Daily Archives: March 4, 2021


US Tech Competition With China Draws Bipartisan Support

This week a U.S.-government backed commission of technology experts completed a three-year review of the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, urging the development of a new national technology strategy to stay competitive with China.The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has been studying how artificial intelligence and machine learning can address U.S. national security and defense needs. It recommended spending billions of dollars more on research, diversifying the American industrial supply chain for microchips and other high-tech products, and reforming immigration policies to attract talented researchers and workers.Some of those …


SpaceX Takes Flight With and Without Success

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week built the bones for much-needed power upgrades.  Also, SpaceX took flight with and without success, and flaming space junk lights up Australian skies.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. …


Kenyan Women’s Rights Groups Hail Lifting of US Abortion Funding ‘Gag Rule’

Women’s rights activists in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s order revoking the ban blocking U.S. funding to women’s health organizations that provide abortion or abortion-related services. Critics say the so-called gag rule left women uninformed about safe options to end a pregnancy.       Forty-five-year-old Najma Wangoi lost her sister in 2018 after she bought medicine from a drug store to induce an abortion and it led to her death.      The mother of two says her sister didn’t know there was a better way to …


Food Waste Problem Needs Better Data: UN Report

A lot of food is wasted around the world, and the United Nations says it needs better data to determine just how much.     Citing the environmental impact of food production, the U.N. says understanding the scope of food waste is crucial.   Despite the lack of data, the U.N. estimates in its report that 17%, or 931 million tons, of the food produced around the world went to waste in 2019.     “Improved measurement can lead to improved management,” Brian Roe, a food waste researcher at The …


Hospitalized Prince Philip Has Successful Heart Procedure

Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure at a London hospital and is expected to remain for several days of “rest and recuperation,” Buckingham Palace said Thursday. The palace said the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II “underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.” “His royal highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days,” the palace said in a statement. Philip, 99, has been hospitalized since being admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on …


Ending Mask Mandates Reflects ‘Neanderthal Thinking,’ Biden Says

U.S. President Joe Biden, while expressing frustration, has limited power to overrule decisions by state governors who are ending mask mandates and lifting other restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.”I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told a small group of reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office when asked about Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi casting off restrictions and allowing businesses to reopen at full capacity.As the nation makes progress with vaccinations, “the last thing we need is the Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, ‘Everything’s fine. Take off your …