Venezuela has arrested a senior manager of state oil company PDVSA on suspicion of “irregularities” in contracts to supply fuel to the domestic market, authorities said on Wednesday. The detention of international commerce manager Marco Malave, 47, followed a shakeup of personnel at PDVSA’s trade department since January and amid gasoline shortages around the South American OPEC nation last week. “PDVSA representatives denounced a series of irregularities in the protocol for contracting companies with vessels to supply the referred hydrocarbon to the Venezuelan market,” the state prosecutor’s office said in …

A study by U.S. economic experts and a major health insurance company says a healthy population is a key ingredient in a healthy and growing economy. Blue Cross and Moody’s Analytics used data from millions of insurance customers to draw a statistical relationship between health and prosperity in the United States. In counties throughout the 50 states where the population had top health scores, per capita incomes were nearly $4,000 a year higher than in counties where people had just average health scores.   Unemployment showed a similar pattern: The …

The vote by the U.S. Congress to repeal rules that limit how internet service providers can use customer data has generated renewed interest in an old internet technology: virtual private networks, or VPNs. VPNs cloak a customer’s web-surfing history by making an encrypted connection to a private server, which then searches the Web on the customer’s behalf without revealing the destination addresses. VPNs are often used to connect to a secure business network, or in countries such as China and Turkey to bypass government restrictions on Web surfing. Privacy-conscious techies …

Do you ever shudder when you hear certain sounds, such as rustling of some type of plastic bags or a fork scraping on the bottom of a porcelain plate? Or get a tingling in your teeth when somone scrapes their fingernails on a blackboard? It may be a mild annoyance for most, but a serious problem for people with “misophonia,” from the Greek words meaning hatred of sound. No matter how tolerant we are, most of us feel uncomfortable if a person sitting close to us in a quiet cinema starts …

Do you ever shudder when you hear certain sounds, such as rustling of some type of plastic bags or a fork scraping on the bottom of a porcelain plate? Or get a tingling in your teeth when somone scrapes their fingernails on a blackboard? A mild annoyance for most, but a serious problem for people with “misophonia,” from the Greek words meaning hatred of sound. VOA’s George Putic reports. … From: MeNeedIt

The deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command is calling for the development of a code of conduct for space as dreams of altruistic exploration fade. Vice Admiral Charles Richard believes establishing norms and practices of behavior in space would help nations better understand each other’s activities. “We’re still sorting out what constitutes an attack in space,” Richard said at a conference titled “Space Security: Issues for the New U.S. Administration” held last week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “What is the indisputable evidence required …

A tiny satellite launched by India that is circling the earth contains a laboratory that is only the size of a tissue box. The lab is helping scientists carry out experiments that range from finding ways to improve pharmaceuticals to perfecting the foam in coffee. VOA’s Deborah Block has the story. … From: MeNeedIt