World’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

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GEORGETOWN, Texas — As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes. This summer, the robotic printer from ICON is finishing the last few of 100 3D-printed houses in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin. ICON began printing the walls of what it says is the world's largest 3D-printed community in November 2022. Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste. "It brings a lot of efficiency to the trade market," said ICON senior project manager Conner Jenkins. "So, where there were maybe…


Stranded NASA Starliner pilots may return to Earth on SpaceX

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home. There's lingering uncertainty over the safety of Boeing's new Starliner capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday, and the space agency is split over the risk. As a result, chances are increasing that test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may have to watch from the space station as their Starliner is cut loose to return to Earth empty. If that happens, NASA will leave behind two of four astronauts from the next SpaceX taxi flight in late September, with the vacant seats set aside for Wilmore and Williams on the return trip in…


Extreme heat in July debilitates hundreds of millions worldwide

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GENEVA — Soaring temperatures in July have had detrimental effects on the well-being of hundreds of millions of people worldwide who have found the monthlong extreme heat too hot to handle, according to the World Meteorological Organization. “The extreme heat, which continued throughout July after a hot June … has had really, really devastating impacts on communities, on people’s health, on ecosystems, also on economies,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists Tuesday in Geneva. “Extreme heat has a domino effect across society,” she said, noting that the world’s hottest day on recent record was registered on July 22. “All of this is really yet another unwelcome indication, one of many, of the extent that greenhouse gases from human activities are, in fact, changing our climate.” WMO data show widespread, intense and…


Great Barrier Reef waters spike to hottest in 400 years, study finds

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WASHINGTON — Ocean temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef hit their highest level in 400 years over the past decade, according to researchers who warned that the reef likely won't survive if planetary warming isn't stopped. During that time, between 2016 and 2024, the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef ecosystem and one of the most biodiverse, suffered mass coral bleaching events. That's when water temperatures get too hot and coral expel the algae that provide them with color and food, and sometimes die. Earlier this year, aerial surveys of over 300 reefs in the system off Australia's northeast coast found bleaching in shallow water areas spanning two-thirds of the reef, according to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Researchers from Melbourne University and other universities in Australia, in…


WHO calls emergency meeting on mpox spread

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Geneva — World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday called an "emergency" meeting of international experts amidst growing worries over the mpox virus. With mpox spreading outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tedros said the WHO emergency committee would meet "as soon as possible" to advise him on "whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern." A public health emergency of international concern is the highest alarm the WHO can sound and allows Tedros to trigger emergency responses under the International Health Regulations. Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact. It was first discovered in humans in 1970 in DR…


Rural South Africans flock to Chinese classes

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China’s Confucius Institutes teach Chinese around the world, but there’s more to them than that. VOA's Kate Bartlett visited a new one that is hundreds of kilometers outside the capital in rural South Africa that’s also focusing on green technology. Camera: Zaheer Cassim. ...


Drones warn New Yorkers about storm dangers

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NEW YORK — Gone is the bullhorn. Instead, New York City emergency management officials have turned high-tech, using drones to warn residents about potential threatening weather. With a buzzing sound in the background, a drone equipped with a loudspeaker flies over homes warning people who live in basement or ground-floor apartments about impending heavy rains. “Be prepared to leave your location,” said the voice from the sky in footage released Tuesday by the city's emergency management agency. “If flooding occurs, do not hesitate.” About five teams with multiple drones each were deployed to specific neighborhoods prone to flooding. Zach Iscol, the city's emergency management commissioner, said the messages were being relayed in multiple languages. They were expected to continue until the weather impacted the drone flights. Flash floods have been deadly…


More than 120 people die in Tokyo from heatstroke in July

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TOKYO — More than 120 people died of heatstroke in the Tokyo metropolitan area in July, when the nation's average temperature hit record highs and heat warnings were in effect much of the month, Japanese authorities said Tuesday.  According to the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, many of the 123 people who died were elderly. All but two were found dead indoors, and most were not using air conditioners despite having them installed.  Japanese health authorities and weather forecasters repeatedly advised people to stay indoors, consume ample liquids to avoid dehydration, and use air conditioning, because elderly people often think that air conditioning is not good for one's health and tend to avoid using it.  It was the largest number of heatstroke deaths in Tokyo's 23 metropolitan districts in July since 127…


