A day after credit-reporting company Equifax disclosed that “criminals” had stolen vital data about 143 million Americans, it had somehow managed to leave much of the public in the dark about their exposure, how they should protect themselves and what Equifax planned to do for those affected. The breach is unquestionably serious. It exposed crucial pieces of personal data that criminals could use to commit identity theft, from Social Security numbers and birthdates to address histories and legal names.

Microscopic plastic fibers are pouring out of faucets from New York to New Delhi, according to new research by Orb Media, a nonprofit digital newsroom based in Washington. "It s bad; one hears so many things about cancer," Mercedes Noroña, 61, said after learning that a water sample from her home near Quito, Ecuador, contains plastic fibers. "Maybe I m exaggerating - but I m afraid of the things that come in the water."

magine: A five-seat electric jet that can move passengers between Manhattan and JFK Airport in five minutes. That ambitious idea has caught the attention of China’s Tencent (TCEHY), the lead investor in a $90 million fundraising round announced Tuesday by startup Lilium.

Opening a new era in cancer care, US health officials have approved a breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration said the approval on Wednesday was historic, the first gene therapy to hit the US market. Made from scratch for every patient, it s one of a wave of “living drugs” under development to fight additional blood cancers and other tumors, too.

North Korea announced on Sunday that it had conducted a nuclear test using an advanced hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb, marking departure from its experiments with first generation atomic weapons. But what s the difference between an atomic bomb and the more advanced hydrogen bomb?

E-learning platform, Tyro, has recognized the high demand for private tutoring and the widening gap between formal educational curriculums and labor market needs. The tech group is working on connecting students with qualified instructors through one on one online sessions, with the aim to revamp the tutoring industry in Egypt. Tyro launched a beta platform in November last year, tying students with qualified freelance tutors. Students can freely browse through a selection of qualified instructors viewing their skills, certifications, availability, rates as well as reviews.

Opening a new era in cancer care, US health officials have approved a breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients’ own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration said the approval on Wednesday was historic, the first gene therapy to hit the US market. Made from scratch for every patient, it’s one of a wave of “living drugs” under development to fight additional blood cancers and other tumors, too.

The World Bank (WB) approved,Tuesday, to inject $500 million of direct investments in oil and gas projects into Egypt. $100 million of the sum is to be invested by the international Finance Cooperation (IFC). The fund provided by the WB and IFC fosters the international finance institutions and global private sector’s optimistic outlook regarding the future of Egyptian economy, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahr Nasr, stated Tuesday.

Google has a new feature designed to help people suffering from depression. Users in the United States who search for “depression” or “clinical depression” will now be offered a questionnaire to test their depression levels and help determine whether they should seek professional help, Google said in a blog post.

The effects of climate change are partially to blame for a mudslide through a southeastern village that left eight people missing after a massive chunk of rock broke off an Alpine mountainside, Switzerland’s environmental protection office said Monday. Federal Office for the Environment director Marc Chardonnens said by telephone that experts were looking into exact causes for the break-off of rock face that tumbled in a gooey sludge into the village of Bondo last week, including possible tectonic and geological factors as well as climatic ones.

In middle school, Junior Alvarado often struggled with multiplication and earned poor grades in math, so when he started his freshman year at Washington Leadership Academy, a charter high school in the nation’s capital, he fretted that he would lag behind. But his teachers used technology to identify his weak spots, customize a learning plan just for him and coach him through it. This past week, as Alvarado started sophomore geometry, he was more confident in his skills.

Forty years after blasting off, Earth’s most distant ambassadors, the twin Voyager spacecraft, are carrying sounds and music of our planet ever deeper into the cosmos. Think of them as messages in bottles meant for anyone, or anything, out there. This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of NASA’s launch of Voyager 2, now almost 11 billion miles distant. It departed from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 20, 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn.

Former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson is looking to crowdfund enough money to buy Twitter so President Donald Trump can’t use it. Wilson launched the fundraiser last week, tweeting: “If @Twitter executives won’t shut down Trump’s violence and hate, then it’s up to us. #BuyTwitter #BanTrump.” The GoFundMe page for the fundraiser with a billion-dollar goal says Trump’s tweets “damage the country and put people in harm’s way.”

The stars came out in the middle of the day, zoo animals ran in agitated circles, crickets chirped, birds fell silent and a chilly darkness settled upon the land Monday as the US witnessed its first full-blown, coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I. Millions of Americans gazed in wonder at the cosmic spectacle, with the best seats along the so-called path of totality that raced 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) across the continent from Oregon to South Carolina.

Total solar eclipses occur every year or two or three, often in the middle of nowhere like the South Pacific or Antarctic. What makes Monday’s eclipse so special is that it will cut diagonally across the entire United States. The path of totality — where day briefly becomes night — will pass over Oregon, continuing through the heartland all the way to Charleston, South Carolina. Those on the outskirts — well into Canada, Central America and even the top of South America — will be treated to a partial eclipse.

If you can’t witness the total solar eclipse in person, you can still see it online or via TV. Here are some of the viewing options: (All times EDT) — NASA will offer hours of coverage online and on NASA Television beginning at noon. It plans livestreaming of the eclipse beginning at 1 p.m. with images from satellites, research aircraft, high-altitude balloons and specially modified telescopes.

The year 2016 broke records for our warming planet, and climate expert Deke Arndt says it won t be the last. He tells DW that access to water - having too much or not enough - will be increasingly important. An Indian man walks over the parched bed of a reservoir on the outskirts of Chennai (Getty Images/AFP/A. Sankar)

There s a lot to read in the data from solar eclipses. Some of it reads like clockwork. Other bits might seem odd. But total solar eclipses, like the one on August 21, are the raw rhythm of nature up close. It s uncanny how good the data on solar eclipses is, stretching all the way back to 2127 BC and even further. Granted, some of it is based on anecdotal information, some of it is based on references "in the literature," or on advanced reverse calculations and amazing projections into the future. In fact, we can see so far into the future of eclipses that we know they won t occur forever - but more on that later. First, let s head into the past!

When a cosmic event starts appearing in ad campaigns, you know it s something big and on everyone s mind. The total solar eclipse on August 21 has a cameo in an advert for Apple s virtual assistant Siri. Here s why. "Hey, Siri, take a selfie," commands actor and wrestler Dwayne Johnson, known also as The Rock, as he floats in a space. And click goes his phone, before he muses, "Hope I don t cause an eclipse." Excuse me, Mr. Rock? Hope you don t cause a what? There s no time for nonsense like that, me ol mate. You re due back at a studio … And boom! There he is crashing through the roof of a film set in a capsule of some kind. He steps out, poses and says, "This one is for Earth!" and then plods on with his day, chatting casually with his dithering human assistant. All that s left of the director on the make-believe film shoot, meanwhile, is a bewildered Brit, muttering "cock a doodle doo" over and over again.

The web hosting company GoDaddy said on Sunday it had given The Daily Stormer 24 hours to move its domain to another provider after the extremist web site posted an article denigrating the woman who was killed at a white nationalist rally in Virginia.