The coronavirus pandemic has shut down movie theaters and caused movie releases to be postponed in the U.S. and China, the two largest film markets in the world. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has details on how the pandemic is affecting moviegoers and movie producers in both countries. …
The coronavirus has shut down movie theaters and postponed movie releases in the two largest film markets in the world, the U.S. and China.The film industry in the two countries has become more closely tied in recent years, and the economic impact of the coronavirus in one country will be felt in the other as well.“China’s and the U.S.’ film industries are very closely entwined,” said Aynne Kokas, professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of “Hollywood Made in China”.Moviegoers in China are the fastest growing …
The State Department has advised against all international travel because of the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from flying to Afghanistan this week. Gyms across the nation’s capital are shuttered, but Sen. Rand Paul, an eye doctor, still managed a workout at the Senate on Sunday morning as he awaited the results of a coronavirus test. It came back positive. The guidance against shaking hands? That hasn’t always applied to President Donald Trump, whose penchant for pressing the flesh continued even after public health officials …
A U.S. cybersecurity firm said Wednesday it has detected a surge in new cyberspying by a suspected Chinese group dating back to late January, when coronavirus was starting to spread outside China. FireEye Inc. said in a report it had spotted a spike in activity from a hacking group it dubs “APT41” that began on Jan. 20 and targeted more than 75 of its customers, from manufacturers and media companies to healthcare organizations and nonprofits. There were “multiple possible explanations” for the spike in activity, said FireEye Security Architect Christopher …
In Uganda, authorities have confirmed five new cases of COVID-19, among them an eight-month-old baby and two Chinese nationals who left their quarantine. Ugandan officials are trying to raise awareness of the coronavirus, including one well-known opposition lawmaker who, not surprisingly, issued his warning in song.Legislator and musician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, is attempting to spread awareness of the deadly coronavirus.His musical message: everyone is a potential victim, everyone is a potential solution, and do not underestimate the danger. Like a majority of Ugandans and others around the …
South Korea, which has been among the best in the world at coronavirus testing, has agreed to provide the United States with badly needed test kits. Seoul says U.S. President Donald Trump asked South Korea for the coronavirus help on Tuesday. As VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, Trump’s request comes at a tense moment in U.S.-South Korea relations. …
Terrence McNally, one of America’s great playwrights whose prolific career included winning Tony Awards for the plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class” and the musicals “Ragtime” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” has died of complications from the coronavirus. He was 81.McNally died Tuesday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, according to representative Matt Polk. McNally was a lung cancer survivor who lived with chronic inflammatory lung disease.His plays and musicals explored how people connect — or fail to. With wit and thoughtfulness, he tackled the strains in …
Britain’s Prince Charles has tested positive for the coronavirus. A statement Wednesday said he “has been displaying mild symptoms” but is otherwise in good health. His wife, Camilla, tested negative for the virus. The couple are in self-isolation at a home in Scotland. FILE – Prince Charles speaks with Alexandra Burke and other guests during the Commonwealth Reception at Marlborough House, in London, March 9, 2020.The statement said it is not possible to determine how the prince was infected given the large number of engagements he attended in recent weeks. A royal source said the …
With the death toll soaring past 300,000 this year and a quarter of humanity now infected, the pandemic shows no signs of abating as it spreads invisibly throughout vulnerable communities. Yet unlike the novel coronavirus, this disease is preventable, curable and centuries-old: tuberculosis. On the occasion of Staff inspect medical equipments at an emergency hospital set up amid the new coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 23, 2020.As of Tuesday 1100 GMT, there had been more than 386,350 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 16,961 of which have proved fatal. World governments have taken unprecedented peacetime measures to try to slow …
The global coronavirus outbreak keeps many of us at home and away from the things we enjoy. Sporting leagues around the world have postponed or canceled live competitions, and on Tuesday, the biggest event of them all, the summer Olympics, announced the Tokyo Games will be postponed to 2021. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will be postponed until next year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Tuesday. Although the International Olympic Committee had said it would spend up to a month debating the matter, the decision to postpone became inevitable after several countries said they would not send athletes if the Games were held this summer. “The IOC president and the prime minister of Japan have concluded that the Games must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020, but not later that summer 2021 …
Women live longer than men across the world and scientists have by and large linked the sex differences in longevity with biological foundation to survival. A new study of wild mammals has found considerable differences in life span and aging in various mammalian species. Among humans, women’s life span is almost 8% on average longer than men’s life span. But among wild mammals, females in 60% of the studied species have, on average, 18.6% longer lifespans. The ratio is considerably different for different groups of mammals. An international team of scientists led by Jean-François Lemaître, from the University Lyonin France, collected information on age-related mortality for 134 populations of 101 wild mammalian species. “It was surprising to observe that this gender gap in lifespan often exceeds the one observed in humans and is, …
The president of the European Commission is warning EU citizens to beware of on-line scams, particularly for counterfeit medical products and medicines during the coronavirus crisis. In a video message released Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said with more people working from home and spending time online, they have become more susceptible to cyber criminals, particularly those exploiting fears about the virus. She says European law-enforcement agencies have seized 4.4 million units of illicit pharmaceuticals in recent weeks, seven organized crime groups were dismantled, and 121 arrests were made. Von der Leyen said that 2,500 fake links, websites and social media profiles have also been taken down. She urged citizens to double check all websites …
Athletes, national associations and sporting federations from around the world reacted with a mixture of sadness, relief and goodwill to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Tuesday because of the coronavirus pandemic.After weeks of speculation and mounting criticism at the delay in announcing a postponement, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and IOC president Thomas Bach agreed the event would be rescheduled for the summer of 2021 at the latest. It is the first break in the four-year cycle for the summer Olympics since the 1940 and …