Leading United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to combat ageism, which they say harms the well-being of older people and national economies. The World Health Organization, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and U.N. Population Fund have released the first global report on ageism.A…
read moreTwitter celebrates its 15th anniversary this month (March 21). With 330 million users around the world, the company that once called itself the free speech wing of the free speech party has been forced to contend with abuses of its platform. Tina Trinh reports. …
read moreThe European Union’s medications watchdog is due to release initial results Thursday of its investigation into whether there is a connection between the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and cases of recipients developing blood clots.The European Medicines Agency has been examining 30 reported blood coagulation disorders among the 5 million people in the EU who…
read moreTop U.S. and South Korean foreign policy and defense officials have concluded talks in Seoul largely focused on security threats posed by North Korea.U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin met jointly with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Chung Eui-yong and Minister of National Defense Suh Wook on Thursday.“We are committed…
read moreU.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley has indicated that recent attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. forces in Iraq are making it tougher for the Biden administration to build domestic support for its new diplomatic initiative to resolve U.S-Iran tensions.U.S. troops and bases in Iraq have come under rocket attack several times since last…
read moreAustralia is beginning an urgent rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in the Torres Strait in northern Queensland because of a sharp increase in infections in neighboring Papua New Guinea, a situation Health Minister Greg Hunt called a “clear and present danger” to both nations.Papua New Guinea, a South Pacific nation of more than 7 million people,…
read moreThe FBI says it received a record number of complaints from the public last year about cybercrimes, including scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic, costing Americans a staggering $4.2 billion in losses.The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 791,790 complaints in 2020, an increase of 69% over 2019 and the largest number since the center…
read moreScientists are rethinking the cause of water loss on Mars in the face of new evidence that challenges the long-held theory that the water may have evaporated into space. That’s according to new NASA-funded research published this week in the journal Science.Researchers hypothesize that about 30% and 99% of the water on Mars may have…
read moreA top North Korean diplomat acknowledged Thursday that the United States had recently tried to initiate contact but blasted the attempts as a “cheap trick” that would never be answered until Washington dropped hostile policies.The statement by Choe Son Hui, first vice minister of foreign affairs for North Korea, is the first formal rejection of…
read morePresident Joe Biden says he wants the U.S. Senate, where he served for 36 years, to make it harder but not impossible to block legislation through a tactic unique to the chamber known as the filibuster.A week ago, Biden won the first major legislative victory of his presidency, passage of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief…
read moreTesting is under way for modified versions of COVID-19 vaccines that aim to deal with coronavirus variants. Experts say current vaccines still seem to work against the variants and prevent the most severe forms of disease, though the evidence is limited. Making changes may not be necessary for all the vaccines. “We don’t know yet,” said…
read moreMass migration and the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to the worldwide spread of female genital mutilation, or FGM, executed on girls from infancy to puberty, say aid organizations.Perpetrators cross borders to perform FGM in countries such as Chad, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, where there is no legislation against the practice, according to…
read moreKenya’s constitutional court has dismissed a petition to strike down the Female Genital Mutilation Act, which outlaws the traditional practice of female circumcision.Women’s rights groups welcomed the ruling and said the judges’ pronouncement would protect millions of women and girls.The 2017 petition sought to invalidate the FGM measure on the ground that it took away…
read moreThough Washington is the seat of U.S. political power, its residents have no voting rights in Congress nor rights of full home rule because of its unique status as the federal capital. But advocates for making Washington, D.C. a state say they see more potential than ever, as VOA’s Carol Guensburg reports. Camera: Betty Ayoub …
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden is touring the country to pitch his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package as he seeks to help Americans return to normalcy, both in life and in how they view the presidency. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara looks at how Biden’s crisis communication style compares to his predecessor’s. …
read moreU.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna has begun testing its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine in young children to determine if vaccinations should be expanded to people younger than 18 years of age. The company will administer the vaccine to about 6,750 children in the United States and Canada between the ages of six months and 12 years old. The doses would be…
read moreA just-released assessment by U.S. intelligence officials finds Russia and Iran, joined by a handful of other countries and groups, did seek to influence the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election. But the assessment also concludes that, despite repeated warnings by a number of top officials, China ultimately decided to sit it out. The declassified…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden will hold his first formal news conference on March 25, after drawing some criticism for not putting himself before reporters sooner for an extended question-and-answer session. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced the date in Darby, Pennsylvania, as Biden promoted his $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus plan in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Biden has had a…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden traveled Tuesday to a suburb of Philadelphia to promote a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package, which was his first major legislative victory. “We’re in a position where it’s going to bring immediate relief,” the president told the minority owners of a flooring company in Chester, Pennsylvania. “You should be aware more help is…
read moreRussia’s government tried to seed the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign with “misleading or unsubstantiated allegations” against then-candidate Joe Biden through allies of former President Trump and his administration, U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.The assessment was made in a 15-page report into election interference published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It underscores…
read moreResearchers in Japan recently discovered that some sea slugs can regrow their bodies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that studying these slugs may one day help answer questions about our own health.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi …
read moreThe Washington Post has corrected a major story it published in January about the presidential election in the state of Georgia, saying it had “misquoted” then President Donald Trump in a phone call with a state election official. In the December call, Trump was voicing his concerns about alleged fraud.The original story, which was based…
read more
