NASA celebrates an anniversary on the Martian surface while a space-travel startup tumbles back to Earth. Russia helps refuel the International Space Station, and how a recent volcanic eruption could lead to faster tsunami warnings in the future. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
Experts from nine countries are planning to collect and combine aquatic animal sounds for a global library. Scientists in Australia believe an undersea chorus of mammals, fish and some invertebrates will help them gauge the health of marine ecosystems. Songs by bearded seals and the “boing” of a minke whale are part of a global collection being put together for the first time by a team of international researchers. The samples are stored in the individual libraries of various institutions, but never before have they been curated in a single …
Who says you have to be born in Italy to make excellent pizza? Ibrahim Songne, a West African now living in northern Italy, has successfully challenged that assumption. VOA’s Betty Ayoub has the story. …
After two years, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be taking a toll on Americans’ mental health, with a growing number of people suffering from a wide array of issues, from anxiety to depression. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …
Google said Wednesday it plans to limit tracking and data sharing for users of its Android operating system, which is used by over 2.5 billion people around the world. The change, which won’t take effect for at least two years, comes in response to growing pressure on tech companies to increase privacy by limiting tracking. Google, which dominates the online advertising market, currently assigns IDs to each Android device and then collects highly valuable data on users that allows advertisers to target them with ads based on their interests and …
Victory, of sorts, for Eritrea’s sole Winter Olympian — one of just six athletes competing for African countries at the Games in China — was achieved even before his feat of surviving two runs in blizzard conditions down a hazardous course aptly named The Ice River. Before flying to China for his Olympic ski race in the mountains northwest of Beijing, Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda learned of a cross-country skier living in Germany who has been so inspired by Abeda’s trailblazing that he’s aiming to qualify for their East African nation at …
A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that infants are less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if their mothers are vaccinated during their pregnancy. The study found that babies whose mothers received two doses of an mRNA vaccine while pregnant were about 60% less likely to be hospitalized for the virus during their first six months of life. The odds are strengthened if the mother is vaccinated after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. The agency has urged all women who are …
Crowds gathered in Barcelona’s historic downtown to watch in awe and snap cellphone photos as teams of people in colorful garb formed human towers rising into the air like the spires on the nearby medieval cathedral. A giant figure in bright blue dress and a floral crown paraded through the streets in representation of St. Eulàlia, the city’s patron, a 13-year-old girl who was crucified by Romans in the early fourth century for refusing to renounce Christianity. After two years of canceled or muted celebrations due to the pandemic, this …
P.J. O’Rourke, the prolific author and satirist who refashioned the irreverence and “gonzo” journalism of the 1960s counterculture into a distinctive brand of conservative and libertarian commentary, has died at age 74. O’Rourke died Tuesday morning, according to Grove Atlantic Inc. Books publisher and president Morgan Entrekin. He did not cite a specific cause but said O’Rourke had been ill in recent months. Patrick Jake O’Rourke was a Toledo, Ohio, native who evolved from long-haired student activist to wavy-haired scourge of his old liberal ideals, with some of his …
A Nigerian rights group has filed a lawsuit to force authorities to publish an agreement reached with Twitter in January to lift a block on the social media company. The rights group says the failure by Nigerian authorities to publish all the details of the agreement raises concerns about citizens’ rights and censorship. A Nigerian rights group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), said this week that authorities ignored its request last month to publish the agreement. The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling authorities to publish details of …
The United States is expected to experience as much sea level rise by the year 2050 as the country has witnessed in the past century, according to a report led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and released Tuesday. “Sea levels continue to rise at a very alarming rate, and it’s endangering communities around the world,” Bill Nelson, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), told reporters during an online briefing. “And that means it’s past time to take action on this climate crisis.” …
The family of a cinematographer shot and killed on the set of the film “Rust” is suing Alec Baldwin and the movie’s producers for wrongful death, their attorneys said Tuesday. Lawyers for the family of Halyna Hutchins announced the lawsuit filed in New Mexico in the name of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their son, Andros, at a Los Angeles news conference. At least three other lawsuits have been filed over the shooting, but this is the first directly tied to one of the two people shot. The “reckless conduct …
Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a U.N. environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals. The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked. The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer. “Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and …
The technology industry has long employed mostly men in technical roles. But a nonprofit group in Seattle, Washington is trying to change that. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya reports. …
