Author: Reporter

Most of the world continues to fail to fight corruption with 95% of countries having made little to no progress since 2017, a closely watched study by an anti-graft organization found recently. Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the perception of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, also found that governments hampered by corruption lack the capacity to protect the people, while public discontent is more likely to turn into violence. “Corruption has made our world a more dangerous place. As governments have collectively failed to make progress against it, they fuel the current rise...

Customers of Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp should not store their money for the long term with these apps because their funds might not be safe during a crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned on June 1. The alert comes several weeks after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank, which all experienced bank runs after fearful customers with uninsured deposits pulled their money en masse. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures bank accounts up to $250,000. But money stored in Venmo or CashApp or Apple Cash is not being held in a traditional...

The mpox health emergency has ended, but U.S. health officials are aiming to prevent a repeat of last year’s outbreaks. Mpox infections exploded early in the summer of 2022 in the wake of Pride gatherings. More than 30,000 U.S. cases were reported last year, most of them spread during sexual contact between gay and bisexual men. About 40 people died. With Pride events planned across the country in the coming weeks, health officials and event organizers say they are optimistic that this year infections will be fewer and less severe. A bigger supply of vaccine, more people with immunity...

Across America, Juneteenth Day is celebrated to mark the day when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free. For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances, or cookouts. The U.S. government was slow to embrace the occasion — it was only in 2021 that President Joe Biden signed a bill passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday. And just as many people learn what Juneteenth is all...

The U.S. surgeon general is calling for tech companies and lawmakers to take “immediate action” to protect kids’ and adolescents’ mental health from a profound risk of harm by social media platforms. But after years of insufficient action by both social media platforms and policymakers, parents and young people still bear most of the burden in navigating the fast-changing, often harmful world of secretive algorithms, addictive apps and extreme and inappropriate content found on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. So what can parents and young people do now? Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has some tips. “Our children...