A new Pentagon report predicts that China will “at least double” the size of its nuclear warhead stockpile over the next decade as it pursues its own nuclear triad to conduct nuclear strikes by land, sea and air. China’s modernization and expansion of its nuclear force is part of a broader effort aimed at matching, and…
read moreThe strongest typhoon of the year is on its way to the Korean Peninsula Wednesday after lashing Japan with strong winds and rain.Typhoon Maysak peaked early Tuesday with winds of 233 kilometers per hour, coming within a week of the first major storm and a few days before a third potential typhoon.Maysak, a Category 4 storm…
read moreSeveral experimental COVID-19 vaccines have reached the final testing stage, officials involved in their development have said.The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, said Monday the final testing stage in the U.S. will involve up to 30,000 adults from different racial, ethnic and geographical groups. A vaccine created by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and manufactured…
read moreA U.S. appeals court on Tuesday granted President Donald Trump’s request to delay Manhattan’s district attorney from accessing his tax returns in connection with a criminal probe of his business practices. The unsigned order by a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was a victory for the president in his yearlong…
read moreThe U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it was implementing new compliance reforms at the FBI to minimize errors when it applies for wiretaps, following revelations it made numerous mistakes during its probe into President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Attorney General William Barr released two new memos outlining sweeping changes, including the creation of…
read moreGetting an Amazon package delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality.The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones.Amazon said that the approval is an “important step,” but added that it is still testing and flying the drones. It did not say when it expected…
read moreBotswana says a string of mysterious elephant deaths has come to a halt since June, after at least 281 carcasses were found.Experts in the southern African country, with the world’s largest elephant population, said there were no signs of poaching or predators. Most of the blood samples sent abroad for testing indicate a toxin caused the…
read moreUganda and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) have placed one of the largest refugee camps in Africa, Kyangwali, under lockdown after a jump in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The refugees there say they are feeling the pinch. Kyangwali, in southwestern Uganda, is home to more than 120,000 refugees. The lockdown is due…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is traveling Tuesday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week after a white police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back as officers tried to arrest him. Trump told reporters Monday he is not planning to meet with Blake’s family because they wanted a lawyer to participate. The president also declined to…
read moreAfter scientists determined that the coronavirus likely spread from an animal to a human, there came a flurry of statements from nations around Asia promising to ban the trafficking of animals. Now there is data to suggest that authorities, at least in Vietnam, are following through with enforcing the bans. Among the cases of trafficked wildlife…
read moreAfter years of planning, China now dominates the world’s production of new generation batteries that are key to transitioning away from fossil fuels. These new batteries are essential for electric vehicles and most portable consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops. By 2040, energy analysts estimate over half of all passenger vehicles sold worldwide could be electric, according to 2019 report by Bloomberg…
read moreFacebook Inc said it would block news publishers and people in Australia from sharing news on Facebook and Instagram if a proposal to force the U.S. tech giant to pay local media outlets for content becomes law. The Australian government said in July it would require tech giants Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay for…
read moreCanada reached an agreement in principle on Monday with both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for millions of doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Canada’s two agreements follow separate deals with Pfizer and Moderna announced weeks ago, and are the latest example of countries rushing to secure access to vaccines. Canada is also in…
read moreRacial tensions in America have taken center stage in the U.S. presidential campaign, following deadly confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and white supporters of President Donald Trump. VOA’s Brian Padden reports how the president over the weekend responded to the protests with a strong law and order message, while his Democratic rival, Joe Biden,…
read moreA court filing disclosed Monday shows Big Ten Conference presidents voted 11-3 to postpone the football season, bringing some clarity to a key question raised in a lawsuit brought by a group of Nebraska football players. The vote breakdown was revealed in the Big Ten’s response to the lawsuit. The court documents did not identify how…
read moreThe House Oversight Committee intends to subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for documents about disruptions in mail delivery operations that are now central to questions over the ability to handle an onslaught of mail-in ballots expected for the November election. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the committee chair, sent a memo Monday saying DeJoy blew past last…
read moreThe Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rolled back Obama administration rules limiting levels of toxic materials in wastewater released from coal plants, its latest effort to slash environmental regulations for the coal industry as the Trump administration’s first term winds down. The EPA finalized “effluent limitations” for two types of waste from coal plants, a savings…
read moreNine weeks from the national U.S. election, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, sparred Monday over blame for street violence linked to racial injustice and police treatment of minorities that erupted in recent days. Trump tweeted Monday that he plans Tuesday to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week…
read moreA U.S. appeals court on Monday denied a bid by Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, to immediately end the criminal case against him for lying to the FBI about his talks with a Russian official before Trump took office in 2017. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,…
read moreHigh-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They are based on a common cold virus that many people have been exposed to, potentially limiting their effectiveness, some experts say. CanSino Biologics’ vaccine, approved for military use in China, is a modified form of adenovirus type 5, or Ad5. The company is…
read moreForty percent of Americans back President Donald Trump’s threat to ban videosharing app TikTok if it is not sold to a U.S. buyer, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll, suggesting that many support the effort to separate the social media upstart from its Chinese parent.The poll published Monday, which surveyed 1,349 adult respondents across the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump exchanged barbs Sunday with the mayor of Portland, Oregon, less than 24 hours after a man was killed as Black Lives Matter protesters and Trump supporters clashed in the Pacific Northwest city’s streets.At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler urged protesters not to turn violent or attempt retribution…
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