Category: Technology

When David landed an assembly line job at Volkswagen’s Bratislava factory, his colleagues congratulated him on securing a well-paid position he could ride to retirement. Two years later, he is among the 3,000 workers being laid off at the plant that produces the Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne in a round of job cuts that has sent shockwaves through Slovakia, the world’s biggest car producer per capita. “All my colleagues were saying there’s nothing to worry about, if I get used to the work load and work pace, the salary will gradually increase and I will have a stable job until retirement,” said David, who declined to give his last name. “And suddenly I get a call from human resources and learn that I’m being let go.” The job losses…

India said on Thursday it needs $330 billion in investments over the next decade to power its renewable energy dream, but coal would remain central to its electricity generation. The energy guzzling country wants to raise its renewable energy capacity to 500 Gigawatts (GW), or 40% of total capacity, by 2030. Renewables currently account for 22% of India's total installed capacity of about 357 GW. "Additional investments in renewable plants up to year 2022 would be about $80 billion at today's prices and an investment of around $250 billion would be required for the period 2023-2030," according to the government's economic survey presented to parliament on Thursday. India wants to have 175 GW of renewable-based installed power capacity by 2022.  The investment estimate reflects the magnitude of financial challenges facing…

The White House is blasting a Seattle judge's ruling that says the Trump administration can't indefinitely lock up migrants who are seeking asylum without giving them a chance to be released on bond. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Tuesday blocked a new administration policy saying that asylum-seekers will no longer get bond hearings but instead must remain in custody as they pursue their claims.    She said it's unconstitutional for the government to detain people without demonstrating it's necessary. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement Wednesday calling the ruling "at war with the rule of law." She says it "only incentivizes smugglers and traffickers." American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Michael Tan says the ruling "upholds the law against this administration's ongoing attempts to violate it."  …

This story originated in VOA's Ukrainian service. A spate of GPS disruptions at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport has confirmed what several prominent tech analysts have long feared: that Western nations, and the U.S. in particular, are unusually vulnerable to foreign meddling with location-based technology.    Most location-based software programs, such as the U.S.'s Global Positioning System (GPS), the European Union's Galileo, China's BeiDou and Russia's Glonass, depend on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the vast network of international satellites orbiting the Earth.    The technology plays an integral part in our everyday lives, affecting such things as personal phone use, car navigation, international shipping, air travel, power grids, financial markets, and law enforcement and emergency response services. It's also vital to military operations.    So it is no surprise that authorities were alarmed last week when…

One of a half-dozen men who have accused the Vatican's ambassador to France of groping them said Wednesday he plans to take his legal complaint directly to the Vatican, alleging the Holy See had invoked diplomatic immunity for the high-ranking churchman in a French criminal probe. Mathieu De La Souchere filed a police report in Paris earlier this year accusing Archbishop Luigi Ventura of touching his buttocks repeatedly during a Jan. 17 reception at Paris City Hall. De La Souchere met with one of Pope Francis' sex abuse advisers about the allegations Wednesday. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into alleged sexual aggression. The Vatican said Ventura was cooperating with the investigation. But De La Souchere said the French case was essentially stalled over the immunity question. “The…

Tesla set a record for quarterly vehicle deliveries in a triumphant response to months of questions about demand for its luxury electric cars, sending shares up 7% after hours Tuesday. Tesla did not comment on profit — which is still elusive — but the robust deliveries could help jumpstart investor sentiment on Tesla, which has been challenged in recent months. Before Tuesday's after-hours spike, Tesla shares were down about a third from the beginning of the year. Brushing aside concerns about demand that have dogged the company all year, Tesla said orders during the second quarter exceeded deliveries, despite buyers getting a smaller tax credit. A $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit was cut in half at the end of last year, fell to $1,875 on Monday and expires at the…

Brazil's foreign minister said Tuesday that protecting the environment "is not only a European interest" after France said it would ratify a free-trade deal between the European Union and the South American bloc Mercosur only if Brazil respects its commitment to reduce deforestation.   The EU and Mercosur last Friday finalized, after two decades of negotiations, an agreement that would integrate the blocs into a market of 800 million people. But the deal must still be ratified by the legislatures of the countries involved.   The French government said Tuesday that it was yet not ready to ratify the pact, saying Brazil must "respect its commitments" to protecting its rainforest. Before the deal was finalized, French President Emmanuel Macron had said France would not sign if Brazil did not continue…

Global regulators will meet in Montreal next week to review pilot licensing requirements, the U.N.'s aviation agency said, as part of a discussion that has gained urgency following two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircraft in the past year. It is the first time that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets global standards for 193 member countries, will undertake such a broad review on training requirements. While the meeting was not called in response to the Max crashes in Indonesia last October and in Ethiopia in March, it coincides with a larger debate on whether increasingly automated commercial jets are compromising pilot skills.  The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide and could not be back in service for months yet. FILE - A number of grounded Southwest…

In Malawi, a young albino man is using music to fight discrimination and misconceptions about the genetic condition in a country where more than 100 people with albinism have been attacked since 2014. Lazarus Chigwandali has long been performing on the streets of Lilongwe.  But after catching the eye of a Swedish producer, he began work on an album that is due out in August. He's also about to embark on a nationwide tour to promote a documentary, produced by American pop star Madonna, about the plight of albinos in Malawi. Lameck Masina reports from Lilongwe. ...

