Category: Business

Angered by doctors' support for anti-junta protests, Myanmar's military has arrested several doctors treating COVID-19 patients independently, colleagues and media said, as the health system struggles to cope with a record wave of infections.   Since the military overthrew the elected government led by Aung…

Space tourism notches another win after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos follows fellow billionaire Richard Branson in rocketing to weightlessness.  Plus, the hunt for ancient life on Mars is about to begin, and wildfires rage out of control in the U.S.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us…

Koshur Nizam — a hip-hop collective — is reviving "Conscious" hip-hop music in Indian-administered Kashmir. The genre made its way in the disputed territory following an anti-Indian government uprising in 2010. The rappers continued to produce their songs up to 2016, but pressure from the…

Claims for jobless benefits jumped in the U.S. last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the world’s biggest economy remains on an uneven recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 419,000 unemployed workers sought government compensation, up 51,000 from the revised figure of…

Authorities in Madagascar have arrested several people they believe were part of a plot to kill President Andry Rajoelina. The attorney general’s office issued a statement Thursday saying the suspects were part of a conspiracy to undermine the island nation’s security, including “the elimination and…

Asian countries are reporting record COVID-19 waves this year compared to 2020, as vaccination drives fall short and governments lose hope that mass closures and border controls can keep the coronavirus away, observers in the region say. Spread of the delta variant from India, infections…

A senior Chinese health official said Thursday he was shocked by the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a COVID-19 origins study. National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin dismissed the lab leak theory as a rumor running counter to common sense.…

California power company Pacific Gas and Electric, whose equipment has caused multiple destructive wildfires over several years, said Wednesday that it would bury 16,000 kilometers of power lines in high-risk fire zones as a safety measure. The utility, which called the project a multiyear initiative,…

Olympic officials are warning against what they say are divisive political protests at the Summer Games in Tokyo. But as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, the event may be the perfect opportunity for athlete activism. (Jesusemen Oni contributed to this video.) ...

An off-duty Drug Enforcement Administration agent posed for photographs in which he flashed his DEA badge and firearm outside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riot, according to a court filing Tuesday following the agent's arrest.  A video posted on the internet also showed…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Khadhimi has fired security officials after 34 people were killed and over 50 others wounded, according to Iraqi media, in an explosion Monday night. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack which Iraqi security officials say was committed by…

Nearly nine months after last year’s U.S. presidential election, there’s one more loser – political polls – with a new analysis showing the 2020 surveys in advance of the November 3 vote were among the least accurate in decades. The polling industry’s professional organization, the…

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The leader of the Taliban said Sunday that his movement is committed to a political settlement to end decades of war in Afghanistan, even as the insurgents battle in dozens of districts across to country to gain territory.  The statement by Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada came as Taliban…

Hundreds of Jewish pilgrims visited a contested Jerusalem holy site under heavy police guard on Sunday, shortly after Muslim worshippers briefly clashed with Israeli security forces at the flashpoint shrine. No injuries were reported, but the incident again raised tensions at the hilltop compound revered…

Britain’s National Health Service has contacted Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister, Rishi Sunak, to let them know that they have been close to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Downing Street said Sunday in a statement the men will participate in a…

Alzheimer’s disease slowly destroys a person’s memory and ability to think. On the Science Edition of Press Conference USA, Dr. Constantine Lyketsos M.D., Professor of Alzheimer’s Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Christina Irving, Clinical Services Director and Family Consultant at…

Standing before a looted mall and surrounded by soldiers, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed Friday to restore order to the country after a week of violence set off by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. Visiting the port city of Durban in hard-hit…

More than 100,000 people protested Saturday across France against the government's latest measures to push people to get vaccinated and curb rising infections by the delta variant of the coronavirus. In Paris, separate protest marches by the far right and the far left wound through…

Martine Moise, the wife of Haiti's assassinated president who was injured in the July 7 attack at their private home, returned to the Caribbean nation on Saturday following her release from a Miami hospital. Her arrival was unannounced and surprised many in the country of…

Former Haitian justice ministry official Joseph Felix Badio may have ordered the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, the head of Colombia’s national police has said, citing a preliminary investigation into the killing.  Moise was shot dead at his private residence in a suburb of…

Raul Castro was among thousands who attended a government-organized rally in Havana on Saturday to denounce the U.S. trade embargo and reaffirm their support for Cuba's revolution, a week after unprecedented protests rocked the communist-run country. Government supporters gathered on the city's seafront boulevard before…

Temple elephants in southern India's Kerala state began their monthlong wellness camp at Vadakkunnathan temple, Saturday, July 17.  Eating fruits, rice sweet balls, and other items, the elephants were seen happily interacting with people.  The elephants are ritualistically relieved from daily chores for a monthlong restorative treatment…

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Forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have released about 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region. Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray…

Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and correspondent for Marketplace Kimberly Adams about the ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans over voting rights legislation, what's next after Senate Democrats agree to a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package,…

Rescue workers searched flood-ravaged parts of western Germany for survivors on Saturday as water levels remained high in many towns and houses continued to collapse in the country's worst natural disaster in half a century. At least 133 people have died in the flooding, including…