Author: Fbiz

UN: Global Warming Threatens to Defeat Effort to Fix World Ills

Relentless global warming threatens the potential success of a sweeping set of goals established by the United Nations to tackle inequality, conflict and other ills, officials said on Tuesday. Climate change imperils food supplies, water and places where people live, endangering the U.N. plan to address these world problems by 2030, according to a report …

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Despite Funding Loss, Cities Vow to Continue Resilience Push

In the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, nine “water plazas” have been created that soak up excess rainfall while offering people a green space to meet and children to play. The city is also planting gardens and putting solar panels on a growing area of its nearly 20 square kilometers (8 square miles) of flat …

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Woodstock 50 Organizers Still Hopeful Despite Second Venue Setback

The organizers of the beleaguered Woodstock 50 festival said on Tuesday they still hoped to get a permit for the event due to take place next month despite being turned down at a second site. Authorities in the town of Vernon in upstate New York turned down the organizers’ application to stage the three-day event, …

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Indonesian Woman Convicted of Recording Boss’ Sexual Advances Seeks Presidential Amnesty

The widely-publicized case of Baiq Nuril Maknun, the 41-year-old school bookkeeper sentenced to six months in prison for recording sexually-suggestive phone calls she received from the principal at her school, has gained traction after the Indonesian government indicated a willingness to grant her amnesty – which would eliminate any traces of wrongdoing from her part. …

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Sri Lanka To Slash Airline Charges To Help Boost Tourism

Sri Lanka’s government announced Tuesday it will reduce ground handling charges for airlines and slash aviation fuel prices and embarkation fees to help the country’s vital tourism industry recover after Easter suicide bombings killed more than 250 people. Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said the decision will lead to an increase in flights to Sri Lanka …

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Greece’s New, Conservative Cabinet is Sworn In

Greece’s new Cabinet was sworn in Tuesday, two days after conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis won early elections on pledges to make the country more business-friendly, cut taxes and negotiate an easing of draconian budget conditions agreed as part of the country’s rescue program.  The new Cabinet relies heavily on experienced politicians who have served …

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Migrants, Stuck in Libya, Demand Evacuation as Conflict Escalates

“We don’t need to eat,” said a young man held in a Libyan detention center five days after the compound was bombed killing more than 50 people and injuring at least 130.  “We didn’t touch the food. We need to be out of Libya.”     The hunger strike in the detention center was on …

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Prodigy and Ukrainian Immigrant Creates Unique DNA Robot

Sofia Lysenko’s parents moved to the United States from the Ukraine when she was 3 years old. Today, at 17, some of the biggest American pharmaceutical companies want to team up with this teenage science prodigy because she has created an artificial macromolecule robot that can deliver drugs directly to the brain cells of patients …

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Unexpected Turns & Music

VOA Connect Episode 77 – Stories about people who are on a path they didn’t foresee, the career of a successful musician and the benefits of vinyl records …

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Student Loan Debt

The average monthly student loan payment is about $400 a month in the United States.  Eddy Encinales, who used student loans to pay for college, talks to us about the effects of the debt and toll it takes trying to make her monthly payments and plan for her future.   Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal.   …

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Vinyl Revival

Find out why records are staging a comeback! *Insert record scratching sound effect.*   VOA Ukrainian; Reporter: Alina Golinata; Camera: Konstantin Golubchik; Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki. …

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Australia Warns Released Student Not to Return to North Korea

Australia’s government warned a student on Friday not to return to North Korea a day after he was released from detention by Pyongyang under mysterious circumstances. Alek Sigley, who flew to Tokyo on Thursday to join his Japanese wife, had been studying in the North Korean capital and had been missing since June 25. “My …

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Philippines Faces Call for UN to Look into War on Drugs Killings

More than two dozen countries Thursday formally called for a United Nations investigation into thousands of killings in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, activists said. Iceland submitted the draft resolution backed by mainly European states, they said. The text urges the government to prevent extrajudicial executions and marks the first time that the …

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Western Balkan Nations Press EU Aspirations at Poland Summit

