Spread of Alien Plant, Animal Species Predicted to Rise Globally by 2050

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Asian kudzu vines smothering the southern United States. Pacific lionfish devouring Caribbean sealife. South American cane toads killing their way across Australia.     As bad as invasive species are today, a study says they will get worse.      Researchers predict that non-native—or alien—species introductions will increase globally by around 36 percent during the first half of the 21st century.   The researchers call for better monitoring and regulations to contain the spread of alien species.  The movement of plants and animals around the planet soared over the last century as human trade and travel opened new global pathways.   Not all alien species are problematic, but invasive alien species—like kudzu—wreak environmental or economic havoc in their new homes.     “Together with climate change and land use change, invasive…
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Spain Declares COVID-19 State of Emergency in Madrid

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Spain’s government declared a state of emergency in Madrid Friday, taking control of efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 from local authorities after a regional court struck down restrictions as the region faces one of the most significant outbreaks in Europe.   Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government took the step at a special cabinet meeting as he imposed his authority on regional officials, who have resisted his calls for restrictions on travel in the region.   The move gives Sanchez extraordinary powers to order new constraints on life in the capital, where efforts to control a surge in infections have been complicated by the standoff. The step forced Madrid authorities to restore restrictions they had ignored following the court ruling.   At a news conference Friday, Health Minister Salvador…
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Pakistan Blocks TikTok, Citing ‘Immoral’ Content

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Pakistan has blocked online short-video sharing platform TikTok on the grounds of "immoral/indecent" content for viewing in the majority-Muslim nation.The state regulator said Friday that it had repeatedly instructed the platform to tighten its content monitoring to block access to the "unlawful" material."However, the application failed to fully comply with the instructions, therefore, directions were issued for blocking of TikTok application in the country," said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, PTA.The regulator defended the decision, saying the PTA, in a formal warning, had given "considerable time" to the online platform to respond and comply with the instructions.FILE - A man opens social media app TikTok on his cellphone, in Islamabad, Pakistan, July 21, 2020."TikTok has been informed that the authority is open for engagement and will review its decision subject to…
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China Joins WHO Initiative to Distribute COVID Vaccine to Developing Countries

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China said Friday it is joining a World Health Organization international initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world.  China, Russia and the U.S. had said they were not joining the alliance to help two-thirds of world’s population receive the vaccines by 2022.China’s reversal makes it the largest country to participate in what is known as the COVAX deal.  “We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support Covax,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. Over 36 million infections More than 36.5 million people have been infected with the coronavirus as it snakes it way around the world, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.    The U.S., India and Brazil lead in the number of cases and deaths…
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Neurological, Cardiac Issues Linger in COVID-19 Youth

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Young people have suffered less under the COVID-19 virus than older people medically, but experts say the gap has narrowed, and so-called superspreading among the young is a factor.“The FILE - A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 30, 2014.A woman wearing face mask walks on a street in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened millions of people in China since December.In December 2019, as COVID-19 was emerging in China, colleges and universities worldwide released hundreds of thousands of students home for winter break. Many of the more than 360,000 Chinese students who study in the U.S. returned to China for the holiday.A month later, they and other international students returned to their campuses in the…
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EU to Buy Half-a-Million Remdesivir Doses

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The executive branch of the European Union announced Thursday it has signed a deal with pharmaceutical company Gilead to buy 500,000 treatment courses of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug shown to be effective in treating symptoms of COVID-19.The European Commission, which has overseen joint purchases of vaccines for the European bloc, said there were 37 signatories to the agreement, including all EU countries, six Balkan candidate and potential EU members, Britain and other European Economic Area countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.No treatment has yet proved able to prevent serious illness after a coronavirus infection, but the antiviral drug, also known by its commercial name Veklury, has helped some COVID-19 patients recover faster. It is among the drugs being used to treat U.S. President Donald Trump, who tested positive for coronavirus…
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 Another Tennessee Titans Player Tests Positive

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The National Football League reported Thursday yet another Tennessee Titans football player has tested positive for COVID-19, raising questions about their game scheduled for Sunday in Nashville.The latest positive test brings the total to 23 positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff for the Tennessee franchise, and 21 of those positive cases have come since Sept. 29, two days after the Titans game with the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. The team facility has been closed since that time.The team had gone two consecutive days without a positive test before two more tests came back positive Wednesday. A third day would have allowed them to return to their team facility in Nashville, under league rules.The outbreak has already led to the postponement of the Titans' scheduled game last week against the Pittsburgh…
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EU Contracts with Johnson & Johnson on Possible COVID-19 Vaccine

