More than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the CDC said Wednesday. But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Rochelle…
read moreWith more than two dozen states poised to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court gives them the OK next year, California clinics and their allies in the state legislature on Wednesday revealed a plan to make the state a safe place for those seeking reproductive care, including possibly paying for travel, lodging and procedures…
read moreRobotic vacuum cleaners halted in their tracks. Doorbell cameras stopped watching for package thieves, though some of those deliveries were canceled anyway. Netflix and Disney movies were interrupted, and The Associated Press had trouble publishing the news. A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at a wide range of U.S.…
read moreThe World Health Organization says new data is emerging every day about the potential impact of the new omicron variant on the coronavirus pandemic, but that it is premature to draw conclusions about the severity of the infection. Since omicron was detected two weeks ago in South Africa, it has spread rapidly to 57 countries.…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to “leverage” the federal government’s scale and purchasing power to make it carbon neutral, cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% in less than a decade and establish an all-electric fleet of vehicles. The order will cut emissions in federal operations as part of the government’s effort…
read moreThe House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has “no choice” but to move forward with contempt charges against former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows now that he is no longer complying with a subpoena, the panel’s chairman said Wednesday. In a letter to Meadows’ attorney, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said…
read moreWhile the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on, one might not know it by looking at 2021’s most searched items on Google. According to the list released by Google Wednesday, “NBA” was the most searched term in the U.S., but it’s unclear why. Other most searched topics were rapper DMX, who died; Gabby Petito, an apparent murder victim…
read moreA Japanese billionaire and his producer rocketed to space Wednesday as the first self-paying space tourists in more than a decade. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, who plans to film his mission, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The trio lifted off as scheduled at…
read moreLawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation Tuesday night that would provide $768 billion for the nation’s military for the 2022 fiscal year. The bill’s passage by a vote of 363-70 came after weeks of unusually contentious debate over the annual defense spending budget due to a number of issues. The final version, which was…
read moreThe U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday approved a measure allowing Congress to fast-track legislation raising the federal government’s debt limit and stave off a potential unprecedented default. The Senate is expected to take up the measure, which prevents the use of stalling tactics, on Thursday. That would speed the way for Congress to consider…
read moreU.S. lawmakers included efforts to push back against Russia and China in a massive annual defense bill released on Tuesday, proposing $300 million for Ukraine’s military and a statement of support for the defense of Taiwan. But they omitted some measures that had strong support in Congress, including a proposal to impose mandatory sanctions over…
read moreUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was exposed to the coronavirus Tuesday by a U.N. official who already had COVID-19 and is isolating for the next few days, diplomatic sources said. Guterres, 72, has canceled his upcoming in-person engagements, sources told AFP. The U.N. chief was to be the guest of honor of the U.N. Correspondents…
read moreA major outage disrupted Amazon’s cloud services on Tuesday, temporarily knocking out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, a wide range of apps, and Amazon.com Inc.’s e-commerce website as consumers shopped ahead of Christmas. “Many services have already recovered; however, we are working towards full recovery across services,” Amazon said on its status dashboard. Amazon’s…
read moreThe omicron variant is making headlines as the world’s newest strain of coronavirus. In the United States, where nearly 200,000 new coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University, top public health officials warn Americans to stay vigilant even as vaccination rates rise and travelers from countries where the variant was first detected are…
read moreU.S. senators struck a deal Tuesday to create a one-time law allowing Democrats to lift the nation’s borrowing authority and avert a credit default without requiring votes from the opposition Republicans. The House of Representatives will vote on the fix as early as Tuesday evening and it is expected to be approved by Congress in…
read moreIn an abrupt reversal, an attorney for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said his client will not cooperate with a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing a breakdown in negotiations with the panel. Attorney George Terwilliger said in a letter Tuesday that a deposition would be “untenable” because…
read moreTwo computer scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a new artificial intelligence system that evolves to detect and evade internet censorship in repressive countries. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …
read moreAs South Africa struggles with a new surge of COVID-19 infections due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus, a new study suggests omicron could be less severe than other forms of the virus. The New York Times reports doctors at the Steve Biko Academic and Tshwane District Hospital Complex in Pretoria observed 42 patients…
read moreRohingya refugees from Myanmar are suing Meta Platforms Inc, formerly known as Facebook, for $150 billion over allegations that the social media company did not take action against anti-Rohingya hate speech that contributed to violence. A U.S. class-action complaint, filed in California on Monday by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLLC, argues that the company’s failures to police content…
read moreMore than 5 million people worldwide have had their lives cut short by COVID-19, and the number keeps rising as many countries experience another wave of transmission. The best defense against this disease is a vaccine, experts say. Since the outbreak was first reported in 2019, the best scientists all over the world have been working on a vaccine to…
read moreMore than 5 million people worldwide have had their lives cut short by COVID-19, and the number keeps rising. The best defense against this virus is a vaccine. VOA’s Carol Pearson explains one approach in making a vaccine that’s been effective against polio, measles, Ebola and a host of other viruses. …
read moreThree 2021 Nobel Prize laureates said Monday that climate change is the biggest threat facing the world — yet they remain optimistic — as this year’s winners began receiving their awards at scaled-down local ceremonies adapted for pandemic times. For a second year, COVID-19 has scuttled the traditional formal banquet in Stockholm attended by winners…
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