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A final decision on a launch attempt for SpaceX's milestone mission to the International Space Station on Saturday afternoon will take place after assessing the weather that morning, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said Friday.Fears of a lightning strike postponed the initial takeoff attempt Wednesday of what would have been the first crewed rocket launch from U.S. soil in almost a decade, and the first time a commercial company had achieved the feat."No decision on weather right now for Saturday's test flight of @ SpaceX's #CrewDragon spacecraft. Will reassess in the morning," tweeted Bridenstine.Earlier in the day, NASA said the chances of a Saturday launch at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT) were 50 percent. A chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms was in the forecast for the area.Next chance: SundayThe next…

The World Health Organization accuses the tobacco industry of devious tactics to get children and young people hooked on their deadly tobacco and nicotine products.  In advance of World No Tobacco Day (May 31), the WHO is launching a campaign to alert young people to the dangers they face from the industry’s manipulative practices.More than 40 million young people aged 13 to 15 smoke and use other tobacco products. The World Health Organization says the tobacco industry tries to get children and young people hooked on tobacco early in life, knowing this will turn them into life-long smokers.   Unfortunately, WHO says many smokers do not live very long.  Every year, it notes millions of people have their lives cut short because of cancers, heart disease and other smoking-related illnesses.…

Wading into a politically charged issue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday preached the importance of wearing masks in public as the nation's economy reopens from the "cataclysmic" damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. During a tour of hospitals this week in his home state of Kentucky, the Republican leader has stressed wearing masks in public and following social distancing guidelines. "There should be no stigma attached to wearing a mask," McConnell said during an appearance in Owensboro. "And even among age groups that are least likely to either contract this disease or die from it, you could be a carrier. So I think what we all need to do is say, 'OK, I'm going to take responsibility not only for myself but for others.'" McConnell, who is in…

There are more than 5.8 million infections of COVID-19 around the world, with more than 360,000 deaths. Some countries are starting to loosen restrictions initiated to halt the spread of the devastating disease, while the number of cases is skyrocketing in other places. The Americas are the new epicenter of the outbreak.  The U.S. has more than 1.7 million coronavirus infections, followed by Brazil with more than 438,000 cases. Developing nationsUnited Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned that the pandemic could cause “unimaginable devastation and suffering around the world,” including famine and massive unemployment, unless governments start taking preventative action now.“Developed countries have announced their own relief packages, because they can,”  Guterres told a virtual summit of nearly 50 world leaders. “But we have not yet seen enough solidarity with developing countries to…

Over the past two months, as air travel ground to a halt, Mishel Zrian has crisscrossed the Atlantic and the United States dozens of times, sleeping in empty airports and unable to return home to see his family in Israel, all in a race against time to deliver life-saving transplants. Zrian is a courier hired by Israel's Ezer Mizion bone marrow donor registry, which has had to perform logistical acrobatics to get its transplants to their destinations amid the travel disruptions caused by the pandemic. The nonprofit, as well as others involved in coordinating transplants around the world, has been tested by the shortage of flights and restrictions on travel, forced to find creative solutions or risk the health of patients. "It's been a struggle the entire time but at…

Scientists and environmentalists are urging an international moratorium on deep-sea mining after releasing a report indicating its impact on the Pacific Ocean and island states would be severe, extensive and last for generations.The report also said mining for polymetallic nodules, potato-sized lumps found in the seabed that contain metals used in battery manufacturing and high-tech industries, would cause “essentially irreversible damage” to the region, including Kiribati the Cook Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu.Entitled "Predicting the Impacts of Mining Deep Sea Polymetallic Nodules in the Pacific Ocean," the 52-page report represents a scientific consensus based on 250 peer-reviewed articles, and 80 NGOs are now calling for a moratorium as a result.“There’s the removal of the nodules themselves and the sediment that will be stirred up and also the…

The United States almost sent two astronauts into orbit from American soil for the first time in nearly a decade.  Circumstances on the ground and in the skies changed flight plans for the public-private partnership between NASA and commercial flight company, SpaceX.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with NASA to understand what happened and what happens next in This Week in Space.Camera: NASA/AP/REUTERS/SpaceX/SKYPEProducer: Arash Arabasadi ...

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) is warning that at least 14 million people could go hungry in Latin America, with the COVID-19 outbreak continuing to rise as jobs and economies decline under the weight of the pandemic.The WFP Latin America regional director, Miguel Barreto, has dubbed COVID-19 the "hunger pandemic. He said social protection networks are now necessary for people who normally didn't need it.Many governments across Latin America are providing food assistance for the most vulnerable groups.While insisting the government do more, many people in poor communities are organizing soup kitchens, sharing what they have to try and sustain themselves.Pan American Health Organizations say the hunger situation is a major concern as Latin America becomes the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.Brazil leads the region with more than 400,000…

Larry Kramer, the grandfather of fierce protests demanding action to fight the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and '90s, died Wednesday at age 84. The author and activist founded the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, known as ACT UP, in 1987.ACT UP mounted dramatic and angry demonstrations credited with raising awareness of the plight of those suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. They were also aimed at pressuring the U.S. government to devote resources to stop the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and to find an effective treatment for the disease. AIDS primarily struck gay men in America, an often-reviled group with little political clout before Kramer launched his unique brand of unapologetically confrontational activism.Tributes have poured in for Kramer, including from those with whom he had…

The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, recently called for mental health treatment to be given to millions of people around the world who are suffering from psychological distress triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not just about those who are sick – but for all of us, the fear of what might happen if we do get the virus. And it’s especially acute for caregivers. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has this penetrating firsthand report. Camera: Veronica Balderas Iglesias  Producer: Veronica Balderas Iglesias ...

