Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

In South Africa, traditional healers join fight against HIV

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BUSHBUCKRIDGE, South Africa — The walls of Shadrack Mashabane's hut in the rural South African town of Bushbuckridge are covered with traditional fabrics, with a small window the only source of light. What stands out among the herbs and medicines in glass bottles is a white box containing an HIV testing kit. Mashabane is one of at least 15 traditional healers in the town who, in a pilot study, have been trained by University of Witwatersrand researchers to conduct HIV testing and counseling in an effort to ensure as many South Africans as possible know their status. It's part of the largest known effort in the country to involve traditional healers in a public health goal and study the results. Later this year, at least 325 other healers will undergo the…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Thousands die every year in Kenya amid scarce snakebite treatments

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MWINGI, Kenya — Esther Kangali felt a sharp pain while on her mother's farm in eastern Kenya. She looked down and saw a large snake coiling around her left leg. She screamed, and her mother came running. Kangali was rushed to a nearby health center, but it lacked antivenom to treat the snake's bite. A referral hospital had none as well. Two days later, she reached a hospital in the capital, Nairobi, where her leg was amputated due to delayed treatment. The 32-year-old mother of five knows it could have been avoided if clinics in areas where snakebites are common are stocked with antivenom. Kitui County, where the Kangalis have their farm, has Kenya's second highest number of snakebite victims, according to the health ministry, which last year put annual cases…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Ivory Coast sets up mobile enrollment for problematic health coverage program

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ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Health authorities in Ivory Coast launched mobile enrollment centers for the country's universal health coverage program, which has been criticized since its 2019 inception over difficulties accessing benefits. Ivory Coast is one of a handful countries in West Africa that offers a universal health program. But, five years in, less than half its citizens have enrolled. Known locally by its French acronym CMU, the program is meant to cover 70% of citizens' health care costs for a monthly charge of 1,000 West African CFA francs, or about $1.65. However, many participants who have managed to enroll have reported glitches, including that vouchers given at hospitals that are supposed to provide them with medicine are later not accepted at pharmacies — requiring patients to pay out of pocket.…


Jun222024 by TechmanNo Comments

Germany assures China that doors still open to discuss EU surcharges

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Shanghai, China — The German vice-chancellor assured China on Saturday that the "doors" remained "open" to discuss EU surcharges on Chinese electric vehicles, without reassuring Beijing which promised to "firmly defend" its manufacturers. Also, the Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck is making a visit that seems like a last chance to avoid a trade war between the Old Continent and the second world power, an important economic partner of Germany. A task further complicated by the political context, the German leader reproached China on Saturday for its economic support for Russia against a backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine, stressing it was "harming" relations between Beijing and Brussels. China regularly denounces these upcoming surcharges on electric vehicles as being "purely protectionist." "These are not punitive customs duties," Habeck assured…


Jun222024 by DmediaNo Comments

China, France launch satellite to better understand universe

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Xichang, China — A French-Chinese satellite blasted off Saturday on a hunt for the mightiest explosions in the universe, in a notable example of cooperation between a Western power and the Asian giant. Developed by engineers from both countries, the Space Variable Objects Monitor, or SVOM, will seek out gamma-ray bursts, the light from which has traveled billions of light years to reach Earth. The 930-kilogram (2,050-pound) satellite carrying four instruments — two French, two Chinese — took off around 3 p.m. aboard a Chinese Long March 2-C rocket from a space base in Xichang, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, AFP journalists witnessed. Gamma-ray bursts generally occur after the explosion of huge stars — those more than 20 times as big as the sun — or the fusion of compact…


Jun212024 by DmediaNo Comments

Half a million Ukrainians in frontline city of Mykolaiv suffer through 3rd year without clean water

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Going into a third year of war, life without clean water has become routine for nearly half a million residents of Ukraine’s frontline city of Mykolaiv. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Russian forces destroyed the water distribution system. As Lesia Bakalets reports, the city has been looking for ways to restore it since then. Video: Vladyslav Smilianets ...


Jun212024 by DmediaNo Comments

Gas company finds 3,300-year-old ship off Israel’s coast

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TEL AVIV, Israel — A company drilling for natural gas off the coast of northern Israel discovered a 3,300-year-old ship and its cargo, one of the oldest known examples of a ship sailing far from land, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday. The discovery of the late Bronze Age ship so far out at sea indicates that the navigation abilities of ancient seafarers were more advanced than previously thought because they could travel without a line of sight to land, the IAA said. The great depth at which the ship was found means it has been left undisturbed by waves, currents or fishermen over the millennia, offering greater potential for research, it said. "The discovery of this boat now changes our entire understanding of ancient mariner abilities. It is the very…


Jun212024 by TechmanNo Comments

US bans Russia’s Kaspersky antivirus software

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Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday banned Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky from providing its popular antivirus products in the United States over national security concerns, the U.S. Commerce Department said. "Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use," the agency said in a statement. The announcement came after a lengthy investigation found Kaspersky's "continued operations in the United States presented a national security risk due to the Russian Government's offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky's operations," it said. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, "Russia has shown time and again they have the capability and intent to exploit Russian companies, like Kaspersky Lab, to collect and…