Government ministers from some European Union nations sought Thursday to reassure their partners in the Western Balkans during a meeting in Poland that their aspirations to join the EU have full backing in the club, despite symptoms of a loss of momentum. German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, said Berlin stands firmly by …

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Death Toll Climbs in Libya Bombing

The United Nations says at least 55 people were killed and more than 130 injured in the Tuesday night airstrike on a detention center holding illegal migrants in Libya’s capital.  VOA’s Heather Murdock is on the scene in Tripoli and files this report. …

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Detained Australian Leaves North Korea, Arrives in China

An Australian student was released Thursday after a week in detention in North Korea and flew to Beijing, where he described his condition to reporters as “very good.” Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced to Parliament that Alek Sigley, 29, had been released hours earlier following intervention from Swedish diplomats Wednesday. Sigley looked relaxed when …

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AP Fact Check: Trump’s Falsified Record on Military Matters

Editor’s note: A look at the veracity of claims by political figures WASHINGTON — In his Fourth of July remarks, President Donald Trump will be celebrating the armed forces and showcasing what he’s done for them. But in recent days, he has falsified his record on military matters on several fronts. He’s claimed, for example, that …

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Japan Says Curbs on Exports to South Korea Due to Broken Pledge

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday that Japan cannot give South Korean exports preferential treatment because the country is not abiding by an agreement regarding wartime issues that Japan insists have been resolved.   Abe was objecting to criticism over escalating tensions between the two neighbors amid disputes over Koreans forced to work as laborers …

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America’s Troubled World Heritage Site: the Everglades

In the United States, the Everglades National Park has been on the U.N.’s ‘World Heritage in Danger’ list since 2010. UNESCO is meeting this week and is expected to keep the troubled wetland on that list, despite decades of restoration efforts. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

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A Vision of the Future of Reality, Enhanced by Technology

With cellphones becoming more sophisticated, internet becoming faster, and VR headsets becoming cheaper, we are at the precipice of a whole new virtual world.  Deana Mitchell talks to an expert who breaks down what this all means in, well—in reality. …

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EU Leaders Name Heads of Bloc’s Institutions

European Union (EU) leaders have chosen the new heads of the 28-nation bloc’s institutions for at least the next five years, breaking a three-day deadlock triggered by deep EU divisions. European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen was named president of the European Commission and Belgian Prime Minister …

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Hundreds of Ethiopian Israelis Protest Police Violence

Hundreds of Israelis are protesting across the country against alleged police brutality against the country’s Ethiopian community following the killing of an Ethiopian Israeli teen by an off-duty police officer.   Demonstrators blocked a main highway in central Tel Aviv and major thoroughfares around the country on Tuesday. They have been voicing frustration over perceived …

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Nine Civilians Wounded in Overnight Houthi Drone Attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha Airport

Col. Turki al Maliki, spokesman for Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen, said that a Houthi drone struck the Abha Airport for the third time in less than a month, wounding nine people in an attack during the early hours of the morning Tuesday.  Amateur video shows taxi drivers surveying damage to vehicles outside the main …

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Climbers Aim to Be First African Female Team to Scale Mount Everest

The women mountaineers of Africa are reaching for new heights, following in the footsteps of the first black African woman to scale Mount Everest. Now four other South Africans are training to become the first all-female African team to climb the world’s tallest peak. Deshun Deysel, Lisa Gering, Tumi Mphahlele and Alda Waddell are training …

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South African Women’s Team Trains for Mount Everest Attempt

Africa’s women mountaineers are reaching new heights.  In May, South African businesswoman Saray Khumalo became the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest. Now four other South Africans are preparing to become the first all-women African team to climb the world’s tallest peak. Marize de Klerk reports from Waterval Boven, South Africa. …

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Trump’s Meeting With North Korean Leader Meets With Contradictions

The third meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has drawn praise as well as criticism.  Critics say Trump is showering attention on a dictator without getting any concessions on the North Korean nuclear development, while others see it as a ray of hope for a permanent peace on …

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