U.S. President Joe Biden’s order to secure semiconductor supply chains for high-tech hardware production offers a commercial boost to Taiwan, one of the world’s biggest providers of chips, and gives Taipei new weight in any free-trade talks, analysts say.Biden signed an executive order Feb. 24 for the United States to start overcoming a chip shortage…
read moreA Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting tensions between Beijing…
read moreBrazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was among of former President Donald Trump’s most outspoken ideological allies when Trump was in office. Now, with President Joe Biden in the White House, many in Brazil are expecting changes that some dread and others welcome. For VOA, Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo. Camera: Edgar Maciel Producer: Marcus…
read moreThe U.S. Senate is expected to vote this weekend on a massive new round of coronavirus aid addressing the ongoing economic and health crises caused by the pandemic. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more on the impact of that aid. Produced by: Katherine Gypson Camera: Adam Greenbaum …
read moreConfidence in COVID-19 vaccines is growing, with people’s willingness to have the shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey showed on Friday.Co-led by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) and the polling firm YouGov, the survey found trust…
read moreThe Senate voted Thursday to begin debating a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, after Democrats made 11th-hour changes aimed at ensuring they could pull President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority through the precariously divided chamber. Democrats were hoping for Senate approval of the package before next week, in time for the House to sign off and…
read moreThis week a U.S.-government backed commission of technology experts completed a three-year review of the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, urging the development of a new national technology strategy to stay competitive with China.The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has been studying how artificial intelligence and machine learning can address U.S. national security and…
read moreAstronauts aboard the International Space Station this week built the bones for much-needed power upgrades. Also, SpaceX took flight with and without success, and flaming space junk lights up Australian skies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. …
read moreWomen’s rights activists in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s order revoking the ban blocking U.S. funding to women’s health organizations that provide abortion or abortion-related services. Critics say the so-called gag rule left women uninformed about safe options to end a pregnancy. Forty-five-year-old Najma Wangoi lost her sister in 2018…
read moreThe U.S. Capitol Police Department says it is taking seriously intelligence about a possible plot by a militia group to breach the Capitol on Thursday.“We have already made significant security upgrades to include establishing a physical structure and increasing manpower to ensure the protection of Congress, the public and our police officers,” the Capitol Police…
read moreThe World Health Organization’s Europe director reported Thursday that new COVID-19 cases rose 9% to just over a million in the region last week. Hans Kluge said it was the first increase in new infections after six weeks of decline. At a virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge told…
read moreThe World Health Organization says COVID-19 vaccine distribution in African countries is accelerating and hopeful signs are emerging that a significant proportion of Africa’s population will be covered by the end of the year. Latest figures put the number of infections in Africa at more than 3.9 million, with 104,000 deaths.Data show the COVID-19 pandemic…
read moreThe Transportation Department’s watchdog asked the Justice Department to criminally investigate Elaine Chao late last year after it determined she had misused her office when she was transportation secretary under President Donald Trump but was rebuffed, according to a report released Wednesday. The report said the Justice Department’s criminal and public integrity divisions declined in…
read moreMonths after record-high U.S. voter turnout propelled Democrats to victory in the 2020 elections, giving them control of the White House and both houses of Congress, Republicans are attempting to reshape election laws in state legislatures across the nation.In state after state, Republicans seek to limit opportunities for early and absentee balloting that Americans flocked…
read moreThe U.S. Capitol Police Department says it is taking seriously intelligence about a possible plot by a militia group to breach the Capitol on Thursday.“We have already made significant security upgrades to include establishing a physical structure and increasing manpower to ensure the protection of Congress, the public and our police officers,” the department said…
read moreNearly 50 countries have either received or ordered at least one of the three Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccines, according to an Associated Press survey. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo on the vaccine rollouts. …
read moreThe U.S. Senate delayed the start of debate on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill until at least Thursday after reaching a deal to phase out $1,400 payments to higher-income Americans in a compromise with moderate Democratic senators.The Democratic-controlled Senate is hoping for a final vote later in the week on passage of…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would promote democracy abroad but not through costly military interventions, which he said had failed in the past. Blinken’s comments came Wednesday as he outlined President Joe Biden’s foreign policy objectives, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden, while expressing frustration, has limited power to overrule decisions by state governors who are ending mask mandates and lifting other restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.”I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told a small group of reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office when asked about Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi…
read moreAn international advocacy group’s claim that the Vietnamese government has tapped hackers to target activists shows that the communist Southeast Asian state is widening the use of technology to quash its biggest opponents, experts believe. Ocean Lotus, a shadowy group suspected of working with the Vietnamese government, is “behind a sustained campaign of spyware attacks,” London-based…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Wednesday that the relationship between the United States and China is the world’s “biggest geopolitical test” of the century. In his first major foreign policy speech, Blinken said the new Biden administration would “manage” ties with China “from a position of strength.”“That requires engaging in diplomacy and in international organizations, because where we have pulled back, China has filled in,” Blinken said at the State Department in Washington.The top U.S. diplomat…
read moreThe head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday “now is not the time” to lift COVID-19 restrictions, one day after the governor of Texas announced the southern U.S. state was “100 percent open.” At a virtual news briefing for the White House COVID-19 response, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said…
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