Thanks to a new law, California residents who do not identify as either male or female can choose a third option on their driver’s licenses and birth certificates. VOA’s Genia Dulot spoke with a Berkeley resident who is that third …
Month: November 2017
Prepare to be amazed … and possibly terrified. Engineers in Zurich have created a four-legged robot that may one day do labor that is dangerous for humans. It’s also equipped with thermal cameras, which means the “ANYmal” may one day …
Ranchers in the Midwestern U.S. state of Nebraska are raising beef for tables in China, reopening trade suspended more than a decade ago during concerns over mad cow disease. From Nebraska, VOA reporter Abby Sun tells us how U.S. beef …
Disneyland has shut down and decontaminated two cooling towers following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that sickened 12 people, nine of them guests or employees at the theme park in Anaheim, county health officials said Saturday. One of the three …
In Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries, the rapid improvement in internet connectivity and availability of affordable smartphones has been a great leveler. Many of its roughly 15 million urban and rural inhabitants have gained, in a short time, access …
The World Robot Olympiad, being held in Costa Rica this weekend, shows human athletes still have little to worry about: Sweat and glory do not compute well when relegated to faceless automatons. But the same may not be true for …
Luber Faneitte has lung cancer but there’s no medicine to treat it. She cannot make ends meet. Crime is rampant in her neighborhood. And she fears that if Venezuela defaults on its $150 billion debt, which is considered likely, things …
An outbreak of cholera in Tanzania has left 18 dead in two months, the Health Ministry said Saturday, warning that the situation could worsen as the rainy season continues. The ministry said the outbreak had left “18 dead out of …
Afghanistan has received an inaugural consignment of wheat from India through an Iranian port, opening a new trade and transit route for the landlocked nation that bypasses neighboring Pakistan. The strategic sea route, officials say, will help improve trade and …
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, Saturday evening for a state banquet, followed by a day of meetings with Vietnamese leaders. He has been in Danang, where he attended the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, one of …
Chinese consumers are spending billions of dollars shopping online for anything from diapers to diamonds on “Singles Day,” a day of promotions that has grown into the world’s biggest e-commerce event. China’s biggest e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, said sales …
Pneumonic plague continues to decline in Madagascar, according to the World Health Organization, whose latest figures put the number of suspected cases at 1,947, including 143 deaths. The latest reported cases of pneumonic plague, based on the number of people …
Despite President Donald Trump’s tough talk on trade at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam, international business leaders say they are excited by the prospects of greater cooperation among the 21 member countries of APEC. Many believe the annual …
Kurdish refugee Hakki Akdeniz left Turkey in 1999 and came to New York City. At times he was homeless and often wondered where his next meal would come from. But as Saleh Damiger reports, he has more than turned his …
Some foreign students in U.S. schools find it challenging to submit grammatically correct, idiomatically accurate papers. So two former Ukrainian graduate students launched an artificial intelligence-driven grammar-proofing program that goes well beyond spell-check. Today, their 8-year-old startup, Grammarly, whose first …
Aerial surveillance can be an indispensable part of police or security work. But small police forces certainly can’t afford planes or helicopters to help them do their jobs. So increasingly, drones are filling the gap and providing eyes in the …
The United Nations is set to host talks on the use of autonomous weapons, but those hoping for a ban on the machines dubbed “killer robots” will be disappointed, the ambassador leading the discussions said Friday. More than 100 artificial …
From Britain’s Queen Elizabeth to Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton — the leak of more than 14 million documents from firms involved in offshore finance, known as the Paradise Papers, has engulfed some of the world’s most famous names. …
Maine’s wild blueberry crop fell sharply this summer to land below 100 million pounds (45.3 million kilograms) for the first time in four years, according to a trade group that promotes the industry. Preliminary industry figures show the crop …
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plans to ban all illicit versions of fentanyl, the highly addictive opioid painkiller responsible for tens of thousands of deadly drug overdoses in the United States in recent years. The DEA, an arm of the …
The large drop in global cocoa prices has hurt African farmers, leading some to abandon their plantations. In Cameroon, however, cocoa producers are mapping out ways to encourage more local processing. At Nkog-Ekogo in the center region of Cameroon, a …
The cancer caseload is growing in Africa, but quality treatment options remain limited. By 2030, WHO estimates that for every four deaths from HIV/AIDS on the continent, there will be three deaths from cancer. To address the emerging public health crisis, two …
Rohingya children in Myanmar and Bangladesh face a tenfold increase in malnutrition compared to last year and require immediate attention, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement Friday. A recent survey conducted by humanitarian agencies led by International Rescue …
The results of three recent separate studies are staggering, the oceans are filled with about 5 trillion bits and bobs of plastic debris. Now, one English sailing team is doing its part, skimming plastic off the ocean’s surface, bucket by …