Jun202024 by DmediaNo Comments

Indian toxic alcohol brew kills at least 34

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Mumbai, India — A batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has killed at least 34 people with more than 100 others rushed to hospital, Tamil Nadu state officials told reporters Thursday. The deadly mix of locally brewed arrack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, chief minister M.K. Stalin said, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Stalin said arrests have been made over the deaths and warned such crimes "ruin society and will be suppressed with an iron fist," according to a statement from his office. Hundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries. In order to increase its potency the liquor is often spiked with methanol which can cause blindness, liver damage and death. In the Tamil Nadu case, more than…


Jun202024 by DmediaNo Comments

Fossil fuel use, emissions hit records in 2023, report says

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LONDON — Global fossil fuel consumption and energy emissions hit all-time highs in 2023, even as fossil fuels' share of the global energy mix decreased slightly on the year, the industry's Statistical Review of World Energy report said on Thursday. Growing demand for fossil fuel despite the scaling up of renewables could be a sticking point for the transition to lower carbon energy as global temperature increases reach 1.5C (2.7F), the threshold beyond which scientists say impacts such as temperature rise, drought and flooding will become more extreme. "We hope that this report will help governments, world leaders and analysts move forward, clear-eyed about the challenge that lies ahead," Romain Debarre of consultancy Kearney said. Last year was the first full year of rerouted Russian energy flows away from the West…


Jun182024 by DmediaNo Comments

Russian involvement in China’s moon exploration divides space research camps

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Washington — China aims to mark a new milestone in space exploration next week when its Chang'e-6 probe is expected to return to Earth from the far side of the moon with rock and soil samples. Scientists involved in the project say the probe is likely to bring back a "treasure trove" of material that will shed light on the differences between the front and back of Earth's satellite. James Head is an American planetary scientist and professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University.  He has 15 years of experience in cooperating with the Chinese scientific community and participated in the research for the Chang'e-6 lunar landing. He told VOA in a video interview that the samples brought back by Chang'e-6 from the far side of the moon will be "a…


Jun182024 by TechmanNo Comments

India, US to strengthen high technology cooperation 

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New Delhi — Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his third term in office, India and the United States agreed to strengthen cooperation in high technology areas during a visit by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to New Delhi. Sullivan met Modi, the Indian foreign minister and his Indian counterpart during the visit that reaffirmed both countries will pursue closer ties. “India is committed to further strengthen the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership for global good,” Modi wrote on X after meeting Sullivan on Monday. The main focus of Sullivan’s visit was to hold discussion with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on a landmark initiative launched by the two countries in January last year to collaborate more closely in high-technology areas including defense, semiconductors, 5G wireless networks…


Jun182024 by TechmanNo Comments

Smartphone stroke detection breakthrough announced by Australian team

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SYDNEY — A new technology that allows smartphones to identify strokes far quicker than existing methods has been developed by researchers in Australia. The new technology uses artificial intelligence as it scans a patient’s face for symmetry and certain muscle movements, which are called action units. People who have suffered a stroke often have one side of their face looking different from the other.   The biomedical engineers at Melbourne’s RMIT University say the smartphone technology can detect facial asymmetry, potentially identifying strokes within seconds - much sooner and more precisely than current technologies. Professor Dinesh Kumar, who led the research team, explained to Australian Broadcasting Corp. how the AI-driven device works. “It takes a video of a person who is doing a smile, and the model determines whether this particular smile…


Jun182024 by TechmanNo Comments

A year after the Titan’s tragic dive, deep-sea explorers vow to pursue ocean’s mysteries

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PORTLAND, Maine — The deadly implosion of an experimental submersible en route to the deep-sea grave of the Titanic last June has not dulled the desire for further ocean exploration, despite lingering questions about the disaster. Tuesday marks one year since the Titan vanished on its way to the historic wreckage site in the North Atlantic Ocean. After a five-day search that captured attention around the world, authorities said the vessel had been destroyed and all five people on board had died. Concerns have been raised about whether the Titan was destined for disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks that are standard in the industry. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation into what happened, but officials said the inquiry…


Jun172024 by DmediaNo Comments

EU countries approve landmark nature law after delays

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BRUSSELS — European Union countries approved a flagship policy to restore damaged nature on Monday, after months of delay, making it the first green law to pass since European Parliament elections this month.  The nature restoration law is among the EU's biggest environmental policies, requiring member states to introduce measures restoring nature on a fifth of their land and sea by 2030.  EU countries' environment ministers backed the policy at a meeting in Luxembourg, meaning it can now pass into law.  The vote was held after Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, defied her conservative coalition partners by pledging to back the policy — giving it just enough support to pass.  "I know I will face opposition in Austria on this, but I am convinced that this is the…