The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee Antony Blinken to lead the U.S. State Department on Tuesday. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Blinken faces numerous challenges worldwide as the nation’s top diplomat. Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Katherine Gypson …
read morePresident Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice on Tuesday to end its reliance on private prisons and acknowledge the central role government has played in implementing discriminatory housing policies.In remarks before signing the order, Biden said the U.S. government needs to change “its whole approach” on the issue of racial equity. He added that…
read moreThe northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction. Poachers decimated the population, but now science has a chance to bring it back. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.Camera: Reuters Produced by: Arash Arabasadi …
read moreThe World Health Organization director-general on Tuesday continued to press his case against what he calls “vaccine nationalism,” saying poor countries have had to “watch and wait,” while wealthy nations forge ahead with vaccination programs.In his closing remarks to the 10-day WHO executive board meeting in Geneva, agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “With every…
read moreU.S. Senate Republicans appear to be edging away from convicting former President Donald Trump of inciting insurrection in the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of Trump supporters who looked to confront lawmakers as they debated certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the November election.All 100 senators — 50 Democrats and…
read morePeople from Boston to the Washington area were reporting internet outages or slow service Tuesday. According to Downdetector.com, which tracks outages, users reported problems with Verizon, Google, Zoom, YouTube, Slack and Amazon Web Services. Many of those services have become staples for millions of Americans working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Students attending school virtually also…
read moreSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday wealthy countries should not hold onto excess stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccines, and that the world needs to work together to fight the pandemic. FILE – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment facilities in Johannesburg, April 24, 2020.Ramaphosa told a virtual meeting of the World…
read moreThe U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the nomination of Antony Blinken to be the country’s next secretary of state. At a confirmation hearing last week, Blinken said he is ready to confront the challenges posed by China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. He said China “poses the most significant challenge” to U.S. national interests, while noting there is room…
read moreArgentina is set to receive another batch of a Russian vaccine against COVID-19 on Tuesday, just days after Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner became the country’s latest leader vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine. The vice president was given the shot three days after President Alberto Fernández was given his first dose. …
read moreLess than one week into the administration of President Joe Biden, much of the talk in Washington is focused on the dysfunction on Capitol Hill, a spate of executive orders from the new president, and the looming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. None of the three bodes well for bipartisan cooperation so pessimism might…
read moreThe U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the nomination of Antony Blinken to be the country’s next secretary of state. At a confirmation hearing last week, Blinken said he is ready to confront the challenges posed by China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. He said China “poses the most significant challenge” to U.S. national interests, while noting there is room…
read moreTwo NASA astronauts are set to embark on two spacewalks in a week’s time outside the International Space Station. The first of the two spacewalks will be Wednesday and will focus on completing the installation of the Bartolomeo science payloads platform outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, according to a NASA media advisory. The tasks will include the replacement of a nickel-hydrogen battery with a lithium-ion one. The pair…
read moreThe U.S. House of Representatives has officially sent its articles of impeachment to the Senate, charging former President Donald Trump with inciting insurrection in connection with the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters earlier this month. House lawmakers who will serve as prosecutors in the impeachment trial made the ceremonial…
read moreThe Senate on Monday approved President Joe Biden’s nomination of Janet Yellen to be the nation’s 78th treasury secretary, making her the first woman to hold the job in the department’s 232-year history. Yellen, a former chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, was approved by the Senate on a 84-15 vote, becoming the third member of Biden’s…
read moreThe independent watchdog at the U.S. Justice Department said Monday he is launching an investigation into whether anyone at the agency “engaged in an improper attempt” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he would examine the actions of current and former Justice Department officials, but not those…
read moreTwitter on Monday unveiled a new tool it is piloting to combat misinformation. Called Birdwatch, the crowdsourcing tool aims to enlist other Twitter users to vet tweets they think contain misinformation.Instead of deleting an offending tweet or having Twitter attach a warning label, users will be able to add annotations to the tweet to “provide informative context,”…
read moreWorld leaders gathered virtually Monday for the Climate Adaption Summit, an online meeting hosted by the Netherlands with hopes of developing practical solutions and funding for dealing with climate change between now and 2030.The online program featured leaders from around the world, including China’s Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden is signing an order Monday strengthening the national government’s commitment to buy American-made goods at a time when the world’s largest economy is slowing because of the coronavirus pandemic.While all U.S. leaders have committed the government to Buy American programs, the White House said Biden’s order would “close loopholes that allow…
read moreThe Supreme Court on Monday brought an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally profited off his presidency.The justices threw out Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the…
read moreIsrael says it plans to shut down its international airport by the end of the week to keep out highly contagious coronavirus variants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, “We are closing the skies hermetically, except for really rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and also to ensure that we progress quickly…
read moreMalawi says it is recruiting hundreds of healthcare workers to address a shortage as the country deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases. Healthcare workers welcome the move but say the government needs to do more than just hire more nurses.Government statistics show that about 900 Malawian health workers are currently in quarantine after exposure…
read moreJill Biden, the wife of recently inaugurated President Joe Biden, has made it clear that education policy will be a priority for her in the White House. Jill Biden is familiar with life in Washington as her husband spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate and eight years as vice president under Barack Obama. VOA’s…
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