Newsletter Archive

The balloons are hung by the ceiling with care, with hopes that the White House soon will be theirs.  National security and immigration were the themes Monday as Republicans kicked off their presidential convention in Cleveland. As the GOP formally nominates Donald Trump, some say the GOP must also figure out what choosing the unorthodox candidate means about the party’s identity. Republicans aren’t the only group converging on Cleveland.  Outside the convention, a motley mix of supporters and protestors (especially protestors) will be making their presence known.

The online activity of Gavin Long, who opened fire on police in Baton Rouge Sunday – killing three of them – is providing insight into the motivations behind the second mass shooting of U.S. police officers in a little more than a week.  Details about the officers who lost their lives are also emerging.

World leaders urged the Turkish government to show restraint as it rounds up those behind last week’s failed coup.  Secretary of State John Kerry called suggestions the U.S. played a role “irresponsible.”  VOA was on the scene in Istanbul Friday during the frenetic early hours of the uprising, and VOA Turkish managed to talk to Turkey’s  former President Abdullah Gul as the coup was unfolding.

While the man who last week killed 84 people with a truck in Nice, France, had expressed interest in radical Islam, Mohamed Bouhlel’s path from petty criminal to violent extremist was a short one.  That’s troubling for intelligence officials, who say that makes “lone wolf” attacks like the one in Nice and last month’s night club shooting in Orlando harder to prevent.  Meanwhile, the truck attack is increasing tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in France.

They didn’t mention him by name, but Sens. John McCain and Robert Menendez were writing about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in their editorial in a South Korean newspaper.  The two senators said assertions by political candidates that the U.S. might rethink its relationships and commitments in Asia should be taken “with a grain of salt.”  Trump has suggested that Japan and South Korea are “free-riders” for not paying more of the cost for stationing U.S. troops in the region.

Critics of a U.N. program that calls for eliminating AIDS by 2020 told VOA the campaign focuses too much on rhetoric and not enough on funding and changing conditions on the ground that are enabling the disease to continue to spread and claims more lives.

Buying too much junk food in India’s southern state of Kerala could ironically lead to belt tightening, though just the metaphorical kind.  The state is imposing a 14.5 percent “fat tax” on fast foods, including those sold by American companies like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. Kerala has the second highest levels of obesity in the country; it’s the first Indian state to try taxing fatty foods to encourage people to eat healthier.