After Navy veteran Maxwell Moore returned home to Los Angeles following numerous tours to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the local Veterans Affairs office urged him to find a hobby to help him deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder. His therapy eventually turned into a business, as reporter Angelina Bagdasaryan found in this story narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian . …
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling on the world community to make sure Africa gets a fair share of COVID-19 vaccines. Ahead of a visit to the Central African Republic, one year after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported there, ICRC President Peter Maurer said in a statement Friday that “[i]t is a moral imperative that Africa’s access to needed vaccines is drastically improved, but also that COVID vaccination campaigns do not come at the cost of other key health concerns.” …
In Malawi, health care workers have come under attack several times recently while trying to bury victims of COVID-19 without spreading the coronavirus.Health care workers now want a review of guidelines that say they should handle the burials.The incident happened Tuesday in Mchinji district in central Malawi where villagers threw stones at an ambulance carrying the dead body, in an effort to force the heath care workers to release the body for viewing.The pandemonium forced the heath care workers to return the body to the mortuary.This came a week after …
The Australian Open in Melbourne is underway, but without any spectators. Instead of enjoying the tournament, tennis fans and the millions of people who live in Victoria state are under a five-day snap shutdown, following a coronavirus outbreak at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital. Tennis players have been classified as essential workers. Germany is banning travel from its Czech border regions and Austria’s Tyrol because of an alarming COVID surge in the two locations. The restrictions go into effect Sunday.Missionaries in some remote areas of Brazil have convinced some Indigenous people that the COVID-19 vaccine is not good for them. The residents of one Amazon village picked up bows and arrows to fight off healthcare workers set on …
A warning by the World Health Organization that the COVID-19 pandemic could harm efforts to eradicate malaria appears to be coming true in Nigeria. Nigerian officials say people are refusing to get treatment for fear of catching the virus at a clinic.Fatima Mohammed is in her home at a camp for displaced people in Abuja, tending to her two sons who are currently down with malaria.She says she’s can’t afford huge hospital bills and is afraid that taking them to the hospital could potentially expose them to COVID-19 or result …
Microsoft on Thursday lobbied for other countries to follow Australia’s lead in calling for news outlets to be paid for stories published online, a move opposed by Facebook and Google.Microsoft last week offered to fill the void if rival Google follows through on a threat to turn off its search engine in Australia over the plan.Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement the company fully supports proposed legislation in Australia that would force Google and Facebook to compensate media for their journalism.”This has made for an unusual split within …
More than 180 human rights groups are calling for diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games to protest Beijing’s abuses of racial and ethnic minorities. The coalition of FILE – International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound, Nov. 1, 2010.”The games are not Chinese Games, the games are the IOC Games,” FILE – Extending gloved hands skyward in racial protest, U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos stare downward during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in the 1968 Mexico City Games.Since then, South Africa was expelled from …
Health experts say allocating and delivering adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world will continue to be a challenge. They add that collective and cooperative solutions will be needed — and failing to provide them will imperil human health worldwide. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo. …
The social media platform Instagram has permanently removed the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for posting false information regarding vaccines and COVID-19. In a statement Wednesday, Facebook, which owns Instagram, said, “We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines.” Kennedy’s Facebook page, which has carried some of same information and has over 300,000 followers, remains active. Kennedy is the son of the former senator and U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and worked …
“Ailey,” a documentary about the life and creative spirit of iconic African American dancer, director and choreographer Alvin Ailey, weaves an immersive portrait of Ailey as a creative genius and a complex individual, who emoted his life experience through movement. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the filmmaker about how Ailey’s modern dance reflected the Black cultural experience. Camera: Penelope Poulou Produced by: Penelope Poulou …