Newsletter Archive

Renas Rasheed was training to be a world class bodybuilder and trainer when the fight began against Islamic State extremists two years ago. Iraqi Kurds from all walks of life left their families and joined the fighters known as Peshmerga. Rasheed was one of them, and we visited with the gunner near the front lines.

Under fire from Rasheed’s fellow Peshmerga, Islamic State fighters left behind bombs, underground tunnels and Qurans as Kurdish forces pushed closer to the IS stronghold of Mosul, Iraq. Walking among the ruins of destroyed villages with VOA, the Peshmerga commander says he isn’t interested in retaking Mosul, until he knows who will control the city.

Air conditioners might make us cooler but they’re also making the world hotter, which is why folks are happy Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed this week to phase out the worst of the AC chemicals. It’s a big deal because India was one of the last big holdouts.

The Pentagon seems impenetrable but a single vulnerability is all it would take to bring an entire wall of cyberdefense crumbling down. The U.S. military has got the defense of air, land, sea and space covered, but what about the cyber realm?

Being born in Thailand is a lot safer than it used to be thanks to early access to prenatal care and testing for HIV and syphilis, which are credited with making Thailand the first Asia-Pacific country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of the two sexually transmitted infections.

QUICK TAKE VIDEO:  In Ghana, you can choose to be laid to rest in high style. Figurative coffins ― in the shape of a fish, guitar or fancy sport car ― have been in vogue since the 1950s. Some are now even considered pieces of art, worth several thousand dollars and exhibited in museums. It almost seems like a shame to bury them.

Thousands gathered in Kentucky today for a Muslim funeral for Muhammad Ali. Although he rose to great heights, Ali never forgot where he came from. His Louisville neighbors remember the champ’s return visits, when he’d buy popsicles for the children and pass out Qurans.

Everyone wants to claim the champ including American followers of the Islamic Sufi tradition who’ve taken to social media to claim spiritual kinship with the boxing great. But that assertion may be more rooted in urban legend than in fact.