NASA this week moved closer to its next crewed mission to the moon. A successful rocket test means they know how they will get there, while scientists in India have developed eco-friendly bricks for building structures on the lunar surface. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the week in space.Produced by Arash Arabasadi …
More than a dozen “60 Minutes” interviews with former President Barack Obama, beginning when he was a U.S. Senator, have been compiled into an audio release. Simon & Schuster Audio announced Thursday that “Barack Obama: The 60 Minutes Interviews” will come out Oct. 13. The audiobook features CBS News journalist Steve Kroft, who first met with Obama in January 2007 and spoke with him throughout his presidency, culminating in a discussion shortly before Obama left office in 2017. “Over the span of just a few years, Barack Obama evolved from …
Twitter confirmed on Thursday that an account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked with a series of tweets asking its followers to donate to a relief fund through cryptocurrency. The incident comes after several Twitter accounts of prominent personalities were hacked in July. Twitter said it was aware of the activity with Modi’s website account and has taken steps to secure it. “We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted,” a Twitter spokeswoman said in an …
The U.S. space agency, NASA and aerospace firm Northrop Grumman Wednesday conducted a full-scale test of a rocket motor, known as a “Flight Support Booster” or “FSB-1,” that will power the first Artemis mission to the moon.During the test at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Promontory, Utah, the 47-meter booster motor was anchored to the ground horizontally, and fired for just over two minutes, producing 1.6 million kilograms of thrust.NASA and Northrop Grumman will use data from the test to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes that …
A law firm with ties to prominent Democrats has filed a lawsuit attempting to keep rapper Kanye West off presidential ballots in Virginia. Attorneys for Perkins Coie filed a lawsuit in Richmond on Tuesday on behalf of two people who say they were tricked into signing an “Elector Oath” backing West’s candidacy. Under state law, a candidate must have 13 electors pledge their support for a candidate as part of the criteria to appear on the ballot. The lawsuit alleges that 11 of West’s 13 electors may be invalid and …
Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would stop accepting new political ads in the week before the U.S. presidential election in November, bowing to concern that its loose approach to free speech could once again be exploited to interfere with the vote. The world’s biggest social network also said it was creating a label for posts by candidates or campaigns that try to claim victory before the election results are official, and widening the criteria for content to be removed as voter suppression. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote …
Masks, sanitizers, and the most shocking of all – no crowds. After almost six months of closure and strict lockdown, New York City museums are finally reopening. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and Whitney Museum – among others – are welcoming visitors again, but with a few COVID-related restrictions in place. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that it has informed public health officials in all 50 states and several large cities to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, two days before the presidential election.The McClatchy news service was the first to report Wednesday that the CDC had sent out a four-page memo on August 27 for health departments to draft vaccination plans by October 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.” The Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute …
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent guidelines on August 27 to all 50 states, U.S. territories and several large cities, telling them to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1, two days before the presidential election, according to several media reports Wednesday.In a four-page memo sent to governors in August, the CDC told health departments to draft vaccination plans by October 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.”McClatchy first reported news of the letter, which other media then reported.The CDC …
The World Health Organization issued Teachers and auxiliary staff take COVID-19 tests in Madrid, Spain, Sept. 2, 2020.Dr. Todd Rice, an associate professor of medicine and critical care physician at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who co-authored an editorial in JAMA, told The New York Times newspaper that the results were a confidence booster for medical professionals worried about steroid use in the sickest COVID-19 patients.”This shows us steroids are clearly beneficial in this population and should clearly be given, unless you absolutely can’t for some reason, which needs …
A Mexican court will later this week hear a case brought on by 15 young people demanding the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set out clear policies on climate change, documents show. Lopez Obrador is under increased pressure to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The plaintiffs from the state Baja California filed a legal stay of proceedings, known locally as amparo, before a district court in administrative matters, several documents related to the case show. In it, the youths, aged 17 to 23, demand clearer regulations and public policies …