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India will pull out of a three-week lockdown in phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, as officials battle to contain the country's biggest cluster of coronavirus infections in the capital, New Delhi.   The shutdown, which has brought Asia's third-largest economy to a shuddering halt, is due to end on April 14.   Modi had ordered India's 1.3 billion people indoors to avert a massive outbreak of coronavirus infections, but the world's biggest shutdown has left millions without jobs and forced migrant workers to flee to their villages for food and shelter.   He told state chief ministers that the shutdown had helped limit infections but that the situation remained far from satisfactory around the world and there could be a second wave.   "Prime minister said that…

The new coronavirus is forcing more top Israeli officials into isolation after the country's health minister, who has had frequent contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tested positive, the Health Ministry said Thursday.   The Middle East has over 81,000 confirmed cases of the virus, most of those in Iran, and over 3,600 deaths. Iran’s Health Ministry said Thursday that the new coronavirus killed another 124 people, pushing the country's death toll to 3,160.   In a rare acknowledgment of the severity of the outbreak by a senior Iranian official, President Hassan Rouhani said the new coronavirus may remain through the end of the Iranian year, which just began late last month, state TV reported Thursday.   “The corona issue is not an issue that we can say it will…

NASA may have just found the next man to walk on the moon — or the first woman to land on Mars — or someone who can float above the Earth and make repairs to the International Space Station.Wednesday was the deadline for submitting an application to join the next class of astronauts.NASA says more than 12,000 people applied — the largest number in three years — proving that those who believe Americans have lost interest in space are wrong.“We’ve entered a bold new era of space exploration with the Artemis program, and we are thrilled to see so many incredible Americans apply to join us,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday. “The next class of Artemis Generation astronauts will help us explore more of the moon than ever before…

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced Wednesday it has more than 1,300 asymptomatic coronavirus cases, the first time it has acknowledged cases of people testing positive for the virus but not showing symptoms.At a news briefing in Beijing, commission spokesman Mi Feng said the 1,367 asymptomatic cases were under quarantine and medical observation.The commission had said Tuesday it would begin releasing figures on asymptomatic cases in response to “public concern” about the figures.The French news agency AFP reports there had been mass calls online for the NHC to release the information after it was reported an infected woman in Henan province had been exposed to three asymptomatic cases.While the proportion of people who have contracted the virus but remain asymptomatic is currently unknown, scientists say these "carriers" can still pass…

Astronomers using the U.S. space agency NASA’s orbiting Hubble telescope, as well as two orbiting x-ray observatories, say they have gathered the best evidence yet of a so-called “intermediate mass” black hole.A report published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal, and reported by NASA, explains that the so-called intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are about 50,000 times the mass of our sun.   They are smaller than the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, but larger than stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of a massive star.  IMBHs are a long-sought "missing link" in black hole evolution. They have been particularly difficult to find because they are smaller and less active than supermassive black holes.     University of New Hampshire astronomer Dacheng Lin—who published the…

Facing intense surges in the need for hospital ICU beds, European nations are on a building and hiring spree, throwing together makeshift hospitals and shipping coronavirus patients out of overwhelmed cities via high-speed trains and military jets. The key question is whether they will be able to find enough healthy medical staff to make it all work.Even as the virus slowed its growth in overwhelmed Italy and in China, where it first emerged, hospitals in Spain and France reached their breaking points and the U.S. and Britain  braced for incoming waves of desperately ill people. "It feels like we are in a third world country. We don't have enough masks, enough protective equipment, and by the end of the week we might be in need of more medication too," said…

Businesses and research facilities have joined a global effort to defeat the coronavirus. With respirators in short supply in many countries, a German university is developing rudimentary, no-frills devices to aid COVID-19 sufferers who are on the path to recovery, freeing fancier models for those whose lives are still in danger. VOA's Arash Arabasadi reports. ...

Researchers who study Earth’s movements say mandatory shutdowns of transportation systems and other human activities as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a drop in what they call seismic “noise” around the world.An article published Tuesday in the scientific research journal Nature explains that human activity, such as moving vehicles and industrial machinery, can move Earth’s crust the way earthquakes and volcanic activity do. And researchers say the lack of such human activity in recent days has made a significant difference.Royal Observatory of Belgium seismologist Thomas Lecocq says vibrations caused by human activity have dropped by one-third since coronavirus containment measures were introduced in that country.  Researchers at the California Institute of Technology reported a similar drop in the Los Angeles area, as did researchers in Britain.Nature reports…

As increasing numbers of European hospitals buckle under the strain of tens of thousands of coronavirus patients, the crisis has exposed a surprising paradox: Some of the world's best health systems are remarkably ill-equipped to handle a pandemic.   Outbreak experts say Europe's hospital-centric systems, lack of epidemic experience and early complacency are partly to blame for the pandemic's catastrophic tear across the continent.   "If you have cancer, you want to be in a European hospital," said Brice de le Vingne, who heads COVID-19 operations for Doctors Without Borders in Belgium. "But Europe hasn't had a major outbreak in more than 100 years, and now they don't know what to do."   Last week, the World Health Organization scolded countries for "squandering" their chance to stop the virus from…

President Donald Trump is poised to roll back ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards and raise the ceiling on damaging fossil fuel emissions for years to come, gutting one of the United States' biggest efforts against climate change. The Trump administration is expected to release a final rule Tuesday on mileage standards through 2026. The change — making good on the rollback after two years of Trump threatening and fighting states and a faction of automakers that opposed the move — waters down a tough Obama mileage standard that would have encouraged automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient gas and diesel vehicles.   "When finalized, the rule will benefit our economy, will improve the U.S. fleet's fuel economy, will make vehicles more affordable, and will save…