Musk’s X sues advertisers over alleged ‘massive advertiser boycott’

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wichita falls, texas — Elon Musk's social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, alleging that a "massive advertiser boycott" deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws. The company formerly known as Twitter filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted. It accused the advertising group's brand safety initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, of helping to coordinate a pause in advertising after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and overhauled its staff and policies. Musk posted about the lawsuit on X on Tuesday, saying "now it is war" after two years of being nice and "getting nothing but empty words."…


WHO: Governments unprepared to combat global COVID-19 surge

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Geneva — The World Health Organization is warning that governments throughout the world are unprepared to combat the global surge of COVID-19, which is putting millions of people at risk of severe disease and death. “COVID-19 is still very much with us,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday. “The virus is circulating in all countries. Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the percent of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 has been rising for several weeks,” she said. Not only is COVID-19 surging in many countries across seasons, she said, but at least 40 Olympic athletes have tested positive in Paris despite efforts by authorities to safeguard the venues against infectious disease circulation. WHO chief Tedros…


US-Australia talks focus on China’s ‘coercive behavior,’ climate change

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WASHINGTON/SYDNEY — The United States and Australia kicked off high-level talks Tuesday that will focus on China's "coercive behavior," as well as the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, mounting tensions in the Middle East and climate change, officials said. The annual Australia-U.S. AUSMIN talks, taking place in Annapolis, Maryland, include the top defense and diplomatic officials from both nations. "We're working together today to tackle shared security challenges, from coercive behavior by the PRC [People's Republic of China], to Russia's war of choice against Ukraine, to the turmoil in the Middle East," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. "And I know that [this] year's AUSMIN will deliver results for both of our peoples." The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues, including U.S. support for Taiwan. Another topic…


Historic space mission commander tours South African schools

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Esteemed American astronaut, geoscience professor and artist Sian Proctor is touring South African schools to emphasize the importance of education in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. Her goal is to inspire students to pursue careers in the sciences and equip them for space jobs. Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg. (Camera and Produced by Zaheer Cassim) ...


Secretaries of state urge Elon Musk to fix AI chatbot spreading election misinformation on X

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Chicago — Five secretaries of state are urging Elon Musk to fix an AI chatbot on the social media platform X, saying in a letter sent Monday that it has spread election misinformation. The top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington told Musk that X's AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. While Grok is available only to subscribers to the premium versions of X, the misinformation was shared across multiple social media platforms and reached millions of people, according to the letter. The bogus ballot deadline information from the chatbot also referenced Alabama, Indiana, Ohio and Texas, although their secretaries of state did not sign the letter. Grok continued to repeat…


Google loses massive antitrust case over its search dominance

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Washington — A judge on Monday ruled that Google's ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation in a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world's best-known companies. The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country's biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century. After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year's 10-week trial, Mehta issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May. "After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence,…


US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous and connected vehicles in the coming weeks, according to sources briefed on the matter. The Biden administration plans to issue a proposed rule that would bar Chinese software in vehicles in the United States with Level 3 automation and above, which would have the effect of also banning testing on U.S. roads of autonomous vehicles produced by Chinese companies. The administration, in a previously unreported decision, also plans to propose barring vehicles with Chinese-developed advanced wireless communications abilities modules from U.S. roads, the sources added. Under the proposal, automakers and suppliers would need to verify that none of their connected vehicle or advanced autonomous vehicle software was developed in a "foreign entity of concern" like China,…


Activists address reality of unsafe abortions in Kenya

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Abortion is restricted in Kenya, but in Kilifi County on the southern coast many women and girls with unplanned pregnancies say they have no choice but to undergo dangerous abortions without the intervention of a nurse or doctor. Local activists say the practice is contributing to high maternal mortality in the region. Halima Gongo reports. ...


