Newsletter Archive

A video posted Sunday offers proof that at least some of Nigeria’s Chibok schoolgirls survive two years after their kidnapping by Boko Haram, a leader of the Bring Back Our Girls group tells VOA, urging that the Nigerian government “open a channel of communication” with the terrorist group. A presidential spokesman confirms the government’s outreach to the group. About 218 of the 276 girls taken from a remote school in northeastern Nigeria still are missing. A tearful Esther Yakubu tells VOA she recognizes her daughter, Dorcas, in the video.

An East Africa regional organization says the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab is actively plotting attacks in countries throughout the region. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, in a new report, contends the militant group has expanded and formed special military wings dedicated to carrying out attacks in Kenya and even in Ethiopia.

Ukraine security officials and analysts say they expect the Kremlin to ramp up claims of sabotage, insisting, as one says, that “the enemy is planning large-scale provocative actions” in a bid to discredit Ukraine in the West’s eyes. They contend Moscow plans to start an offensive just before Russian parliamentary polls scheduled for Sept. 18. Russian officials deny this, saying the provocation is coming from Ukraine. In this photo, Ukrainian forces move toward the de facto border with Crimea.

Afghan officials say their security forces face an elite new commando force that’s strengthening the Taliban in southern Helmand province. Called the Red Brigade – or Sara Khitta, in the Pashto language – the force’s several hundred fighters allegedly includes “Pakistanis, Chechens, Azerbaijanis and Turkmens,” Helmand’s governor tells VOA. Saying there’s “strong evidence to prove our claim,” the governor maintains Helmand “has now become a target of international terrorists’ agenda.”

Mikah Meyer, on a quest to visit all the U.S. National Park Service’s 400-plus sites as a tribute to his late father, relishes the vast prairie in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Bison roam the tall grass unrestricted, unlike the corralled beasts shown here; the park also harbors feral horses, elk, deer and prairie dogs. It’s named for the 26th U.S. president, a prominent conservationist. Meyer, 30, set out in June from Washington, D.C., and expects his sojourn will take four years.

Summering in France? Pack your patience along with your passport. Wary of terrorism, Paris sun worshipers line up for bag checks before descending to the Paris-Plages, the artificial beach set up annually along the Seine River. The city’s outdoor film festival has moved indoors for security reasons. On the Channel, French helicopters air drop gendarmes to patrol ferries crossing from Britain. The French government has beefed up its roughly 10,000 soldiers patrolling the country with thousands more reservists. Most visitors are soldiering on. Mais, oui!

Washington’s National Cathedral serves as the final resting place for blind and deaf author-lecturer Helen Keller as well as Annie Sullivan, the teacher who opened Keller’s world through sign language. The Episcopal cathedral contains an actual moon rock in one of its stained glass windows. But the Gothic structure also is notable as the only place in North America to house both carillon and peal bells.