German scientists say they have identified a strain of bacteria that is feeding on polyurethanes, a plastic resistant to biodegradation. A team of researchers at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, has found that a strain of soil bacterium, identified as Pseudomonas putida, can produce enzymes to digest polyurethanes thus making it biodegradable.  The German team says the bacterium found in the soil surrounding a heap of plastic waste was feeding on polyurethane diol, which is used in plastic as a component that protects products from corrosion. Hermann Heipieper, one of the researchers and author of the study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, said "this finding represents an important step in being able to reuse hard-to-recycle (polyurethane) products."A worker sorts through recycling bins at a center that offers residents money in exchange of their recyclable garbage in an attempt to keep the streets clean in Cairo, Egypt, March 11, 2017.The…

A group of cancer patients in Kyrgyzstan is working to meet the demand for protective surgical masks while earning funds to help pay for their treatments.The group is organized by an association known as “Together for Life,” established in July 2019. Originally, the group made handbags and purses as a kind of therapy, as well as financial aid for women overcoming cancer.But once the demand for masks increased, the president of the group, Aigul Kydyrmysheva, told The Associated Press that they received permission from the Ministry of Health to switch to making the protective gear.Kydyrmysheva said they market their products through social media and that while bigger factories can produce masks faster, many customers have turned to them, understanding that their profits go to a good cause.  The group works…

Elmo, Rooster and Cookie Monster are doing their part to help keep kids safe as the coronavirus pandemic grinds on. The beloved Sesame Street Muppets are featured in some of four new animated public service spots reminding young fans to take care while doing such things as washing hands and sneezing.   One of Elmo's signature songs, the toothbrush classic "Brushy Brush," has been updated to  "Washy Wash."Rooster pops up in another of the 30-second spots  to remind kids to "wash hands now" before eating, playing sports or using the bathroom. The new content on SesameStreet.org/caring builds on last week's launch of Sesame Workshop's Caring for Each Other initiative to help families stay physically and mentally healthy during the health crisis. The overall project ranges from messages of comfort to…

Museums across the U.S. have closed to the public, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.But that hasn’t stopped the guardians of some of the greatest art collections in the country from sharing their national treasures with people around the world. Washington’s revered Smithsonian museums are among the institutions that are temporarily closed to the public. But all 19 museums, and the National Zoo, are inviting the public to visit them online, for a compelling collection of digital offerings. Lin-Manuel Miranda/Mark Seliger/2016 (printed 2018), Archival pigment print/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution“A great place to start is to go to our Anna Wintour, New York City, 2015/Annie Leibovitz/2015 (printed 2019), Archival pigment print/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionThe museum plans to launch more digital storytime sessions, art-making workshops, and more, in the coming weeks. “I think when we talk about social distancing, I’d like to think of social connecting — just because we can't be in proximity to each other…

A Democratic Party leader in western Missouri died Sunday after contracting COVID-19 as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state exceeded 900 and the death toll reached 12. The death of William "Al" Grimes, the Henry County Democratic Party chairman, was announced in a tweet from state Chairwoman Jean Peters Baker. It came after the Henry County Health Center in Clinton, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City, announced that a man in his 70s had died. "We will miss you, Al," Peters wrote. "The stars will not shine as brightly." Peters said that Grimes, a Navy veteran, had been active in campaigns throughout eastern and central Missouri. He also ran for the Missouri House in 2014 and 2016. Grimes was first hospitalized in Clinton before…

More deadly than influenza, COVID-19 is a coronavirus - part of a large family of viruses that include the common cold as well as more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Coronaviruses look like a ball surrounded by a crown.Here's an animated look at how the coronavirus gets into lung cells — and how it might be stopped.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Embed" />Copy ...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday he had tested positive for coronavirus and was in self-isolation at his Downing Street office.   Here is reaction to the news.    Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of UK's Opposition Labor Party    "I wish the Prime Minister a speedy recovery and hope his family are safe and healthy. Coronavirus can and does affect anyone. Everyone be safe. Our own health depends on everybody else."     Indain Prime Minister Narendra Modi    "You’re a fighter and you will overcome this challenge as well. Prayers for your good health and best wishes in ensuring a healthy UK."  Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster    "Best wishes to the Prime Minister and Carrie (Symonds, Johnson's fiancee). No one is immune. Let’s all follow the guidelines."…

COVID-19 has forced people all over the world to stay at home on strict quarantine, but some folks manage to find a way to stay positive. While Italians sing from their balconies, and the French applaud their doctors, neighbors in Bethesda, Maryland, are dancing and singing together — while keeping their distance.  Ann Johnson, a retired artist, and Michael Fetchko, a biologist, are doing their best to lift spirits at their apartment complex. They organize daily “drive the virus away“ performances to distract people from everyday worries, if only for a little while.  “We are trying to raise people’s spirits, that’s what we’re doing,” says Johnson. “It started with my neighbor in the other building. She called me and she said, ‘Come out to the balcony. We'll wave because we hadn’t seen…

As the coronavirus continues to disrupt people’s lives in ways both big and small, many are seeking greater spiritual nourishment. Religious institutions across the country are heeding that call by connecting with their congregations in a number of creative ways. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. ...