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The European Union on Thursday concluded a deal with an American drugmaker to supply up to 400 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, bringing its total vaccine supply to 1.1 billion doses for the bloc’s 450 million people.To secure the vaccines, the EU made an undisclosed down payment to Johnson & Johnson, which confirmed the deal in a statement in which it reiterated plans to allocate up to 500 million additional doses to poorer countries. EU states plan to pay for those but the price and liability conditions remained confidential.This is the third COVID-19 purchasing deal the EU has closed as the world races to find and secure shots against the disease. The first two were with AstraZeneca and Sanofi.The announcement came in light of a fresh spike across…
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Germany Sees ‘Worrying’ Jump in COVID-19 Cases 

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Germany’s health officials said Thursday new COVID-19 cases are spreading at the fastest rate since April.Health Minister Jens Spahn joined Robert Kock Institute for Disease Control President Lothar Wieler at a news conference in Berlin, where they said the number of new cases of the coronavirus has been rising steadily in Germany since early September. Wieler told reporters, “In the last few days between 1,000 and today even more than 4,000 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute every day.”Weiler said the first seven days of October had seen about twice as many cases as the same period in September.  He said the current weekly nationwide average rate of COVID-19 incidence is 20.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; at the beginning of June it was three.German Health Minister Jens…
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36 Million People Worldwide Infected with Coronavirus

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The world now has more than 36 million cases of the coronavirus.    According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracking program, 36,166,574 people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, including more than 1 million deaths.  The United States leads in both categories with 7.5 million cases and nearly 212,000 deaths. India is a close second in the total number of cases with 6.8 million, while Brazil topped the 5 million mark Wednesday.  Brazil is second in the total number of deaths with more than 148,000, with India third with over 105,000. Memorandum from White House physician Sean Conley to White House press secretary McEnany with information about President Trump receiving a dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail on Oct. 2 2020.Regeneron U.S.-based biotechnology firm Regeneron says it has applied to the Food…
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Prince William, David Attenborough Launch ‘Earthshot’ Award

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Prince William has joined forces with renowned British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough to launch Thursday a new environmental award, the Earthshot Prize, which has grand ambitions to "incentivize change and help to repair our planet over the next 10 years." The prize takes its inspiration from the Moonshot challenge that President John F. Kennedy set for the U.S. in 1961 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. William, who has been immersed in environmental issues all his life, said the same resources used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic should be devoted to saving the natural world. "According to the experts, it really is the point of no return," he told Sky News. "We have 10 years to fundamentally fix our planet." The plan…
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Source: Iranian Dissident Contracts Coronavirus in Prison

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An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran’s prisoners of conscience.In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive for the virus at Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and was transferred that morning from his ward to a so-called prison “safe room” for isolation. The source had no further details on the conditions of Meysami’s detention.The 50-year-old medical doctor and women’s rights activist has been imprisoned by Iran since his July 31, 2018, arrest. Security agents detained him at his Tehran home where they found him in possession of…
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Zimbabwe Teachers Refuse to Return to Schools Over Pay, Sanitation

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Zimbabwe, like other African countries, is trying a phased re-opening of schools after closing in March due to COVID-19.But many teachers like 33-year-old Munyaradzi Masiyiwa are refusing to return to class, pointing to low pay and unsafe conditions.Masiyiwa said he makes more money selling brooms than teaching at Cranborne Boys Government High School in Harare.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Paul Mavima, Zimbabwe public service minister  (Harare, October 6, 2020) says teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all it can afford at the moment. (Columbus Mavhunga/ VOA)Public Service Minister Paul Mavima said teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all the government can afford."It is in this context that we are saying to civil servants please…
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Wisconsin Opens COVID-19 Field Hospital Amid Surging Cases 

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Wisconsin health officials opened a field hospital Wednesday at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee to cater to the swelling number of COVID-19 cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals.The 530-bed field clinic was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in April at the request of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ administration. Local leaders had warned about the possibility of area hospitals being overwhelmed, but hospitalizations didn't reach the point where the hospital was needed, until now.Only 16% of the state’s 11,452 hospital beds were available as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the state's Department of Health Services. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 853, its highest during the pandemic according to the COVID Tracking Project, with 216 in intensive care."This alternative care facility will take some of the pressure off…
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Google, Oracle Meet in Copyright Clash at Supreme Court

