Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill on Saturday. The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to take up a vote early this week. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …
Leave a commentThe trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump enters a new stage Monday when opening remarks begin. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden will make a campaign stop in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday to talk about reproductive rights. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. …
Leave a commentvancouver, british columbia — A new, digestible mini-robotic camera, about the size of a multivitamin pill, was demonstrated at the annual TED Conference in Vancouver. The remote-controlled device can eliminate invasive medical procedures. With current technology, exploration of the digestive tract involves going through the highly invasive procedure of an endoscopy, in which a camera at the end of a cord is inserted down the throat and into a medicated patient’s stomach. But the robotic pill, developed by Endiatx in Hayward, California, is designed to be the first motorized replacement of the procedure. A patient fasts for a day, then swallowsmore
Leave a commentHONG KONG — Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities. The apps were removed from the store Friday after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns. Their removal comes amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology and national security. The U.S. has threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But while TikTok, owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the U.S., apps like WhatsApp and Threads are not commonly used inmore
Leave a commentWASHINGTON — The Pentagon could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days once Congress passes a long-delayed aid bill. That’s because it has a network of storage sites in the U.S. and Europe that hold the ammunition and air defense components that Kyiv desperately needs. Moving fast is critical, CIA Director Bill Burns said this past week, warning that without additional aid from the U.S., Ukraine could lose the war to Russia by the end of this year. “We would like very much to be able to rush the security assistance in the volumes we think they need to be ablemore
Leave a commentSundsvall, Sweden — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s short videos of his three-day trip to China this week proved popular in posts on Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, which the European Union, Canada, Taiwan and the United States banned on official devices more than a year ago, citing security concerns. By Friday, one video showing highlights of Scholz’s trip had garnered 1.5 million views while another of him speaking about it on the plane home had 1.4 million views. Scholz opened his TikTok account April 8 to attract youth, promising he wouldn’t post videos of himself dancing. His most popular post somore
Leave a commentCAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Facebook parent Meta Platforms has unveiled a new set of artificial intelligence systems that are powering what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “the most intelligent AI assistant that you can freely use.” But as Zuckerberg’s crew of amped-up Meta AI agents started venturing into social media in recent days to engage with real people, their bizarre exchanges exposed the ongoing limitations of even the best generative AI technology. One joined a Facebook moms group to talk about its gifted child. Another tried to give away nonexistent items to confused members of a Buy Nothing forum. Meta, along with leadingmore
Leave a commentnew york — A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump. The man burned for several minutes in full view of television cameras that were set up outside the courthouse, where the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president is being held. “I see a totally charred human being,” a CNN reporter said on the air. Officials said the man survived and was in critical condition at a localmore
Leave a commentvancouver, british columbia — Just as the world is getting used to the rapidly expanding use of AI, or artificial intelligence, AGI is looming on the horizon. Experts say when artificial general intelligence becomes reality, it could perform tasks better than human beings, with the possibility of higher cognitive abilities, emotions, and ability to self-teach and develop. Ramin Hasani is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the CEO of Liquid AI, which builds specific AI systems for different organizations. He is also a TED Fellow, a program that helps develop what the nonprofit TED conference considers tomore
Leave a commentNew York — Google fired 28 employees following a disruptive sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday. The Tuesday demonstration was organized by the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” which has long opposed “Project Nimbus,” Google’s joint $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud services to the government of Israel. Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google workers in Sunnyvale, California, in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s, according to a post by the advocacy group on X, formerly Twitter. Kurian’s office was occupied for 10 hours, themore
Leave a commentwashington — U.S. intelligence and security agencies are trying to prepare election officials for a wave of new attacks aiming to destroy voter confidence in November’s presidential election, just as a series of reports warn some familiar adversaries are starting to ramp up their efforts. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the FBI, issued a new warning on Wednesday that “the usual suspects” — Russia, China and Iran — are looking for ways to stoke tensions and divide American voters. All three countries, the guidance said, are “leveragingmore
Leave a commentWashington — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he will move to dismiss impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a move that would end the Senate trial before arguments even begin. Schumer, D-N.Y., said that the two articles of impeachment brought against the secretary over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border “fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent. “For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,” Schumer said as he openedmore
Leave a commentSAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft said on Wednesday that Russian online campaigns to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election kicked into gear over the past 45 days, but at a slower pace than in past elections. Russia-linked accounts are disseminating divisive content aimed at U.S. audiences, including criticizing American support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, researchers at the tech giant said in a report. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but the Kremlin said last month it would not meddle in the November U.S. election. It also dismissed U.S. allegations that it orchestratedmore
Leave a commentU.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both supporting Israel in the war in Gaza and in its hostilities with Iran. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns reports on how events in the Middle East are affecting U.S. politics. …
Leave a commentChicago, Illinois — London-based model Alexsandrah has a twin, but not in the way you’d expect: Her counterpart is made of pixels instead of flesh and blood. The virtual twin was generated by artificial intelligence and has already appeared as a stand-in for the real-life Alexsandrah in a photo shoot. Alexsandrah, who goes by her first name professionally, in turn receives credit and compensation whenever the AI version of herself gets used — just like a human model. Alexsandrah says she and her alter-ego mirror each other “even down to the baby hairs.” And it is yet another example of howmore
Leave a commentLONDON — Instagram says it’s deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages. The social media platform said in a blog post Thursday that it’s testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of “image abuse,” and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors. Recent high-profilemore
Leave a commentSince Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, divisions have arisen in Congress over sending military aid to Kyiv. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti explains how the two presidential frontrunners differ on how to handle the war. VOA footage by Mary Cieslak and Adam Greenbaum. …
Leave a commentTucson, arizona — Former President Donald Trump urged Arizona lawmakers on Friday to swiftly “remedy” the state Supreme Court ruling allowing prosecutors to enforce a near-total abortion ban that he declared “went too far.” Trump has repeatedly expressed pride in his role in overturning the national constitutional right to an abortion by appointing three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court during his one term as president. However, his messaging in the aftermath of the Arizona ruling that a ban on the books since 1864 is constitutional illustrates his struggle to neutralize what has become a potent political weapon for Democrats. more
Leave a commentwashington — An inexperienced House speaker facing a brewing intraparty rebellion as he seeks bipartisan compromise to push through defense funding for Ukraine and Israel got a boost on Friday from the presumptive Republican party presidential nominee, Donald Trump. “He’s doing a really good job under very tough circumstances,” Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, said at the start of a news conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump suggested Republicans push for making additional U.S. military aid to Ukraine “in the form of a loan rather than a gift.” Johnson, a Republican congressman from the state of Louisiana whomore
Leave a commentU.S. President Joe Biden this week welcomed the prime minister of Japan and the president of the Philippines to the White House to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific region. VOA Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti compares Biden’s security policies with those of his 2024 presidential opponent Donald Trump. …
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