Month: January 2022

Despite having the highest number of COVID infections in Africa, nearly two years into the pandemic, fewer than half of South African adults have been vaccinated. The government has been reluctant to order vaccine mandates, but private companies are to encouraging people to get the…

International business groups are urging Hong Kong to restart international flights after a ratings group warned the travel restrictions, imposed last week because of COVID-19 outbreaks, could have dire effects on the territory’s economy. Fitch Ratings said, “A new wave of restrictions on various social…

At the start of 2022 most measures show the U.S. economy is booming, with an unemployment rate that is approaching record lows and a demand for goods that has imports from the rest of the world surging. On Friday, the Labor Department announced that the…

The European Union is under increasing pressure to further ease rules on airport take-off and landing slots to cut the number of "ghost flights" airlines are running to retain them. Carriers say the requirement for them to use 50% of their slots -- down from…

Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest…

Australia’s New South Wales state reported 16 deaths from COVID-19 Sunday, its deadliest day in the two-year pandemic. The state, Australia’s most populous, already has 200,000 people in isolation, and reported more than 30,000 new cases. On Sunday, New South Wales Health issued a statement…

NASA's new space telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror Saturday, the final step in the observatory's dramatic unfurling.   The last portion of the 6.5-meter (21-foot) mirror swung into place at flight controllers' command, completing the unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope. "I'm…

Novak Djokovic's legal challenge to the Australian government's decision to cancel his visa on arrival this week says a certified COVID-19 infection in December meant he qualified for a medical exemption to the county's vaccination requirements. A 35-page document lodged in the Federal Circuit and…

The top men's tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, spent Orthodox Christmas in an immigration detention hotel in Australia on Friday as he sought to fend off deportation over the country's COVID-19 rules and compete in the Australian Open. Djokovic received calls from his…

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled Friday to hear oral arguments against two of President Joe Biden’s administration’s COVID-19 vaccine policies issued by government agencies to combat the deadly coronavirus. The policies “are critical to our nation’s COVID-19 response,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki…

Midday queues snake out to the street in an upmarket Shanghai neighborhood, but it's not lunch at the city's hottest restaurant that people are lining up for -- it's cosmetic "micro-procedures", which are surging in popularity in China.     The "lunchtime facelift" and other "medical aesthetics"…

Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, six former health advisers for U.S. President Joe Biden are urging a different approach to fighting it. Writing Thursday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the advisers wrote three articles urging Americans to learn to live…

A team of scientists is sailing to "the place in the world that's the hardest to get to" so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica's ice.  Thirty-two scientists on Thursday…

After launching its next-generation space telescope, NASA scientists mark major milestones in its progress.  Plus, a new spaceplane arrives at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. Camera: YouTube NASA/ REUTERS/ SIERRA SPACE  Produced by: Arash…

World tennis No.1 Novak Djokovic has had his visa canceled by Australian authorities and is facing deportation. He had received a COVID-19 vaccination exemption to defend his title at the Australian Open but has reportedly failed to provide proper evidence to border officials. The Serbian…

The World Health Organization says a new coronavirus variant recently detected in France is nothing to be concerned about right now. Scientists at the IHU Mediterranee Infection Foundation in the city of Marseille say they discovered the new B.1.640.2 variant in December in 12 patients…

World tennis No.1 Novak Djokovic has had his visa canceled by Australian authorities and is facing deportation. He had received a COVID-19 vaccination exemption to defend his title at the Australian Open but has reportedly failed to provide proper evidence to border officials. The Serbian…

Influential government advisers are strongly urging that teens as young as 12 get COVID-19 boosters as soon as they're eligible, a key move as the U.S. battles the omicron surge and schools struggle with how to restart classes amid the spike.  All Americans 16 and…

Omicron may not cause as much lung damage as the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, according to new lab studies. That, plus vaccination, may help explain why patients with omicron are not being hospitalized or dying as often as patients infected with previous variants.…

Exactly two years after the World Health Organization issued an alert about "a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause" in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that evolved into the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world is now struggling under the weight of the…

Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for January 6 after nine…

TRANSCRIPT The Inside Story: Crossing the Frontier Episode 21 – January 6, 2022   Show Open Graphics:   Voice of KANE FARABAUGH, VOA Correspondent:   All Systems go, Falcon 9 Blasts off into space. With high expectations, changing the trajectory of U.S. space exploration. And…

President Joe Biden has directed his administration to buy an additional 10 million courses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, bringing the total to at least 20 million courses, as part of his strategy to combat omicron. He addressed the American public Tuesday as COVID-19 cases…

Illinois farmer Jack McCormick planted 350 acres of barley and radishes last fall as part of an off-season crop that he does not intend to harvest. Instead, the crops will be killed off with a weed killer next spring before McCormick plants soybeans in the…

On the 40th anniversary of a famous skin cancer campaign, research has revealed that a high number of young Australians are not using sun protection.  Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. A new multi-million-dollar awareness campaign hopes to…