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Tech giants Google and Oracle are clashing at the Supreme Court in a copyright dispute that's worth billions and important to the future of software development. The case before the justices Wednesday has to do with Google's creation of the Android operating system now used on the vast majority of smartphones worldwide. Google says that to create Android, which was released in 2007, it wrote millions of lines of new computer code. But it also used 11,330 lines of code and an organization that's part of Oracle's Java platform.   Google has defended its actions, saying what it did is long-settled, common practice in the industry, a practice that has been good for technical progress. But Oracle says Google "committed an egregious act of plagiarism" and sued, seeking more than…
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COVID-19 Makes Science Harder as Britain Battles Over Best Strategy

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Some top scientists in Britain are calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservative government to shift strategy on the coronavirus pandemic and adopt a "herd immunity" approach, allowing people who are less likely to become seriously ill from the virus to return to normal life. "The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this focused protection," the scientists said in a petition known as the Great Barrington Declaration. A man sells face masks, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, on a street in Manchester, Britain, Oct. 7, 2020.The…
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Scientists Win Chemistry Nobel Prize for Gene Editing Development 

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Two scientists have won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a method of gene editing. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences jointly awarded the $1.1 million prize to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the United States. The academy recognized their work on a tool called the CRISP/Cas9 genetic scissors, which allows scientists to cut a string of DNA at a precise position and edit genomes of animals, plants and microorganisms. Applications for the tool include plant breeding and contributing to cancer therapies. The academy said the work of Charpentier and Doudna has “revolutionized the life sciences.” The Nobel Prize in literature will be awarded Thursday, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Three scientists won the physics prize Wednesday for their discoveries related to black holes. Three scientists also shared the…
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Rapid COVID-19 Tests Offer New Tools To Slow Pandemic

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As the COVID-19 pandemic marches on, new, rapid tests offer hope for pumping the brakes on the virus’ spread.  The United States is falling far short in its testing efforts. More than 4 million tests per day would be needed to control the spread of the coronavirus, according to an analysis by Brown University and A healthcare professional adds the extraction reagent and a patient specimen to Abbott’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag rapid test card, Sep. 2020.The right test for the job Experts say that the best test depends on the testing strategy.   “I think there's definitely a time and a place for all of these tests, as long as they’re used properly,” said Wyllie. Currently, the CDC only recommends COVID-19 testing if people have symptoms or if they’ve been in close contact with an infected person. Because PCR…
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Chemical Weapons Watchdog Confirms Nerve Agent Used in Navalny Poisoning

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Experts from a global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Tuesday that the substance used to poison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was from the banned Soviet-style Novichok family of potent nerve agents.  The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, his wife, Yulia, and son, Zahar, pose for a picture in Berlin, in this undated image obtained from social media October 6, 2020. (Courtesy of Instagram @NAVALNY/Social Media)Russia has repeatedly denied accusations that it was involved in the incident and has widely rejected the medical findings by German military doctors that identified the nerve agent last month.  Moscow requested assistance from OPCW on October 1 to confirm the presence of poison. According to a statement of their findings, experts said that an analysis of the samples taken from Navalny prove that a nerve agent…
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FDA Discloses Vaccine Guidelines Blocked by White House

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The Food and Drug Administration laid out updated safety standards Tuesday for makers of COVID-19 vaccines after the White House blocked their formal release, the latest political tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the government’s public health scientists.In briefing documents posted on its website, the FDA said vaccine makers should follow trial participants for at least two months to rule out safety issues before seeking emergency approval. That requirement would almost certainly preclude the introduction of a vaccine before Nov. 3.President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted a vaccine could be authorized before Election Day, even though top government scientists working on the effort have said that timeline is very unlikely. On Monday, Trump said vaccines are coming "momentarily," in a video recorded after he returned to the White House.Former FDA…
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Facebook Says It Will Ban Groups for ‘Representing’ QAnon