NASA postponed Wednesday’s scheduled launch of a Space X rocket ship, the first manned commercial space flight in history.NASA canceled the launch 16 minutes before takeoff because of the threat of lightning near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA will try again Saturday to send the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.The launch will be the first time since the space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011 that Americans will fly into space from U.S. soil. Astronauts have been using Russian Soyuz spacecraft to travel to the space station.Led by veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, the flight marks a new era in piloted space flight.Space X will join Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle in space aviation history. The difference is that those rockets were…

The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with 16 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the danger of lightning. Liftoff was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon.The commercially designed, built and owned spacecraft was set to blast off in the afternoon for the International Space Station, ushering in a new era in commercial spaceflight and putting NASA back in the business of launching astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. But thunderstorms for much of the day threatened to force a postponement, and the word finally came down that the atmosphere was so electrically charged that the spacecraft with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard could get hit by…

"Do as I say, but not as I do" was the message many British saw in the behavior of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's key aide, who traveled hundreds of miles with coronavirus symptoms during the country's lockdown. While  Dominic Cummings has faced calls for his firing  but support from his boss over his journey from London to the northern city of Durham in March, few countries seem immune to the perception that politicians and top officials are bending the rules that their own governments wrote during the pandemic. From U.S. President Donald Trump to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, global decision-makers have frequently set bad examples, whether it's refusing to wear masks or breaking confinement rules aimed at protecting their citizens from COVID-19.   Some are punished when they're caught,…

French lawmakers were set to vote Wednesday on whether to endorse a contact-tracing app designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus amid sharp debate over privacy concerns. If approved, France's StopCovid app will be made available to users on a voluntary basis starting Monday. The government committed to honoring the result of the non-binding parliamentary vote.   French privacy watchdog CNIL backed the app this week, stating the technology "won't lead to creating a list of infected people but only a list of contacts using pseudonymous data. It does respect the concept of data protection." The app uses Bluetooth signals on mobile phones to trace individuals that people infected with the virus had contact with and informs them of potential exposure so they can self-isolate. It will store anonymous…

Farhad Karimi's eyes fill with tears as he recalls the events of August 1, 2017. It was a warm Tuesday evening and he was attending prayers in the Jawadia mosque in Herat, Afghanistan, along with his 18-year-old brother and a college friend. Suddenly, a large explosion forced him to the ground.    The hall of the Shi'ite mosque filled with blood. That day, the attack claimed by the Islamic State killed 33 people, wounding 65. Karimi’s brother and his classmate were among the dead.   Ever since, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts have become part of his life. Unable to cope with the trauma, he ended his studies for a medical degree and abandoned his business. For Karimi, now 26, life lost its purpose.   “Before the incident we had a private business, we imported…

When NASA’s Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, few thought it would take more than eight years for U.S. astronauts to launch back into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But as VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, hopes ride high on a new “space race” of privately developed launch systems ushering in a new era of U.S. space exploration.Camera: Kane Farabaugh, Elizabeth Lee   ...

NASA and SpaceX are set to launch a crewed mission Wednesday to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since 2011. Two NASA astronauts will be on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in what is the final part of the testing phase of NASA’s work with private companies to return to launching Americans into space. Since the retirement of the space shuttle program, NASA has relied on partnering with the Russian space agency in order to send U.S. astronauts to the ISS. U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are expected to be at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Wednesday’s launch. There were concerns earlier this week that weather could interfere, but the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron said Tuesday that prospects seemed to be improving, and that there was a…

Even by using the tools at his disposal at the Adler Planetarium situated along the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Director of Astronomy Geza Gyuk acknowledges there is a limit to what he can see and do in understanding the cosmos.“We’ve got a 24-inch telescope in the back of the Adler. It’s not a great place to do observing because of all the light pollution from Chicago,” he explained to VOA in an interview via Skype.Gyuk said he and many other astronomers around the world depend on experiments and equipment — like the Hubble Telescope — deployed by astronauts above Earth’s atmosphere to help them not only “see” the cosmos in new and different ways, but also to see the Earth from above.The independent ability to launch crews into space…

A U.S. judge has dealt another blow to the Trump administration's efforts to increase domestic oil and gas output from public lands, saying officials failed to protect habitat for a declining bird species when it issued energy leases on hundreds of square miles. Judge Brian Morris said the Interior Department did not do enough to encourage development outside of areas with greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose numbers have dropped dramatically in recent decades. The judge canceled energy leases on more than 470 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) of public land in the western states of Montana and Wyoming. That means officials will have to return millions of dollars in sales proceeds to companies that purchased the leases. The leases at issue already had been invalidated in previous cases that went through…

Officials with the U.S. space agency say the weather is looking favorable for the scheduled launch Wednesday of the first manned space craft from U.S. soil in nine years. During a briefing from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the forecast is currently at 60% favorable for launch, an improvement from Monday when the probability for liftoff was at 40%.  The launch will be history making also because it will be the first manned space flight from a commercially made rocket and spacecraft. Bridenstine said the United States is transforming the way it does space flight by commercializing low earth orbit. He said commercially made unmanned cargo craft have been resupplying the International Space Station (ISS) for years. Wednesday’s launch will take the next step with commercially produced spacecraft…

Merck & Co Inc, which has largely kept to the sidelines of the race for COVID-19 treatments, said it was buying Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and would collaborate with research nonprofit IAVI to develop two separate vaccines.   It also announced a partnership with privately held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to develop an experimental oral antiviral drug against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.   It did not disclose the terms of the acquisition of Themis, a privately held company.   Merck shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading.   Most big pharmaceutical companies have already placed their bets on COVID-19 treatments, but Merck has been waiting for opportunities with proven track records, Chief Executive Ken Frazier said.   "We wanted to be in a position where…