In Malawi, a young albino man is using music to fight discrimination and misconceptions about the genetic condition in a country where more than 100 people with albinism have been attacked since 2014.  As teens, Lazarus Chigwandali and his late brother, who also had albinism, played on the streets of Lilongwe, mostly to raise money to buy protective skin lotion. He says in those days it was difficult to find skin lotion that would protect them from the sun, so they had sores all over their bodies. As a result many people discriminated against them because of the way their bodies looked. Attacks continue Discrimination and attacks against albinos like Chigwandali continue. Some Africans believe their body parts, used in so-called magic potions, will bring good luck. At 39, Chigwandali…

Iran announced Monday that it has exceeded its low-enriched uranium stockpile limit, violating the amount it agreed to hold in the 2015 international deal. The move is aimed at forcing the signatories of the nuclear deal to give Iran relief from U.S. sanctions. VOA's Kurdish Service discussed the consequences of Iran's action with two experts on Iranian issues. Zlatica Hoke has a summary of what they said. ...

The U.S. military says it has struck an al-Qaida leadership and training facility in northern Syria where attacks threatening Americans and others were being planned. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Sunday near the northern province of Aleppo. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said Monday that the strike killed eight members of the al-Qaida-linked Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for ``Guardians of Religion.'' The Observatory says the dead included six commanders: two Algerians, two Tunisians, an Egyptian and a Syrian. Al-Qaida-linked militants control wide parts of northern Syria, mostly in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.       ...

India spends billions of dollars on social welfare support for the poor but corruption, fraud and inefficiencies often prevent the benefits from reaching them. But now, the government is starting to transform the way it gets welfare to the poor by linking welfare programs to the world’s biggest biometric identity project under which more than one billion people have been given biometric cards. Anjana Pasricha reports on how residents of a rural hamlet in the northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh are benefiting after it switched from cash to digital payments. ...

A powerful car bomb-and-gun attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul is reported to have killed and wounded dozens of people. Officials said the ensuing clashes between the assailants and Afghan security forces were raging six hours into the siege. The Taliban claimed responsibility for plotting the suicide raid against what it said was the logistics and engineering center of the Afghan Defense Ministry. Residents said Monday’s blast occurred in a central part of the city during morning rush hour, sending a plume of black smoke over Kabul. Wounded people receive treatment in a hospital after a powerful bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 1, 2019. Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said in a statement that several gunmen later took positions in a nearby under construction multi-story building following the…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took his global message urging immediate climate action to officials gathered in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, where production of hydrocarbons remains a key driver of the economy.   Guterres is calling on governments to stop building new coal plants by 2020, cut greenhouse emissions by 45% over the next decade and overhauling fossil fuel-driven economies with new technologies like solar and wind. The world, he said, is facing a grave climate emergency.''<br />  <br /> In remarks at a summit in Abu Dhabi, he painted a grim picture of how rapidly climate change is advancing, saying it is outpacing efforts to address it.<br />  <br />  He lauded the Paris climate accord, but said even if its promises are fully met, the world still…

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Sudan on Sunday against the ruling generals, calling for a civilian government nearly three months after the army forced out the long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir. The mass protests, centered in the capital, Khartoum, were the first since a June 3 crackdown when security forces violently broke up a protest camp. In that confrontation, dozens were killed, with protest organizers saying the death toll was at least 128, while authorities claim it was 61, including three security personnel. Sunday's demonstrators gathered at several points across Khartoum and in the sister city of Omdurman, then marching to the homes of those killed in previous protests. The protesters, some of them waving Sudanese flags, chanted "Civilian rule! Civilian rule!" and "Burhan's council, just fall," targeting Gen.…

Sometimes, modern problems require ancient solutions.     A 1,400-year-old Peruvian water-diverting method could supply up to 40,000 Olympic-size swimming pools' worth of water to present-day Lima each year, according to new research published in Nature Sustainability.   It's one example of how indigenous methods could supplement existing modern infrastructure in water-scarce countries worldwide.    More than a billion people across the world face water scarcity. Artificial reservoirs store rainwater and runoff for use during drier times, but reservoirs are costly, require years to plan and can still fail to meet water needs. Just last week, the reservoirs in Chennai, India, ran nearly dry, forcing its 4 million residents to rely on government water tankers.     Animation showing monthly rainfall in the tropical Andes. Humid air transports water vapor from the Amazon…

Rest assured, British fans: Most baseball games are not like the one played Saturday in London, not even the crazy ones between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.   Each team scored six runs in a first inning that lasted nearly an hour, with Aaron Hicks hitting the first European homer. Brett Gardner had a tiebreaking, two-run drive in the third, Aaron Judge went deep to cap a six-run fourth and the Yankees outlasted their rivals 17-13 in a game that stretched for 4 hours, 42 minutes — 3 minutes shy of the record for a nine-inning game.  “Well, cricket takes like all weekend to play, right? So, I'm sure a lot of people are used to it,'' Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. ``We should remind them there's not…