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Facebook said it will ban groups that "represent" QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and "deep state" government officials. The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts for "representing QAnon," even if they don’t promote violence. The social network said it will consider a variety of factors to decide if a group meets its criteria for a ban, including its name, the biography or "about" section of the page, and discussions within the page, group or Instagram account. Mentions of QAnon in a group focused on a different subject won't necessarily lead to a ban, Facebook said. Less than two months ago, Facebook said it would stop promoting the group and…
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US Congressional Panel Finds Big Tech Abuses Power, Recommends Changes

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A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used "killer acquisitions" to smite rivals, charge exorbitant fees and force small businesses into "oppressive" contracts in the name of profit. The panel, an antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, recommended that Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Apple Inc., Amazon.com and Facebook should not both control and compete in related business activities but stopped short of saying they should be broken up. The scathing 449-page report describes dozens of instances where the companies misused their power, revealing corporate cultures apparently bent on doing what they could to maintain dominance over large portions of the internet. "To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the…
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Sick and Chained: Plight of Countless Africans With Mental Health Conditions

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For nearly a year, Benjamin Billal was chained to a rock.“I was taken to a faith healing center by my grandmother and my mother,” Billal told journalists by video link from Monrovia, Liberia on Tuesday. “There, I was shackled. I was chained to a rock, where I stayed for about 11 months. There, there was no food. They gave us food at will -- when they feel like giving you food, they gave you food. And there, we had no freedom moving around. You want to move around, you move around with chains.”What did he do to get this treatment? According to doctors at Liberia’s only mental health facility -- where he was finally taken after 11 months of being shackled -- he was suffering from depression.Shackling, restraining and detaining…
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COVID-19 Stokes Demand for Temperature Check Technologies

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Even though businesses are reopening around the world, the pandemic is still a reality. Many commercial spaces and offices are taking people’s temperatures before allowing them inside.  In some industries, handheld thermometers may not be efficient enough. Thermal imaging systems allow temperatures to be taken without anyone needing to be physically close to the person being evaluated.  The demand for these types of devices is skyrocketing globally. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.Videographers: Michael Eckels, Elizabeth Lee  Video editor: Elizabeth Lee ...
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SpaceX Launches 60 Satellites From Kennedy Space Center

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying 60 Starlink satellites for the company's internet satellite constellation system.The launch marks the 13th Starlink mission.  The company says the goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide reliable and affordable internet across the globe, particularly to remote and rural areas where internet service is otherwise not available.  The satellites reportedly deployed into orbit about an hour after the launch.SpaceX is one of the U.S. space agency NASA’s commercial partners, which supplies its reusable rocket launch system and other rockets for the agency’s space program.  The company says its reusable booster came back to earth Tuesday and landed on one of the company’s unmanned “drone” ships in the Atlantic Ocean…
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What’s Inside the White House Medical Unit?

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With U.S. President Donald Trump back at the White House after spending several days in a military hospital, the primary doctor in charge of his COVID-19 treatment is the same, but the extent of the medical facilities available is not. The president’s doctor heads the White House Medical Unit, which includes about 30 medical personnel and is available for medical care at all hours of the day. There is an exam room on the ground floor of the White House residence, located next to the Map Room, as well as a larger set of offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building that neighbors the White House. Those who receive care include the president and his immediate family, the vice president, White House staff members, and if necessary, foreign dignitaries and tourists who visit…
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US Health Agency Updates Guidelines on COVID-19 Transmission   

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now acknowledging that COVID-19 can spread through small particles in the air over an extended distance and for hours at a time.  The CDC has long insisted that the coronavirus is transmitted mainly between people standing within two meters of each other, through droplets produced by talking, breathing, coughing or sneezing.  But FILE - Personnel at the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work the Emergency Operations Center in response to the coronavirus, among other threats, Feb. 13, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia.The CDC posted a similar guidance last month suggesting the virus could spread through aerosols over an extended distance.  But the agency abruptly removed the guidance a few days later, saying it was mistakenly posted before it had…
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COVID-19 Sends Demand Skyrocketing for Temperature Check Technologies

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Even though businesses are reopening around the world, the pandemic is still a reality. Many commercial spaces and offices are taking people’s temperatures before allowing them inside.  In some industries, handheld thermometers may not be efficient enough. Thermal imaging systems allow temperatures to be taken without anyone needing to be physically close to the person being evaluated.  The demand for these types of devices is skyrocketing globally. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.Videographers: Michael Eckels, Elizabeth Lee  Video editor: Elizabeth Lee ...
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