Newsletter Archive

Certain U.S. states get a lot of extra attention during modern presidential campaigns. In the final days before the November 8 election, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump focus on a handful of so-called ‘battleground’ states that have the power to swing the election, determining who the next president of the United States will be.

VIDEO: Arlington National Cemetery is perhaps America’s most famous graveyard. The site sits just outside of Washington, D.C. and is best known as the final resting place of President John F. Kennedy and thousands of U.S. service men and women. However, it might surprise a lot of people to learn that U.S. troops aren’t the only military types buried at Arlington.

Power player: Texas might be best known for its oil production, but the Lone Star State is also a leader in the development and use of renewable energy, especially wind power. Thanks to abundant sunshine, solar energy production is also growing. The conservative Republicans who control state government might be skeptical of climate change, but they’ve got a good reason for backing renewables.

Russia denies hacking American political and election organizations — breaches that have sparked concerns that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election could be influenced by a foreign government. But cyber security experts say state-sponsored hacking is increasing at a dramatic rate as part of Russia’s ‘information war’ with the West, which includes foot soldiers who fight primarily on the internet.

An old mattress is the stuff of sweet dreams for a Kenya businesswoman. Lilian Wairimu was practically destitute — a single mother with a college degree and no job — until she got the idea of transforming an old mattress into beanbag chairs. That was the first step toward what has become one of Nairobi’s most successful furniture businesses.

Kenya’s scenic Coast Province attracts lots of tourists, but there’s a dark side to the laid-back shore life. Heroin use has been on the rise at the coast as traffickers move the drug through East Africa on its way to Europe and, as VOA discovers, users are getting younger and younger.

White-sounding names generate 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than resumes listing African-American-sounding names. A black woman with an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) turned to technology to solve that problem. Stephanie Lampkin created a blind recruitment mobile application that lists job candidates’ experience and qualifications, but not names, ages or photos. The merit-based matching app aims to take unconscious bias out of the hiring process.