Tens of thousands of people turned out for gay pride celebrations around the world on Saturday, including a boisterous party in Mexico and the first pride march in North Macedonia's capital.    Rainbow flags and umbrellas swayed and music pounded as the march along Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma avenue got underway, with couples, families and activists seeking to raise visibility for sexual diversity in the country.      Same-sex civil unions have been legal in Mexico City since 2007, and gay marriage since 2009. A handful of Mexican states have also legalized same-sex unions, which are supposed to be recognized nationwide. But pride participants said Mexico has a long way to go in becoming a more tolerant and accepting place for LGBTQ individuals.     Revelers attend the gay pride parade…

Thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to ask the Spanish capital's new mayor not to ditch ambitious traffic restrictions in the center only recently set up to improve air quality.    "Madrid Central," as it is called, was one of the measures that persuaded the European Commission not to take Spain to court last year over its bad air pollution in the capital and Barcelona, as it did with France, Germany and the United Kingdom.    "Fewer cars, better air" and "The new city hall seriously harms your health" were the messages on banners as protesters walked through the city’s center in 40-degree-Celsius heat.    The capital's new conservative mayor, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, made ditching "Madrid Central" a priority during his campaign, saying it had done nothing to ease pollution and…

Mexico and the United States are scrambling to address rising numbers of immigrants arriving at their shared border. Mexican border guards are stepping up raids against immigrants traveling north. In the United States, an uproar over the treatment of children in U.S. detention facilities led American lawmakers to approve a $4.6 billion emergency bill. VOA's Jesusemen Oni has more. ...

A group of New York bikers has set out to save the environment by starting a bike-powered composting service. They collect food waste from restaurants and households for composting, and then use that compost as fertilizer to grow vegetables. In a city with a population of 8.5 million people, this might seem like a drop in the bucket, but while the scope might be small now, the organizers have big  and green  plans for the project. Nina Vishneva has the story narrated by Anna Rice. ...

The desktop personal computer changed the world when it was introduced back in the 1970s. But lately laptops and phones have slowly eaten away at that market. But the creators of a new PC that costs less than a trip to the grocery store are hoping their little PC can change that. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports. ...

The U.N. migration agency says migrant children have died or gone missing at the rate of nearly one per day worldwide over the past five years, with treacherous journeys like those across the Mediterranean or the U.S.-Mexico border continuing to take lives. In its latest "Fatal Journeys" report, the International Organization for Migration has released findings that some 1,600 children – some as young as 6 months old – are among the 32,000 people who have perished in dangerous travels since 2014.   Deaths of Father, Daughter at US Border Highlight Migrants' PlightFamily had been waiting in Mexico for a chance to apply for US asylum, but migrants there face long wait times The Mediterranean remains the most fatal crossing, with over 17,900 people dying there –many on the hazardous…

Hardly anyone in Congress opposes improving the horrific conditions awaiting many migrants caught spilling across the southwest border. Yet for Democrats, distrust of President Donald Trump runs so deep that a uniformly popular humanitarian aid bill prompted the party's deepest and most bitter divisions since they took House control in January. The bill dealt a blow to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who had to accept weaker legislation than she preferred. But it also produced schisms that radiated far broader shock waves. It pitted House and Senate Democrats against each other and highlighted discord between the House's sizable progressive and centrist factions. It showed that Pelosi faces a challenging balancing act that goes well beyond coping with a handful of vocal, liberal freshmen like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The fight…

R. Kelly's lawyers want a Chicago judge to toss a 2019 lawsuit alleging the singer sexually abused a minor a little over 20 years ago. The Chicago Sun-Times reports their motion to dismiss was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.   The lawsuit says the abuse occurred in 1998. Kelly's attorneys say she had until 2002 to sue. But state law can extend deadlines to file in cases where the accuser becomes aware of the abuse later.   Plaintiff lawyer Jeffrey Deutschman says Kelly has a right to file the motion but that it will drag out the case.   The plaintiff is one of four accusers in a separate criminal case . The suit was filed just before Kelly was charged in February with criminal sexual abuse. He…

Separatists in Cameroon's restive English-speaking regions have freed a prominent Catholic archbishop they kidnapped Tuesday.  Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua says he was abducted by separatist fighters in a locality called Njinikejem while on a trip to preach peace in regions where a separatist war has raged for the past two years. "The road was blocked," he said. "I stood there for sometime, some boys came in and said, 'No, you cannot go, you should go back.' They gave me the number of a certain general [commander of separatist fighters]. They called and said, 'Let me talk to him.' He said, 'No, you cannot pass, it has been blocked.' I came down, I removed the barrier and I passed. The boys came, about 5 or 6 of them very aggressively shouting,…

Kenyan activists are celebrating after a Chinese-backed plan to build East Africa’s first coal-fired power plant near the World Heritage site island town of Lamu has again been halted.  Ruud Elmendorp reports from Lamu on the continuing controversy.  ...