Millions of Americans have resumed traveling this year to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends -this despite a warning from the Centers for Disease Control to stay home. VOA’s Carol Pearson has the latest. …
read moreU.S. President-elect Joe Biden is set to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the holiday season in an address Wednesday. The speech comes a day before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, a time when millions of Americans typically gather with family, many traveling in order to do so. But this year, with COVID-19 infections spiking across the country, the federal government…
read moreScotland on Tuesday made sanitary products free to all women, becoming the first nation in the world to take such a step against “period poverty.” The measure makes tampons and sanitary pads available at designated public places such as community centers, youth clubs and pharmacies, at an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of $32 million U.S. The…
read moreU.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced his picks for top diplomatic and national security posts in his forthcoming administration. Biden is pressing ahead with the transition process even though President Donald Trump has yet to formally concede. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov …
read moreAfter four years of warnings and preparations, the 2020 presidential election did not see a repeat of 2016, when intelligence officials concluded Russia meddled using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations. But according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, as well as analysts, the good news ends there. The…
read moreAmericans are less likely to get food poisoning this Thanksgiving thanks to NASA. Yes, NASA. The space agency’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system created decades ago for the lunar landing initiative is credited to this day with reducing foodborne illnesses.Originally developed for astronaut food in the early days of the Apollo program,…
read moreWith coronavirus cases surging across the U.S., more people who want to travel to be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday are getting tested for the virus. Lines are so long now that people wait for hours to be swabbed, as Mariama Diallo reports. …
read morePurdue Pharma pleaded guilty Tuesday to three criminal charges, formally taking responsibility for its part in an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths but also angering critics who want to see individuals held accountable, in addition to the company.In a virtual hearing with a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey,…
read moreThe government of the Solomon Islands has defended its plans to ban Facebook, insisting the move would preserve “national unity.” Ministers say the world’s largest social media platform has been “grossly abused.” But critics insist a ban is an attempt to shut down criticism of the government’s economic policies.Facebook helps connect the people of a…
read moreScottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Parliament Tuesday that the number of new COVID-19 cases has stabilized and hospitalizations are down, but the COVID-19 alert levels in the country will remain as they are.”We now have grounds for cautious optimism,” Sturgeon told lawmakers. She said current restrictions would remain in place and unchanged until December 11.Scotland…
read moreU.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition to power in Washington has formally started after a government agency declared him the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential election, even as President Donald Trump continues his long-shot attempt to upend Biden’s victory at the polls.Biden’s team of advisers immediately started reaching out Monday night to Trump officials throughout…
read moreThe governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that Joe Biden has been certified as the winner of the presidential election in the state.Governor Tom Wolf tweeted that the Pennsylvania Department of State had certified the election results for president and vice president. “As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of…
read moreKenyan doctors are threatening to go on strike next month unless the government addresses their concerns about safety, health insurance, and staffing needs to fight COVID-19. The threat comes after at least 10 doctors died from the virus this month.Speaking to reporters in Nairobi Tuesday, the secretary-general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union,…
read moreEuropean Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced Tuesday the European Union has reached a deal with U.S. biotech company Moderna for 160 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.Last week, Moderna said interim data from late-stage clinical trials of its experimental vaccine showed it to be 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, the disease…
read moreThe government of the Solomon Islands has defended its plans to ban Facebook, insisting the move would preserve “national unity.” Ministers say the world’s largest social media platform has been “grossly abused.” But critics insist a ban is an attempt to shut down criticism of the government’s economic policies.Facebook helps connect the people of a…
read moreU.S. presidents often change government policy through presidential actions, issuing executive orders, proclamations or memoranda, bypassing Congress and the legislative process. Mike O’Sullivan reports, President Donald Trump has relied heavily on the tactic, and President-elect Joe Biden has promised to do the same. …
read moreWith pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s announcement Monday that its vaccine successfully prevented coronavirus infection, three candidates appear to be promising vital tools to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. Biotech firm Moderna and drug company partners Pfizer and BioNTech announced last week that their vaccines were ready to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization. They…
read moreThe U.S. General Services Administration has determined president-elect Joe Biden is now eligible for certain resources and access as part of a 1964 law enacted to promote an orderly transition of executive power in the United States. Between now and his January 20 inauguration, Biden will be building out his administration, putting in place staff both…
read moreChina successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft to the moon Monday to land, gather soil and rock samples, and return them to Earth. If successful, it will be the first mission by any nation to retrieve samples from the lunar surface since the 1970s, and the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to retrieve such…
read morePresident-elect Joe Biden has announced several of his top cabinet picks, naming his long-time close adviser and former deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken as his choice to be the next secretary of state. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more on Blinken, who is known as a staunch supporter of international alliances, human rights…
read moreChina is scheduled to launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon Monday to land, gather soil and rock samples, and return them to Earth. If successful, it will be the first mission by any nation to retrieve samples from the lunar surface since the 1970s, and the third nation, after the United States…
read moreU.S. President-elect Joe Biden has named veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield to join his forthcoming Cabinet as his pick for U.N. ambassador, his transition team announced Monday. The post requires Senate confirmation.Thomas-Greenfield has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations during her 35-year State Department career. An Africa specialist, she served as U.S. ambassador to Liberia,…
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