users during the first 100 days of use.Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin that while the “Corona Warn App” is far from perfect, it should be considered…
read moreColleagues, friends and admirers will begin paying their final respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s casket will be brought to the Supreme Court building Wednesday morning for a private ceremony in the Great Hall, attended by her family and her fellow justices. The casket will then be moved to…
read moreConservatives and liberals alike have much at stake with U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice of a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week after 27 years on the bench. Trump has promised to nominate a conservative, female jurist on Saturday to succeed Ginsburg, the most liberal member of the high court. Whoever…
read moreRescuers are trying to save scores of whales beached in the Australian state of Tasmania. Earlier this week, a pod of 270 pilot whales were found washed ashore. Two hundred more were discovered a short distance away Wednesday. The stranding of about 470 pilot whales on the west coast of Tasmania is the largest ever recorded in the state’s history. Two hundred…
read moreVolunteers planted 20,000 miniature U.S. flags on the grounds of the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital Tuesday, the day the nation reached 200,000 COVID-19 deaths. Each flag represented 10 victims who have perished since the virus first arrived in the U.S. earlier this year. During an interfaith religious service held at the Monument to mark the…
read moreColleagues, friends and admirers will begin paying their final respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s casket will be brought to the Supreme Court building Wednesday morning for a private ceremony in the Great Hall, attended by her family and her fellow justices. The casket will then be moved to…
read moreIn a sweeping bipartisan vote that takes a government shutdown off the table, the House passed a temporary governmentwide funding bill Tuesday night, shortly after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over his farm bailout. The stopgap measure will keep federal agencies fully up and running into December, giving lawmakers in the post-election congressional…
read moreThe moderator of the Sept. 29 U.S. presidential debate between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and incumbent Republican President Donald Trump has released the six topics of discussion. Trump and former Vice President Biden will debate their records in office, the current Supreme Court vacancy, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in American cities, and the integrity…
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