US Senate Passes Possible TikTok Ban
WASHINGTON — Among a package of military aid bills it passed Tuesday, the U.S. Senate approved a bill that requires TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the video hosting platform or risk the government banning the app for all U.S….
Generative AI threatens voter confidence in what’s real
Artificial intelligence surrounds U.S. political life, from fundraising to campaign advertising. Some lawmakers are looking to better police the use of generative content in this year’s presidential election as they say it threatens voter confidence in what is real. VOA…
Officials: US plans $1 billion aid package for Ukraine
The United States is planning to send a military aid package valued at up to $1 billion immediately after a supplemental funding bill under discussion in the Senate is passed and signed into law, two defense officials tell VOA. The…
As plastic treaty talks open, countries more divided than ever
Countries are under pressure to make progress on a first-ever global plastics treaty this week, but they face tense negotiations in the Canadian capital with parties deeply divided over what the treaty should include as talks begin on Tuesday. If…
UK announces $620 million in new military aid for Ukraine, plan to up own defense spending
Warsaw, Poland — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Tuesday that the country is to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade. Sunak made the announcement during a visit to Warsaw, where he also…
LogOn: Hologram-like experience allows people to connect
The Dutch company Holoconnects are experts in the field of holographic illusions and are now delivering life-size personal connections with a 2-meter-tall box that make it feel like the person you are talking to is physically present. Deana Mitchell has…
Taiwan attracting Southeast Asian tech students
Taiwan is looking to Southeast Asia as a pipeline to fill its shortage of high-tech talent. The numbers of foreign students coming to the island has been growing, especially from Vietnam and Indonesia. VOA Mandarin’s Peh Hong Lim reports from…
UK’s newly passed ‘Safety in Rwanda’ bill is anything but safe: UN officials
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a joint statement calling on the UK Government to reconsider its plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda. This arrangement seeks to…
UNRWA committed to implement independent review recommendations
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini briefed journalists in New York a day after the independent review panel published its findings. Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna spearheaded the report, which found that UNRWA has put in place a large number of mechanisms…
WMO report: Asia hit hardest by climate change and extreme weather
Following close on the heels of the study of climate change in Europe, published by WMO on Monday, the State of the Climate in Asia 2023 report highlighted the accelerating rate of climate change across several indicators such as surface temperature, glacier…