The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure a Republican congressman for posting to social media an animated video depicting him striking another member with a sword and attacking President Joe Biden. In addition to censure, the resolution calls for removing Congressman Paul Gosar from the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees. …
read moreMichelle Wu was sworn in Tuesday as Boston’s first woman and first person of color elected mayor in the city’s long history. The swearing-in of the city’s first Asian American mayor came two weeks after Wu won the city’s mayoral election. Before Wu, Boston had elected only white men as mayor. “City government is special.…
read moreFighting sagging poll ratings, President Joe Biden set out Tuesday on a national tour to persuade everyday Americans of the benefits of his big, just-signed infrastructure plan. First stop: a snowy, rusty bridge in New Hampshire, a state that gave him no love in last year’s presidential primaries. Biden left the state in February 2020…
read moreLawmakers on Capitol Hill are renewing a push to pass legislation that would boost U.S. competition with China, amid rising concerns about the global supply chain. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday the long-stalled U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) would be added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive annual defense spending bill that needs…
read moreWith the Earth getting warmer and weather events more extreme, the African Union has set up a Disaster Operations Center in Nairobi to help monitor major hazards and provide regional early warnings for drought, floods, extreme rainfall, food insecurity, and pests like the desert locusts. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Camera – Jim Makhulo. …
read moreRussian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. The debris could…
read moreRelentless rain battered Canada’s Pacific coast on Monday, forcing a town’s evacuation and trapping motorists as mudslides, rocks and debris were washed across major highways. Some 275 people, according to local media, were stuck overnight in their cars between two mudslides on Highway 7 near the town of Agassiz in British Columbia. Meanwhile, Merritt –…
read moreA Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk that is now threatening the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station, U.S. officials said Monday. The State Department confirmed that the debris was from an old Russian satellite destroyed by the missile strike. “It was dangerous. It was reckless. It was irresponsible,”…
read morePresident Joe Biden on Monday signed a trillion-dollar package for infrastructure improvements across the United States that will repair deteriorating roads and bridges, improve rail service, expand public transportation and widen broadband internet service. Congressional lawmakers, state governors and city mayors – both Democrats and Republicans – watched Biden’s signing ceremony just outside the White…
read moreDemocratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he has held for eight terms. Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry…
read moreBeto O’Rourke, the former U.S. congressman from Texas whose surprisingly close 2018 loss to Senator Ted Cruz made him a Democratic star, said on Monday he will challenge Republican Greg Abbott in next year’s race for governor of the state. O’Rourke has been seen as his party’s best option for the 2022 gubernatorial race even…
read moreThe British government Monday announced Monday an expansion of the nation’s COVID-19 booster shot program to people ages 40 and up, to fight off a potential winter surge of the deadly disease. Until now, only British residents ages 50 and up, those clinically vulnerable because of underlying conditions, and frontline health workers were eligible for…
read morePakistan rolled out a massive two-week drive Monday to immunize more than 90 million children in what officials hailed as one of the world’s biggest vaccination campaigns against measles and rubella. An official announcement said children aged between 9 months and 15 years across the country will be inoculated against the contagious viral infections. The…
read moreThe different diaspora groups that now make up the United States inevitably have fought for representation through the voting process. VOA is profiling a group of emerging politicians from the African diaspora who are changing the face of American politics. One is Samba Baldeh, who came from Gambia. Here is his story in his own…
read moreith the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, or COP 26, now over, countries are looking to begin funding a global counterattack on rising temperatures on Earth. Meanwhile, scientists in Denmark are searching for clues to our warming planet’s future by studying ice from the past. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more …
read moreMalawi has begun a mass distribution of mosquito nets, aiming to reach almost half the country’s population of 18 million people. Health authorities say the campaign is aimed at reducing the spread of malaria, which in Malawi currently accounts for 36% of all hospital outpatients and 15% of hospital admissions. The Global Fund-supported campaign was…
read moreThe idea was striking in its ambition: African countries aimed to plant trees in a more than 8,000 kilometer-line spanning the entire continent, creating a natural barrier to hold back the Sahara Desert as climate change swept the sands south. The project called the Great Green Wall began in 2007 with a vision for the…
read moreMedicare’s “Part B” outpatient premium will jump by $21.60 a month in 2022, one of the largest increases ever. Officials said Friday a new Alzheimer’s drug is responsible for about half of that. The increase guarantees that health care will gobble up a big chunk of the recently announced Social Security cost-of-living allowance, a boost…
read moreIn Kansas City, Kansas, educators are opening an after-school mental health clinic staffed with school counselors and social workers. Schools in Paterson, New Jersey, have set up social emotional learning teams to identify students dealing with crises. Chicago is staffing up “care teams” with the mission of helping struggling students on its 500-plus campuses. With…
read moreAfrica is on the front line of climate change. Nowhere is this more evident than the Lake Chad Basin, which covers almost 8% of the continent and supports tens of millions of people. The United Nations says it has shrunk by 90% since the 1960s because of drought. The resulting competition for resources has caused…
read moreSeveral young African climate activists traveled thousands of miles to Glasgow, Scotland, to be part of the COP26 climate summit — and to convey their sense of urgency to world leaders. Henry Ridgwell spoke with some of them about their climate change experiences and what COP26 must deliver to help their communities back home. Camera:…
read moreA businessman who traveled to space with William Shatner last month was killed along with another person when the small plane they were in crashed in a wooded area of northern New Jersey, state police said. The space tourist, Glen M. de Vries, 49, of New York City, and Thomas P. Fischer, 54, of Hopatcong,…
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