A billionaire who led an all-private space crew into orbit last year has announced plans for up to three new missions in conjunction with SpaceX, including one with a spacewalk. Jared Isaacman, who founded payment processing company Shift4, will lead the first of the new flights with a launch potentially coming by the end of this year. In addition to a mission featuring the first spacewalk attempted by non-professional astronauts, the planned flight also includes achieving a record altitude in Earth orbit. As part of the partnership with SpaceX, the …
Comic actors Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes will host this year’s Academy Awards ceremony as producers try to attract new viewers after record-low ratings in 2021, Hollywood publication Variety and other media outlets reported on Monday. The actors are finalizing details and an announcement will be made on Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Variety said. ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co, will broadcast the Oscars ceremony on March 27. The film industry’s highest honors, which are handed out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, …
U.S. first lady Jill Biden on Monday observed Valentine’s Day at the White House with displays of giant hearts on the North Lawn and valentines from local elementary school children inside the mansion. The displays include a giant red heart inscribed with a Bible passage, 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says, “Three things will last forever — faith, hope and love — and the greatest of these is love.“ Additionally, hand-painted, wooden artwork in the shapes of the first family’s puppy, Commander, and cat, Willow, adorned either side of the giant …
As few as three major criminal groups are responsible for smuggling the vast majority of elephant ivory tusks out of Africa, according to a new study. Researchers used analysis of DNA from seized elephant tusks and evidence such as phone records, license plates, financial records and shipping documents to map trafficking operations across the continent and better understand who was behind the crimes. The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior. “When you have the genetic analysis and other data, you can finally begin to understand the …
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has begun a two-week meeting to consider a report that assesses the impact of the world’s changing climate and how humans might adapt. Hundreds of scientists meeting virtually will lay out the latest evidence on how past and future changes to the Earth’s climate system are affecting the planet. The report under review is the second of three installments that will comprise the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, which will be released later this year. In August, the scientific body approved the first …
For literature lovers in sanction-hit Iran, a new novel has long provided a brief respite from a grinding economic crisis triggered by international pressure imposed over Tehran’s contested nuclear programme. But now losing yourself in a good book is becoming harder, as cash-strapped publishers struggle because the price of paper is soaring. “If a 200-page novel sold for 400,000 rials ($1.60) last year, its price today is 1,000,000 rials ($4.10), most of which is the cost of production”, said Reza Hasheminejad, who runs the Ofoq publishing house. Iran does not …
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday began its review of Japan’s plan to begin releasing more than a million tons of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant — a review that Japan hopes will instill confidence in the plan. The 15-member team is to visit the Fukushima plant on Tuesday and meet with government and utility officials during its five-day mission. The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings announced plans last year to begin gradually releasing the still-contaminated water in …
Ivan Reitman, the influential filmmaker and producer behind many of the most beloved comedies of the late 20th century, from “Animal House” to “Ghostbusters,” has died. He was 75. Reitman died peacefully in his sleep Saturday night at his home in Montecito, Calif., his family told The Associated Press. “Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” children Jason Reitman, Catherine Reitman and Caroline Reitman said in a joint statement. “We take comfort that his …
A star-studded Los Angeles Rams team will seek to deny the giant-killing Cincinnati Bengals a Hollywood ending in the Super Bowl on Sunday as an NFL season full of plot twists reaches its climax. The first NFL championship game of the post-Tom Brady era sees the Rams play host at their gleaming $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium against a Bengals side chasing a first Super Bowl crown. Around 100 million Americans are expected to tune in for the biggest annual event on the U.S. sporting calendar, which kicks off at 3:30 …
A vault built on an Arctic mountainside to preserve the world’s crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes will receive new deposits on Monday, including one from the first organization that made a withdrawal from the facility. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on Spitsbergen island halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is only opened a few times a year to limit its seed banks’ exposure to the outside world. On Monday, gene banks from Sudan, Uganda, New Zealand, Germany and Lebanon will deposit seeds, including millet, sorghum …
Veteran NFL coach Anthony Lynn appreciates the league policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for their top jobs, and he has even benefited from it. Like many of his peers, though, the assistant head coach for the San Francisco 49ers believes the policy has fallen short of its good intentions: There were three non-white head coaches when the rule went into effect in 2003; today, there are five. The figure has risen and fallen slightly over the past 20 years, but skepticism about NFL hiring practices has remained …
The World Health Organization warns a sharp rise in measles cases in Afghanistan is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of malnourished children. More than 35,300 suspected cases of measles and 156 deaths have been reported in Afghanistan from January 2021 through January of this year. What is setting off alarm bells ringing is the sharp, rapid rise in cases last month. The World Health Organization reports a 40% increase in the number of measles cases in the last week of January. Although the number of deaths is relatively …