Despite an ever-expanding number of ways to put out news and information, a new report says the crackdown on media freedoms around the world has been unrelenting. 'Freedom of the Press 2014' says global press freedom has “fallen to its lowest level in over a decade,” with major setbacks in places that had been making progress only a few years ago. VOA’s Jeff Seldin has more on where the fight for a free media has fallen on hard times and on what it means for an information-hungry public. 
 
 Video Report: Media Freedoms Worldwide at a 10-Year Low Despite an ever-expanding number of ways to put out news and information, a new report says the crackdown on media freedoms around the world has been unrelenting. 'Freedom of the Press 2014' says global press freedom has “fallen to its lowest level in over a decade,” with major setbacks in places that had been making progress only a few years ago. VOA’s Jeff Seldin has more on where the fight for a free media has fallen on hard times and on what it means for an information-hungry public. 
 
 Video Fears Russia-NATO Tensions Could Disrupt Afghan Withdrawal International forces in Afghanistan are working through the mammoth task of shipping most of their vehicles and equipment out of the country, as the December 2014 withdrawal deadline approaches. One of the routes being used transits Russia, and there are fears that the growing confrontation between the West and Moscow over Ukraine could severely disrupt NATO's withdrawal plans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports from London. 
 
 Video Report: Drug-Resistant Bacteria Pose Major Threat to Global Public Health Doctors have long warned against prolonged use of antibiotics, saying that bacteria can build resistance to drugs, eventually rendering them ineffective. The World Health Organization reported Wednesday that antibiotic-resistant bacteria now exist in many parts of the world. Zlatica Hoke reports that some diseases that once could easily be cured by antibiotics have now become deadly. 
 
 Video Hillary Clinton Dominates 2016 Election Discussion The next U.S. presidential election is more than two years away, but any discussion of possible contenders among Democrats begins with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton has a huge lead in public opinion polls and is expected to decide on a White House run by the end of this year. Just the possibility of her candidacy is having an immense impact on the 2016 race. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more on what has come to be known as the "Clinton mystique." 
 
 Video 'Return to Homs' Puts Human Face on Syria Conflict As the Syrian civil war enters its fourth year, a new film focuses on one of the opposition fighters who leads a group of rebels against his government. The documentary, part of this year's Washington, DC International Film Festival, puts a human face on the ongoing violence in Syria. VOA’s Julie Taboh reports. 
 
 Video Iraq's Vote in First Poll Since US Withdrawal Violence marred election day in Iraq Wednesday, with at least two people killed as voters took part in parliamentary elections. VOA's Elizabeth Arrott has more from our Middle East Bureau in Cairo. 
 
 Video New Device May Help Remove Blood Clots from Brain U.S. researchers are developing a new type of robotic needle designed to remove blood clots in the brain. It hasn't yet been used in the operating room, but in simulated surgery, it's been able to remove 90 percent of the blood clots. As VOA's Carol Pearson reports, the device could potentially save many lives. ||||| A problem with the International Space Station's cooling system will require a series of spacewalks to fix, pushing the planned Thursday (Dec. 19) launch of a private cargo spacecraft into next month. 
 
 NASA has decided that three spacewalks — one each on Dec. 21, Dec. 23 and Dec. 25 — will be necessary to replace a faulty pump module on the orbiting lab. The holiday spacewalks will postpone the first contracted cargo mission of aerospace firm Orbital Sciences' unmanned Cygnus spacecraft until mid-January at the earliest, NASA officials announced today (Dec. 17). 
 
 Each of the three spacewalks is scheduled to begin at 7:10 a.m. EST (1210 GMT) and last 6 1/2 hours. You can watch coverage of the extravehicular activities here on SPACE.com beginning each day at 6:15 a.m. EST, courtesy of NASA TV. [How the Space Station's Cooling System Works (Infographic)] 
 
 "NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will remove a pump module that has a failed valve. They will replace it with an existing spare that is stored on an external stowage platform," NASA officials wrote in a press release today. "The pump is associated with one of the station's two external cooling loops, which circulate ammonia outside the station to keep both internal and external equipment cool." 
 
 The valve malfunctioned on Dec. 11, requiring the shutdown of some of the space station's support systems. The issue — which NASA officials say does not endanger the lives of the six astronauts aboard the orbiting lab — initially pushed back the planned Cygnus launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia by 24 hours, to Thursday evening. 
 
 Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft is attached to its Antares rocket on Dec. 10, 2013 for a planned Dec. 19 launch to deliver cargo for the International Space Station. Credit: Orbital Sciences 
 
 But that delay now may be a month or more. 
 
 "The Antares rocket that is currently on the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, will be returned to a horizontal position and transported back to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF)," Orbital Sciences officials wrote in a press release today. 
 
 "At the HIF, the Antares payload fairing will be removed to allow the Cygnus team to open the payload module hatch and remove time-critical payloads for safekeeping until the next launch attempt, which will occur no earlier than January 13, 2014," they added. 
 
 Virginia-based Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to make eight supply runs to the space station using Cygnus and Antares. Cygnus has visited the orbiting lab once, on a successful demonstration mission that blasted off in September. 
 
 Another company, California-based SpaceX, signed a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to make 12 cargo flights to the station using its robotic Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX has completed two of these contracted supply runs already, and the third one is slated to lift off early next year. 
 
 Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com.
– Before they can tuck into their freeze-dried turkey dinners, two American astronauts are going to have to venture out on a spacewalk to fix a faulty pump that has shut down part of the International Space Station's cooling system. The Christmas Day spacewalk is one of three that NASA has scheduled over the next week to carry out the repairs, which have delayed the launch of a private cargo spacecraft, Space.com reports. The problem started last week, when the fault forced the station to close down one of its two ammonia cooling systems, reports Voice of America. The six-member station crew—the two Americans plus three Russians and a Japanese astronaut—is not in any danger; the shutdown has halted a lot of research and if a problem arises with the second cooling system before the first one is fixed, the crew could be forced to return to Earth early.