Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and correspondent for Marketplace Kimberly Adams about the ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans over voting rights legislation, what’s next after Senate Democrats agree to a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package, the impact of the crises in Haiti and Cuba on…
read morePressure is ratcheting up against Donald Trump and his closest circle. His company, the Trump Organization, is under a criminal investigation on suspicion of fraud and other illegal financial dealings. Yet the former president remains popular among Republicans and wields an outsized influence over the party. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story. Producer:…
read moreEven as Donald Trump faces the threat of lawsuits over his company’s business dealings and continues to be banned on social media platforms, the former president wields an outsized influence over the Republican Party.Unlike most former presidents who stay out of the political limelight, Trump is still holding rallies, attacking President Joe Biden and amplifying…
read moreThe U.S. is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths. The highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus among unvaccinated people is largely responsible for the outbreak.Four states with low vaccination rates were responsible for 40% of last week’s new cases, but cases have risen in all 50 states, officials say.Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director…
read moreRescue workers searched flood-ravaged parts of western Germany for survivors on Saturday as water levels remained high in many towns and houses continued to collapse in the country’s worst natural disaster in half a century. At least 133 people have died in the flooding, including some 90 people in the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne,…
read morePope Francis cracked down Friday on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy. Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass that Benedict relaxed in 2007 and…
read moreOliver Daemen, 18, received exciting news Thursday from the Blue Origin flight team: He will be flying into space on July 20.Daemen, who will attend Utrecht University in the Netherlands this fall, will be the youngest person to reach space when he departs on Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight. A press release from his family…
read moreA federal judge in Texas on Friday ordered an end to an Obama-era program that prevented the deportations of some immigrants brought into the United States as children. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled in favor of Texas and eight other conservative states that had sued to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,…
read moreAt least seven Colombian nationals who were arrested by Haitian authorities in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise received U.S. military or police training. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, told VOA Friday that all seven had been members of the Colombian military…
read moreThe Hubble Space Telescope should be back in action soon, following a tricky, remote repair job by NASA. The orbiting observatory went dark in mid-June, with all astronomical viewing halted. NASA initially suspected a 1980s-era computer as the source of the problem. But after the backup payload computer also failed, flight controllers at Maryland’s Goddard…
read morePakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan defended Friday his government’s efforts to promote a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan, rebutting allegations that Islamabad was backing the Taliban’s violent insurgency to fuel hostilities in the neighboring country. Khan spoke at an international regional connectivity conference hosted by Uzbekistan, shortly after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani addressed…
read moreThe International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned in a statement that the global COVID vaccination rate “must increase rapidly and protection measures upheld, if we are to win the race against more transmissible, and potentially more deadly, variants.” “At least three quarters of people in most countries want to be vaccinated…
read moreThe World Meteorological Organization is calling for action to halt climate change as extreme weather becomes the norm rather than the exception. Heavy rainfall this week has triggered devastating floods across western Europe, killing and injuring scores of people, destroying homes and livelihoods. At the same time, parts of Scandinavia — northern Europe’s coldest region…
read moreVietnam’s government is on a global vaccine shopping spree in hopes it can stem a surge of COVID-19 infections without resorting to more lockdowns like those that have already set back the economy and angered an increasingly frustrated public. Like many of its East Asia neighbors, Vietnam is experiencing some of its highest infection rates since…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among Pacific Rim leaders gathering virtually to discuss strategies to help economies rebound from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will chair the special leaders’ meeting Friday of the 21-member Asia-Pacific…
read moreAustralian cybersecurity experts are calling for more aggressive government action to protect businesses from ransomware attacks. Experts have warned a “tsunami of cybercrime” has cost the global economy about $743 billion. Big companies can be attractive targets for cybercriminals who can extort millions of dollars after stealing sensitive commercial information. The Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre…
read moreIn a medical first, researchers harnessed the brain waves of a paralyzed man unable to speak — and turned what he intended to say into sentences on a computer screen. It will take years of additional research but the study, reported Wednesday, marks an important step toward one day restoring more natural communication for people…
read moreIran appears to be intensifying its effort to exploit U.S. and Western targets in cyberspace, running a campaign aimed at manipulating American military personnel and defense companies on social media. Tehran’s latest campaign, orchestrated on Facebook by a group known as Tortoiseshell, used a series of sophisticated, fake online personas to make contact with U.S.…
read moreA Chinese gene company is collecting genetic data through prenatal tests from women in more than 50 countries for research on the traits of populations, raising concern that such a large DNA database could give China a technological advantage and the strategic edge to dominate global pharmaceuticals, according to a recent news report. Analysts expressed…
read moreCalifornia lawmakers on Thursday approved the first state-funded guaranteed income plan in the U.S., $35 million for monthly cash payments to qualifying pregnant people and young adults who recently left foster care with no restrictions on how they spend it. The votes — 36-0 in the Senate and 64-0 in the Assembly — showed bipartisan…
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