As the world mark Sickle Cell Day on Monday, Nigeria accounts for about 33% of the 300,000 children diagnosed every year with the disease. The World Health Organization and Nigeria’s Health Ministry say 25% of the country’s total population are carriers of mutant genes that give rise to the genetic disorder. In 2011, Nigeria’s Health … continue reading -> “Sickle Cell Advocates in Nigeria Urge Authorities to Take Firm Stand on Interventions”
Members of the United Nations adopted the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas on Monday, with the U.N.’s chief hailing the historic agreement as giving the ocean “a fighting chance.” Delegates from the 193 member nations burst into applause and then stood up in a sustained standing ovation when Singapore’s ambassador … continue reading -> “UN Members Adopt First-Ever Treaty to Protect Marine Life in High Seas”
A submarine on a tourism expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic has gone missing off the coast of southeastern Canada, according to the private company that operates the vessel. OceanGate Expeditions said in a brief statement on Monday that it was “mobilizing all options” to rescue those on board the vessel. It was … continue reading -> “Submarine Exploring Titanic Wreck Missing, Search Underway”
The Dutch government is soon to join the United States and Japan in rolling out new semiconductor export control measures aimed at keeping sensitive technology away from China due to concern for potential misuse, the country’s economic affairs minister told reporters on a visit to Washington. The measures are likely to further restrict sales to … continue reading -> “Netherlands Soon to Announce Controls on IT Exports to China”
Getting vaccinated is an effective way to prevent infection from human papillomavirus, also known as HPV, a virus that can lead to cervical cancer in women and other cancers in men. But the vaccine is neither available nor affordable to many in Venezuela. For Adriana Nunez Rabascall in Caracas, Venezuela, Cristina Caicedo Smit narrates the … continue reading -> “Venezuelans Lack Access to HPV Vaccine”
In early June, sporadic but serious service disruptions plagued Microsoft’s flagship office suite — including the Outlook email and OneDrive file-sharing apps — and cloud computing platform. A shadowy hacktivist group claimed responsibility, saying it flooded the sites with junk traffic in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Initially reticent to name the cause, Microsoft has now disclosed … continue reading -> “Microsoft Says Early June Disruptions to Outlook, Cloud Platform, Were Cyberattacks “
Nestled among the bustling city streets of Washington is a hidden oasis that many Americans don’t know exists. Congress established the U.S. National Arboretum in 1927. Vital scientific research is under way at the sprawling 183-hectare compound. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports on the arboretum’s critical government mission. Camera: Adam Greenbaum …
New harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing market for traffickers amid violence and corruption hurting local communities across Europe, the EU’s agency monitoring drugs and addiction said Friday. The grim finding was part of the agency’s annual report. It also said that drug users in Europe are now exposed to a wider range of … continue reading -> “EU: Powerful Illegal Drugs Inundating Europe, Sending Corruption and Violence Soaring”
Researchers have been exploring the presence of cancer in animals from elephants to mollusks to learn about cancer in wild animals. They also hope their research will help with human cancers. “Studying wildlife cancer, and more generally the evolution of cancer across the tree of life, is extremely promising to develop innovative therapies to treat … continue reading -> “Researchers Studying Cancer in Wildlife Grapple With Why Some Get the Disease While Others Don’t”
The first large-scale battery to be built at an Australian coal site has been switched on in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne. The 150-megawatt battery is at the site of the former Hazelwood power station in the southern Australian state of Victoria. The station was built in the 1960s and closed in 2017. The … continue reading -> “Australia Activates First Renewable Power Station on Decommissioned Coal Plant Site”
U.S. security officials say the U.S. Energy Department and several other federal agencies have been hacked by a Russian cyber-extortion gang. Homeland Security officials said Thursday the agencies were caught up in the hacking of MOVEit Transfer, a file-transfer program that is popular with governments and corporations. The Energy Department said two of its entities … continue reading -> “US Energy Dept., Other Agencies Hacked”
An announcement by YouTube that it will no longer remove content containing misinformation on the U.S. 2020 presidential election has some experts divided. In a June blog post, YouTube said it was ending its policy — enforced since December 2020 — that removed tens of thousands of videos that falsely claimed the 2020 election was … continue reading -> “Experts Divided as YouTube Reverses Policy on Election Misinformation”
