Mass testing, mask wearing help Detroit slow virus' pace

It was March 11 last year when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced that the St. Patrick's Day parade was canceled because a virus that had already sickened tens of thousands worldwide had reached Michigan.

UK schools to reopen, backed by frequent virus testing

British students, backed by a robust coronavirus testing program, are gearing up to return to school Monday after a two-month closure, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson says is a plan to get the country "moving closer to a sense of normality."

Virus reaches previously COVID-free New Caledonia

The remote Pacific territory of New Caledonia, one of the few places on the planet to have avoided COVID-19, is to go into strict lockdown after detecting nine cases, local officials said Sunday.

Tracking the plague in DR Congo

Already battling COVID-19 and a renewed Ebola outbreak, DR Congo is also home to one of the world's oldest sites of the plague—and there are signs that the disease may have reared its head once more.

Casting a wide intrusion net: Dozens burned with single hack

The SolarWinds hacking campaign blamed on Russian spies and the "grave threat" it poses to U.S. national security are widely known. A very different—and no less alarming—coordinated series of intrusions also detected in December has gotten considerably less public attention.

Global players brainstorm to boost COVID vaccine output

Global players are gathering online from Monday to brainstorm ways to rapidly boost vaccine production and fight a still-virulent coronavirus that has hobbled the world for 14 months.

Etna keeps up its spectacular explosions; ash rains on towns

A particularly spectacular blast from Italy's Mount Etna volcano belched out a towering cloud of ash and lava stone Sunday onto Sicilian villages, the latest in a series of explosions since mid-February.

Israel re-opens restaurants, bars with 40% of country fully vaccinated

Israel took another step towards post-pandemic normalcy on Sunday, opening restaurants, bars and cafes to vaccinated "green pass" holders, with about 40 percent of the population fully inoculated against the coronavirus.

At Dubai airport, travelers' eyes become their passports

Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning.

Oral Covid treatment yields promising trial data: drugmakers

German pharmaceutical giant Merck and a US partner reported promising results Saturday in trials of a drug administered orally to fight COVID-19, saying it helps reduce patients' viral load.

Israeli 5-minute battery charge aims to fire up electric cars

From flat battery to full charge in just five minutes—an Israeli start-up has developed technology it says could eliminate the "range anxiety" associated with electric cars.

Space-starved Singapore builds floating solar farms in climate fight

Thousands of panels glinting in the sun stretch into the sea off Singapore, part of the land-scarce city-state's push to build floating solar farms to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Chinese urgency on COVID-19 goes missing in jabs drive

Shirley Shi has received three offers to be vaccinated against COVID-19—through her hometown, her Beijing residential area and her office area—but the human resources manager is in no rush.

Drones vs hungry moths: Dutch use hi-tech to protect crops

Dutch cress grower Rob Baan has enlisted high-tech helpers to tackle a pest in his greenhouses: palm-sized drones seek and destroy moths that produce caterpillars that can chew up his crops.