NASA on Thursday launched an effort to pay companies to mine resources on the moon, announcing it would buy from them rocks, dirt and other lunar materials as the U.S. space agency seeks to spur private extraction of coveted off-world resources for its use. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote in a blog post accompanying the announcement…
read moreA report released Thursday by the nonprofit conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said the world’s wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 68% in just four decades, with human consumption behind the decline.FILE – In this Nov. 23, 2019 photo, a burned area of the Amazon rainforest is seen in Prainha, Para state,…
read more“I didn’t lie,” U.S. President Donald Trump bluntly responded at a White House news conference Thursday after a reporter asked him, “Why did you lie to the American people?” The question from ABC News White House correspondent Jon Karl came in the wake of audio released by journalist and author Bob Woodward, to whom Trump…
read moreMore dengue, less malaria. That may be the future in parts of Africa on a warming planet, depending on where you live. FILE – A doctor tests a child for malaria at the Ithani-Asheri Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, May 11, 2016.Using mosquito optimal temperature data and population density, the researchers predicted the risk of malaria and…
read moreU.S. weather officials announced Thursday that a La Nina climate pattern has developed in the Pacific Ocean, possibly exacerbating an already busy hurricane season and setting up a colder, wetter winter for North America.U.S. Climate Prediction Center Deputy Director Mike Halpert said in a press release that La Nina can contribute to an increase in…
read moreThe U.S. Senate failed to pass a trimmed-down coronavirus relief package Thursday, capping months of unsuccessful negotiations to bring a second round of economic aid to millions of Americans impacted by the pandemic. The $500 billion proposal put forward by Senate Republicans failed to advance to debate on a 52-47 vote.The failure significantly increases the…
read moreWith the presidential campaign entering its final two-month stretch, both President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are ramping up travel to battleground states this week. But the candidates have very different approaches to getting their messages out to supporters. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …
read moreBob Woodward, facing widespread criticism for only now revealing President Donald Trump’s early concerns about the severity of the coronavirus, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he needed time to be sure that Trump’s private comments from February were accurate. In Woodward’s upcoming book on Trump, “Rage,” the president is quoted saying the…
read moreWith the presidential campaign entering its final two-month stretch, both President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are ramping up travel to battleground states this week. But the candidates have very different approaches to getting their messages out to supporters. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …
read moreAmid busy construction crews racing to build an airport in Mexico, scientists are unearthing more and more mammoth skeletons in what has quickly become one of the world’s biggest concentrations of the now-extinct relative of modern elephants.More than 100 mammoth skeletons have been identified spread across nearly 200 excavation sites, along with a mix of…
read moreBingo is back, this time among millennials and Gen Zers. To stave off boredom caused by the coronavirus quarantine and connect with others, millions of global millennials and Gen Zers are issuing challenges to each other on social media. Challenges have gotten so popular that social media giant Instagram added a “challenge” story sticker to make it easier for users to create…
read moreThe Trump administration is moving forward with a policy that expands protections for religious groups on college campuses and threatens to cut federal education funding to colleges that violate free speech rules.The Education Department issued the rule Wednesday, less than two months before the election, and cements much of what President Donald Trump outlined in…
read moreVaping by U.S. teenagers fell dramatically this year, especially among middle schoolers, according to a federal report released Wednesday.Experts think last year’s outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths may have scared off some kids, but they believe other factors contributed to the drop, including higher age limits and flavor bans.In a national survey, just under…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump knew in early 2020 how deadly the coronavirus could be in the United States, but he intentionally misled the American public about the severity of the disease to avoid panicking people, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.As the virus started to sweep from China throughout the world, national…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has moved to bar offshore oil and gas drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, a rare action against the fossil fuel industry from an administration that has made global energy dominance a priority.The order drew skepticism from environmentalists and disappointment from the oil and gas industry,…
read moreAn official at the Department of Homeland Security says he was pressured by agency leaders to suppress details in his intelligence reports that President Donald Trump might find objectionable, including intelligence on Russian interference in the election and the threat posed by white supremacists. Brian Murphy also says in a whistleblower complaint filed with the agency’s…
read moreU.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is unveiling a plan Wednesday to try to protect American workers by raising taxes on companies that move jobs overseas. Biden, challenging Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 national election, is delivering details of the plan during a campaign stop in the industrial heartland city of Warren, Michigan.…
read moreBritish-Swedish pharmaceutical giant Astra-Zeneca has paused large-scale global trials of its COVID-19 vaccine because a volunteer participant became ill after receiving the experimental drug. The company issued a statement Tuesday saying the pause in testing is a “routine action, which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials,…
read moreOne segment of the electorate may be unable to vote if poll workers are not able to certify their identity. It is the reality facing hundreds of thousands of transgender Americans in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. An estimated 378,000 eligible transgender voters do not have identification such as a driver’s license that reflects their name, appearance or new gender identity, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. “If those poll workers decide that those ID’s don’t adequately or accurately…
read moreAmid the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump attracted a crowd of thousands to his latest political rally at a North Carolina airport Tuesday evening. Trump marveled at a crowd he said totaled 15,000 people –- a number that reporters on site said was exaggerated. The rally was attended by 14,600 people and several thousand more either wanted to attend…
read moreA teacher in Nigeria is offering free mathematics classes via Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram to help struggling students affected by the coronavirus lockdown. After almost six months, more than 1,000 students are taking her online classes, across Nigeria and even internationally. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports. …
read moreFor the first time in Australia, teenagers have launched a class-action lawsuit on behalf of young people around the world to stop the extension of a coal mine in the state of New South Wales. Anxiety over global warming is driving this teenage campaign to stop the expansion of a coal mine near Gunnedah, 430 kilometers northwest of Sydney, in the state of New South…
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