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Year: 2024

Soaring prices threaten Nigeria’s malaria control

Abuja, Nigeria —  Thursday, April 25, marked World Malaria Day, a day to mark progress against the deadly disease. In Nigeria, that progress is being threatened by soaring drug costs caused by inflation, a poor exchange rate and the exit…

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

Paris, France —  World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of “extreme” climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said Thursday. “Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other…

Biden grants $6 billion to Micron to boost chip production

WASHINGTON —  U.S. President Joe Biden was in Syracuse, New York, Thursday to tout a deal to provide memory chip maker Micron Technology with $6.1 billion in federal grants to support the firm in building factories in the states of…

US communications regulator restores net neutrality annulled under Trump

washington —  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and reassume regulatory oversight of broadband internet rescinded under former President Donald Trump. The commission voted along party lines to finalize a proposal…

CDC: US birth rate drops after slight post-COVID rebound

The fertility rate in the United States dropped in 2023, after a slight two-year rebound that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional CDC data show that 3.59…

US growth slowed sharply last quarter to 1.6%, reflecting economy pressured by high rates

WASHINGTON —  The nation’s economy slowed sharply last quarter to a 1.6% annual pace in the face of high interest rates, but consumers — the main driver of economic growth — kept spending at a solid pace. Thursday’s report from…

Senior UN aid official urges comprehensive response to Haiti crisis

Haitians have been facing a multitude of challenges over the years, encompassing political, security, social and economic issues. The protracted crisis has been further exacerbated by months of brutal gang violence that claimed more than 2,500 lives in the first…

Gaza: Heatwave brings new misery and disease risk to Rafah

The warning from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, came as some 1.2 million people continued to shelter in tents pitched in and around the enclave’s southernmost city, Rafah, with nowhere else to go.  “It is like living in…

Syria crisis intensifies in shadow of Gaza war

Briefing ambassadors on the Security Council, Geir Pedersen called for a regional de-escalation, starting with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In addition to the regional spillover effects, he expressed deep concern over the ongoing conflict within Syria itself. “There are…

Russian strikes kill six in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, officials say

Russian airstrikes killed at least six people in a Ukrainian-held part of the embattled Donetsk territory on Thursday, according to local officials. Vadym Filashkin, the Donetsk regional governor, said in a post on Telegram that shelling killed three people and…