The outsourcing industry in the Philippines, which has dethroned India as the country with the most call centers in the world, is worried that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)…
more ...Report: Russian Twitter Trolls Deflected Trump Bad News
Disguised Russian agents on Twitter rushed to deflect scandalous news about Donald Trump just before last year’s presidential election while straining to refocus criticism on the mainstream media and Hillary…
more ...Zuckerberg Nears End of US Tour, Wants to Boost Small Business
What’s Mark Zuckerberg’s biggest takeaway as he wraps up a year of travel to dozens of U.S. states? The importance of local communities. To this end, Facebook’s CEO is announcing…
more ...Trump Skirts ‘Great Firewall’ to Tweet About Beijing Trip
U.S. President Donald Trump went around and over the “Great Firewall” of China in a late-night tweet in Beijing as he thanked his hosts for a rare tour of the…
more ...Congress, Silicon Valley Seek Common Ground on Social Media Interference
Executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter faced anger from lawmakers last week over their platforms’ roles in Russian interference into the 2016 election. But for Silicon Valley, the biggest challenge…
more ...Mnuchin to Fill Fed Vacancies, Awaits Yellen’s Decision
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that Janet Yellen has not said yet whether she plans to remain on the Federal Reserve board when her term as chair ends in…
more ...US Commerce Secretary to Sell Stake in Firm With Russian Ties
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross plans to completely divest from a shipping company that counts a Russian gas producer with ties to the Kremlin among its major customers. A commerce…
more ...EU Pushes Cut in Car Emissions, Boost for Electric Vehicles
The European Commission said Wednesday it wants to cut emissions of carbon dioxide from cars by 30 percent by 2030 and boost the use of electric vehicles by making them…
more ...Emerging Nations Urge Wealthy Countries to Kick-start Climate Pact Before 2020
Emerging nations pressed developed countries Wednesday to step up cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to kick-start the Paris climate agreement, saying the rich were wrongly focused on 2030…
more ...Argentine Vineyards Complain Tax Proposal Would Crush Business
Wine producers in Argentina, renowned for its plush Malbecs, are furious over a tax proposal they say would crush exports and domestic sales as vineyards struggle after two of their…
more ...FBI Again Finds Itself Unable to Unlock a Gunman’s Cellphone
The Texas church massacre is providing a familiar frustration for law enforcement: FBI agents are unable to unlock the gunman’s encrypted cellphone to learn what evidence it might hold. …
more ...Twitter, Snapchat Tweak Products to Lure More Users
Struggling social media platforms Twitter and Snapchat are taking on new looks as the services seek wider audiences in the shadow of Facebook. Twitter is rolling out a 280-character limit…
more ...Scrambling to Track Islamic State Terrorists, Coalition Turns to Biometrics
As U.S.-backed forces made their final push into the city of Raqqa to liberate what had once been the Syrian capital of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate, they faced a…
more ...Looking at Stars from a Jumbo-Jet
To learn more about how stars are formed, astronomers look at light coming from deep space that illuminate events that happened billions of years ago. Cosmic dust, vapor in the…
more ...Tech Training Brings Hope to Young Refugees in Malawi
Microsoft and the U.N. Refugee Agency have partnered to teach about two dozen young refugees from around East Africa how to code and develop software. For VOA, Lameck Masina has…
more ...Venezuelan Crisis Spawns Boom in Gambling
Players line up beside a small kiosk in a poor neighborhood to choose animals in a lottery game that has become a craze in Venezuela even as the oil-rich country…
more ...US Senate Panel Targets Chinese Banks with North Korea Sanctions
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee unanimously backed new sanctions targeting Chinese banks that do business with North Korea on Tuesday, just before President Donald Trump visits Beijing for the first…
more ...Exploring Egypt’s Great Pyramid From the Inside, Virtually
A team of scientists who last week announced the discovery of a large void inside the Great Pyramid of Giza have created a virtual reality tour that allows users to…
more ...National Assembly: Venezuela’s January-October Inflation 826 Percent
Inflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy was 826 percent in the 10 months to October and may end 2017 above 1,400 percent, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said Friday. The government stopped…
more ...Island Nations Fear ‘Apocalyptic’ Storms Will Overwhelm Them
Unless emissions can be drastically and quickly curbed, efforts by small island nations to adapt to climate change may be in vain, a leader of a group of small island…
more ...Twitter Doubles Character Limit to 280 for (Nearly) Everyone
Twitter says it’s ending its iconic 140-character limit — and giving nearly everyone 280 characters. Users tweeting in Chinese, Japanese and Korean will still have the original limit. That’s…
more ...FIFA Demands Visa, Work Permit and Tax Exemptions for 2026 World Cup
The United States and other countries hoping to host the 2026 World Cup should provide government guarantees on visa-free travel plus work permit and tax exemptions for their bids to…
more ...In Silicon Valley, the Homeless Illustrate a Growing Divide
In the same affluent, suburban city where Google built its headquarters, Tes Saldana lives in a crowded but tidy camper she parks on the street. She concedes it’s “not a…
more ...India Seeks to Promote a Staple Dish as Its Brand Food Across Globe
Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global…
more ...India Seeks to Promote a Staple Dish As Its Brand Food Across the Globe
Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global…
more ...US Demining Cut Provokes Cambodia
A U.S. decision to cut funding for a demining program in Cambodia threatens to further worsen a feud between Phnom Penh and Washington. On Tuesday, it emerged through local media…
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