Children in Bangladesh flooded back into classrooms on Sunday as schools reopened after 18 months, one of the world’s longest coronavirus shutdowns.The resumption came after UNICEF warned that prolonged school closures during the COVID-19 crisis were worsening inequities for millions of children across South Asia.In the capital Dhaka, students at one school were welcomed with…
read moreChilean scientists have announced the discovery of the first-ever southern hemisphere remains of a type of Jurassic-era “winged lizard” known as a pterosaur.Fossils of the dinosaur which lived some 160 million years ago in what is today the Atacama desert, were unearthed in 2009.They have now been confirmed to be of a rhamphorhynchine pterosaur —…
read moreAs the stalemate between the United States and North Korea persists, some experts are wondering whether the Biden administration is returning to the Obama-era policy of strategic patience.Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, thinks the U.S. could “by default” end up in strategic patience, which he described as a “kind of status…
read moreSeveral hundred people line up every morning, starting before dawn, on a grassy area outside Nairobi’s largest hospital hoping to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Sometimes the line moves smoothly, while on other days, the staff tells them there’s nothing available and they should come back tomorrow.Halfway around the world, at a church in Atlanta in…
read moreDemocratic allies of California Governor Gavin Newsom continued to express confidence Saturday in his chances of beating back a recall but warned his supporters to keep urging people to vote as they seek a decisive win, while Republicans said the contest is far from settled. “We don’t need to just win by a little, we need…
read moreAt a taxi stand by a bustling market in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, traders simply cross a road or two, get a shot in the arm and rush back to their work.Until this week, vaccination centers were based mostly in hospitals in this East African country that faced a brutal COVID-19 surge earlier this year.Now, more…
read moreThe World Health Organization says low-income countries still do not have enough COVID-19 vaccines and is urging wealthier nations to deliver more doses. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has this report. Producer: Kim Weeks …
read moreEvery year close to 200,000 people die from burns, according to World Health Organization data. The WHO says most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Since the United States entered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, US military burn specialists have changed the way serious burns are treated. VOA’s Carol Pearson has…
read moreApple will be forced to loosen the grip it holds on its App Store payment system, a U.S. federal judge ruled Friday in a closely watched battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games.Though app makers will be able to take steps to skirt the up to 30% commission Apple takes on sales, the tech giant avoided…
read moreCalifornia voters will decide on Tuesday (Sept. 14) whether to remove Governor Gavin Newsom in a recall election. Mike O’Sullivan reports that both Democrats and Republicans are aggressively mobilizing voters either for or against the Democratic governor.Camera: Genia Dulot, Elizabeth Lee for homeless video …
read moreJust over two months ago, on Independence Day, President Joe Biden declared that the United States was “closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.” Vaccines had driven down the average daily death toll from COVID-19 from more than 3,400 at the start of the year to around 400 in early July. It…
read moreDenmark Friday dropped proof-of-vaccination — or vaccine passports — requirements at nightclubs, the last of the European nation’s COVID-19 restrictions, after a successful vaccination program led to almost 87% of all adults being fully vaccinated. The European Center for Disease Control says as of Friday, nearly 90% of adults in Denmark have at least one…
read moreThe U.S. space agency on Friday will brief the media on the initial analysis of the first sample of a Martian rock collected by its Perseverance rover earlier this week. NASA confirmed the rover had collected the rock, releasing a picture of the sample inside a collection tube. The rover made a first attempt to collect…
read moreWith no masks in sight, buzzing offices and concerts drawing tens of thousands, Denmark on Friday ditches vaccine passports in nightclubs, ending its last COVID-19 curb.The vaccine passports were introduced in March 2021 when Copenhagen slowly started easing restrictions.They were abolished at all venues on Sept. 1, except in nightclubs, where they will be no…
read moreAs the United States continues to deal with the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, President Joe Biden announced new sweeping vaccine mandates as part of a multipronged push to end the pandemic. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. Producer: Mary Cieslak …
read moreAfrica is slated to receive 25% fewer COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year than it was expecting, the director of the World Health Organization’s regional office for Africa said Thursday.The African continent, already struggling with a thin supply of vaccines while many wealthy nations initiate booster shot programs, has fully vaccinated just more…
read moreA huge increase in federal food aid kept the number of U.S. households considered “food insecure” from rising during 2020, despite the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that more than one in 10 U.S. households was short of food at some point last…
read moreA series of spacewalks is underway outside the International Space Station. Plus, a fire scare occurs in the Russian section of the ISS, and amateur stargazers have set up camp at an ancient Mesopotamian site in modern-day Iraq. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. …
read moreThe U.S. government sued the southwestern state of Texas on Thursday to try to block its new law that bans abortions in the state after about six weeks of pregnancy, the most restrictive anti-abortion statute in the country. Attorney General Merrick Garland, at a Washington news conference, said the Texas law “is clearly unconstitutional under long-term…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday is planning to order 2.5 million federal workers and contractors to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as part of a new effort to control the infectious disease. The new order, which eliminates an option he previously gave the workers to get regularly tested for the virus in lieu…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden is expected to call for a summit on boosting the global supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, according to U.S. news outlets. The summit will be held during the United Nations General Assembly later this month. The Washington Post reports the topics will include coordination among world leaders to collectively tackle the health crisis…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden will unveil a new strategy to combat the dramatic surge of COVID-19 cases across the nation during a major White House speech Thursday afternoon.White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that Biden will spell out six methods designed to encourage more Americans to get inoculated against the virus, including…
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