Suspected state-backed Chinese hackers used a security hole in a popular email security appliance to break into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally, nearly a third of them government agencies including foreign ministries, the U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Thursday. “This is the broadest cyber espionage campaign known to be … continue reading -> “Security Firm: Suspected Chinese Hackers Breached Hundreds of Networks Globally”
Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met Thursday to discuss and vote on whether to recommend targeting one of the currently dominant XBB coronavirus variants in updated COVID-19 shots being developed for a fall vaccination campaign. FDA staff reviewers in documents released this week said available evidence suggests this year’s shots should target … continue reading -> “US Regulator Panel Weighs Makeup of Next COVID Vaccine “
Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles are stepping up their push to dominate the European market. As Amy Guttman reports from London, they are making progress in Britain, where car shoppers are eager to buy the lower-cost electric cars that Chinese automakers are offering. …
Microsoft Founder Bill Gates was in China on Thursday for what he said were meetings with global health and development partners who have worked with his charitable foundation. “Solving problems like climate change, health inequity and food insecurity requires innovation,” Gates tweeted. “From developing malaria drugs to investing in climate adaptation, China has a lot … continue reading -> “Bill Gates Visits China for Health, Development Talks”
Experts are raising concerns that a recent Cambodian government order allocating around $1 million to a local company for a facial recognition technology project could pave the way for the technology to be used against citizens and human rights defenders. The order, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and released in March in a recent … continue reading -> “Cambodian Facial Recognition Effort Raises Fears of Misuse”
The long hunt for extraterrestrials just got a big boost. Scientists have discovered that phosphorus, a key building block of life, lies in the ocean beneath the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The finding was based on a review of data collected by NASA’s Cassini probe, and it was published Wednesday in the prestigious … continue reading -> “NASA Finds Key Building Block for Life in a Saturn Moon”
Chinese authorities are cracking down on political and fraud cases driven by deepfakes, created with face- and voice-changing software that tricks targets into believing they are video chatting with a loved one or another trusted person. How good are the deepfakes? Good enough to trick an executive at a Fuzhou tech company in Fujian province … continue reading -> “As Deepfake Fraud Permeates China, Authorities Target Political Challenges Posed By AI”
Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp’s co-founder, is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday during his visit to China, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The meeting will mark Xi’s first meeting with a foreign private entrepreneur in recent years. The people said the encounter may be a one-on-one meeting. A third … continue reading -> “Bill Gates in China to Meet President Xi on Friday – Sources “
EU lawmakers on Wednesday voted for tougher landmark draft artificial intelligence rules that include a ban on the use of the technology in biometric surveillance and for generative AI systems like ChatGPT to disclose AI-generated content. The lawmakers agreed to the amendments to the draft legislation proposed by the European Commission which is seeking to … continue reading -> “EU Lawmakers Vote for Tougher AI Rules as Draft Moves to Final Stage”
Six percent of all maternal deaths around the world are caused by obstructed labor, according to the World Health Organization. That’s when a baby can’t move through the birth canal. It can also lead to obstetric fistula, a condition that can have a long-term impact on a woman’s health, especially in developing countries. Reporter Idd … continue reading -> “Women Want Fistula Treatment, End to Stigma in Tanzania”
European Union antitrust regulators took aim at Google’s lucrative digital advertising business in an unprecedented decision ordering the tech giant to sell off some of its ad business to address competition concerns. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said that its preliminary view after an investigation is that “only the … continue reading -> “EU Regulators Order Google To Break up Digital Ad Business Over Competition Concerns”
When peanuts are dropped into a pint of beer, they sink to the bottom before floating up and “dancing” in the glass. Scientists have dug deep to investigate this phenomenon in a study published on Wednesday, saying it has implications for understanding mineral extraction or bubbling magma in the Earth’s crust. Brazilian researcher Luiz Pereira, … continue reading -> “What Peanuts Dancing in Beer Teaches Us About the Earth’s Crust”
Amazon.com said cloud services offered by its unit Amazon Web Services were recovering after a big disruption on Tuesday affected websites of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and The Boston Globe, among others. Several hours after Downdetector.com started showing reports of outages, Amazon said many AWS services were fully recovered and marked resolved. “We … continue reading -> “Big Amazon Cloud Services Recovering After Outage Hits Thousands of Users”