As mpox cases surge in Africa, few treatments and vaccines available

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BANGUI, Central African Republic — African health officials said mpox cases have spiked by 160% so far this year, warning the risk of further spread is high given the lack of effective treatments or vaccines on the continent. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Wednesday that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has now been detected in 10 African countries this year including Congo, which has more than 96% of all cases and deaths. Officials said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths. There have been an estimated 14,250 cases so far this year, nearly as many as all of last year. Compared to the first seven months of 2023, the Africa CDC…


Heat deaths of people without air conditioning underscore inequity

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Mexican farm worker Avelino Vazquez Navarro didn't have air conditioning in the motor home where he died last month in Washington state as temperatures surged into the triple digits. For the last dozen years, the 61-year-old spent much of the year working near Pasco, Washington, sending money to his wife and daughters in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, Mexico, and traveling back every Christmas. Now, the family is raising money to bring his remains home. “If this motor home would have had AC and it was running, then it most likely would have helped,” said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary, who determined Vazquez Navarro's death was heat-related, with alcohol intoxication as a contributing cause. Most heat-related deaths involve homeless people living outdoors. But those who die inside…


Mexico City’s women water harvesters help make up for drought

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MEXICO CITY — Gliding above her neighborhood in a cable car on a recent morning, Sonia Estefanía Palacios Díaz scanned a sea of blue and black water tanks, tubes and cables looking for rain harvesting systems. "There's one!" she said, pointing out a black tank hooked up to a smaller blue unit with connecting tubes snaking up to the roof where water is collected. "I'm always looking for different rainwater harvesting systems," she said, smiling. "I'm also always looking for places to install one." Driven by prolonged drought and inconsistent public water delivery, many Mexico City residents are turning to rainwater. Pioneering company Isla Urbana, which does both nonprofit and for-profit work, has installed more than 40,000 rain catchment systems across Mexico since the company was founded 15 years ago. And…


China’s proposal to create a cyber ID system faces criticism

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Taipei, Taiwan — Concern is rising among China’s more than 1 billion internet users over a government proposal portrayed as a step to protect their personal information and fight against fraud. Many fear the plan would do the opposite. China's Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration issued the draft "Measures for the Administration of National Network Identity Authentication Public Services" on July 26. According to the proposal, Chinese netizens would be able to apply for virtual IDs on a voluntary basis to "minimize the excessive collection and retention of citizens' personal information by online platforms" and "protect personal information." While many netizens appear to agree in their posts that companies have too much access to their personal information, others fear the cyber ID proposal, if implemented, will simply allow the…


Turkey blocks access to Instagram, gives no reason

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the block early Friday but did not provide a reason. Sabah newspaper, which is close to the government, said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hama political leader Ismail Haniyeh. It came days after Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkey from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh. Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas to be a terror organization. A strong critic…


Online misinformation fuels tensions over deadly Southport stabbing attack

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LONDON — Within hours of a stabbing attack in northwest England that killed three young girls and wounded several more children, a false name of a supposed suspect was circulating on social media. Hours after that, violent protesters were clashing with police outside a nearby mosque. Police say the name was fake, as were rumors that the 17-year-old suspect was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain. Detectives say the suspect charged Thursday with murder and attempted murder was born in the U.K., and British media including the BBC have reported that his parents are from Rwanda. That information did little to slow the lightning spread of the false name or stop right-wing influencers pinning the blame on immigrants and Muslims. "There's a parallel universe where what was claimed by…


Rafah water facility demolition raises health risks in Gaza, UN says

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GENEVA — U.N. agencies warn that the demolition of a critical water facility in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip increases the risk of infectious diseases as people are forced to drink unsafe water while sanitary conditions continue to deteriorate. “Until recently, that reservoir served thousands and thousands of internally displaced people who had sought refuge in Rafah in the area,” James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson, told journalists at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. “Now without it, vulnerable children and families are likely to be forced again increasingly to resort to unsafe water, so putting them again at all those risks that we see time after time, day after day in Gaza — dehydration, malnutrition, diseases,” he said. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported Monday that the troops blew up the central…