Newsletter Archive

What happens to the Republican Party in the age of Donald Trump? Whatever the outcome of next week’s election, the future direction of the GOP is unclear. Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who is threatening to pull off an upset victory in his home state of Utah, envisions a new conservative movement that would run parallel to the Republican Party.

Europe is keeping a close eye on the U.S. presidential election. While the establishment appears to favor Democrat Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump has his supporters. A significant segment of Europe’s population, both in migrant-wary Eastern Europe and in Western Europe, has embraced the Republican. Anti-immigrant, anti-EU advocates hope a Trump victory will bolster their causes.

The son of a Kenyan, President Barack Obama is viewed by many in Africa as one of their own. After he leaves office, Obama’s message of hope to Africa and its young people might define his legacy on the continent of his forefathers.

More than 1 million American Muslims have registered to vote in next week’s presidential election, more than double the number that registered in 2012. Muslim advocacy groups launched the million voter drive last December after Republican candidate Donald Trump called for ‘a total and complete shutdown’ of Muslim immigration. Is America’s Muslim community now in a position to tip the race in battleground states?

The cost of crossing Russian President Vladimir Putin can be a high one. Amnesty International’s Moscow office was forcibly shut down. In a separate incident, a letter from an imprisoned activist, which was smuggled out to his wife, details beatings and torture. VOA is in Moscow, where voices from Russia’s human rights community suggest both cases are a sign of the times.

Livestock and military vehicles compete for priority on the roads leading into and out of Mosul. VOA is with elite Iraqi troops as they finally reach Iraq’s third-largest city, which has been under Islamic State control for two years. While civilians flee the coming violence, Iraqi troops search from house-to-house, wary of booby-trap bombs, as well as ambushes and sniper fire from IS fighters.

Why are Facebook users saying they’re at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation when they’re not actually traveling to the remote area? They’re showing support for people protesting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. When protesters accused local police of using Facebook to find and target protesters, supporters from across the globe started ‘checking in’ on the social media platform to confuse police efforts.

Show me the money: Nobody knows for sure how much cash China’s film industry rakes in because cheating is rampant. The Asian nation is quickly catching up to the United States when it comes to movie ticket sales and could surpass America as early as next year. With the Chinese government cracking down on box office cheaters, the financial picture there is about to get clearer.