The U.S. government’s budget deficit hit $779 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, while spending increased and tax revenues remained nearly flat, the Treasury said Monday. It was the biggest deficit since 2012, and $113 billion more …
Zimbabwe’s government says the country is emerging from a recent economic meltdown that saw shops run out of goods and motorists spend long hours in lines at gas stations. Economists say Zimbabwe’s crisis is not over, as people have no …
A world without hunger by 2030 is the theme of this year’s World Food Day, and the goal of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Events around the world on October 16th will promote awareness and action for those who …
The U.N. children’s fund reports the vast majority of children living in Ebola-affected areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have returned to school where they are taught ways to avoid infection. School began one month ago in Democratic Republic …
Worldwide cesarean section use has nearly doubled in two decades and has reached “epidemic” proportions in some countries, doctors warned Friday, highlighting a huge gap in childbirth care between rich and poor mothers. They said millions of women each year …
A U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut made an emergency return to earth Thursday shortly after launching on what was supposed to be a mission to the International Space Station. Rescuers reached American Nick Hague and Russian Alexei Ovchinin after …
Facebook announced Thursday that it had deleted over 800 mostly U.S.-based pages and accounts that were posting politically oriented spam and engaging in “inauthentic behavior.” The social media giant declined a request from VOA News to name the 559 pages …
Mental health disorders are on the rise in every country in the world and could cost the global economy up to $16 trillion between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed, according to an expert …
U.S. President Donald Trump says he hasn’t read an ominous report by a U.N. panel that warned of a dire future for the planet if global warming is not kept to a minimum. But he said he will. “It was …
It was during her first year of high school in rural western Kenya that Mary Kuket says she was “sacrificed to tradition” and her dreams of becoming a doctor shattered forever. With no explanation, the 15-year-old was given away to …
Wasteless, an Israeli firm seeking to reduce food waste and save consumers money, won $2 million in funding Tuesday, as more businesses seek to cut food losses amid rising global hunger. The two-year-old firm sells software to supermarkets so that …
In Yassin Mohammed’s sketches and paintings, he and other Egyptian prisoners are crammed into tiny cells, feet in each other’s faces and their few belongings hanging from the walls. The cramped scenes, defined by bars and closed cell doors, capture …
Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the …
The largest city named for Christopher Columbus has called off its observance of the divisive holiday that honors the explorer, making a savvy move to tie the switch to a politically safe demographic: veterans. Ohio’s capital city, population 860,000, will …
Bill Cosby’s lawyers have asked a Pennsylvania court to overturn the actor’s conviction and three- to 10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case. The defense motion argued that trial Judge …
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Saturday it currently had no reason to doubt statements from companies that have denied a Bloomberg report that their supply chains were compromised by malicious computer chips inserted by Chinese intelligence services. “The …
Ben Affleck says battling addiction is “a lifelong and difficult struggle.” The actor posted on Instagram Thursday that he has completed a 40-day stay at a treatment center for alcohol addiction and remains in outpatient care. The 46-year-old says the …
Monica Lewinsky is teaming up with celebrities for an anti-bullying campaign that targets name-calling. Appearing Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Lewinsky says the #DefyTheName campaign calls on people to change their social media names to include the names they …
Chance the Rapper says he’s donating $1 million to help improve mental health services in Chicago. The Chicago native made the announcement Thursday during a summit for his nonprofit organization SocialWorks, saying those involved “want to change the way that …
How much did movie fans hate “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”? Perhaps not as fiercely as social media might suggest, according to a U.S. academic study which found that half of negative tweets about the 2017 movie came from bots, …