Twitter introduced new safety measures this week meant to crack down on online harassment and protect people from viewing offensive material, but some free-speech advocates are concerned the changes could lead to censorship of unpopular ideas. The social media company announced Wednesday that it would start hiding potentially menacing tweets, even if the tweets or accounts in question hadn’t been reported as abusive. “We’re working to identify accounts as they’re engaging in abusive behavior, even if this behavior hasn’t been reported to us,” the company said in a statement announcing …

Unless new antibiotics are developed quickly, people will once again die from common infections. The World Health Organization has issued an urgent call for scientists to develop these new drugs, and for governments to fund the research. Dr. Trish Perl, chief of infectious diseases at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said if there are no effective antibiotics, it will affect the entire practice of medicine. “You all of a sudden understand what it was like to practice medicine maybe 50, 70, 80 years ago, when there weren’t antibiotics,” Perl …

It may seem odd that the world’s largest land mammal would be afraid of bees, but Kenya-based research and conservation group Save the Elephants has used the elephants’ fear of being stung around the eyes, mouth and trunk to deter them from crop-raiding. It is doing this through “beehive fences,” which they have found to be 80 percent effective. “Elephants have come to my farm but they couldn’t manage to enter the farm,” said Hesron Nzumu, a farmer who lives near the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya. “They see …

A group of Aboriginal transgender women have traveled more than 3,000 kilometers to take part in Sydney’s world-famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. They have spent decades fighting for recognition within the indigenous community on the remote Tiwi Islands. About 30 transgender women from the islands off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory will march Saturday for the first time with thousands of other participants in outfits colored with glow-in-the-dark paint emblazoned with traditional patterns and totems. Known as “sistagirls,” the group’s trip has been financed through various fundraising campaigns. …

Paula Fox, a prize-winning author who created high art out of imagined chaos in such novels as Poor George and Desperate Characters and out of the real-life upheavals in her memoir Borrowed Finery, has died at age 93.   Her daughter, Linda Carroll, told The Associated Press that Fox died Wednesday at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. She had been in failing health.    Abandoned as a girl by her parents, a single mother before age 20, Fox used finely crafted prose to write again and again about breakdown and disruption, what …

National parks traveler Mikah Meyer says visiting Everglades National Park in southern Florida was like stepping back in time. Time standing still   “It’s this huge section of [protected] land … it takes up the entire southwestern corner of Florida and essentially before human interaction, everything south of Orlando looked like the Everglades.” Join Mikah in the Everglades That huge expanse of land includes more than half a million hectares of wetland, the largest subtropical wilderness in the U.S. It’s known throughout the world for its unparalleled land and waterscapes, …

Unless new antibiotics are developed quickly, people will once again die from common infections. The World Health Organization on Feb. 27 issued an urgent call for scientists to develop these new drugs, and for governments to fund the research. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports. … From: MeNeedIt

Art lovers from around the world descend on New York City every March for several art fairs. One of the longest running and most popular fairs is the Armory Show, which hosts more than 200 galleries from 30 countries. For visitors, who are expected to reach 65,000 this year, the Armory Show cements New York City’s status as an international art destination. Tina Trinh reports. … From: MeNeedIt