Newsletter Archive

An experimental school located in Silicon Valley, which is known for its innovative tech companies and startups, is disrupting the traditional concept of education. Employing a start-up style, Khan Lab School abolishes grade levels, ditches homework, and brings back the one-room concept of teaching young students. So what is it about this model of teaching that’s making kids excited to go to school every morning?

Millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation, leaving many unemployed or in low-paying jobs. Meanwhile, a number of U.S. companies say they can’t find enough technically skilled people to fill critical well-paying jobs. There are advanced nations that offer apprenticeships to train workers, but few U.S. firms do. However, one major company is turning to old school techniques that blend classwork and practical experience to build and maintain its high-tech workforce.

In polls we trust? As U.S. lawmakers demand to know more about Russian meddling in the most recent presidential election, Americans are a bit split on whether they trust the U.S. voting process. A new poll of U.S. voters and poll workers suggests that a slender majority generally trusts the accuracy of voting systems, but 20 percent do not have confidence in the national election voting tally.

Even women’s eyes had to be covered. Displaced Iraqis pouring out of Mosul share with VOA their disturbing firsthand accounts of life under Islamic State rule. For some of the women, who endured stringent rules and dress codes, happiness was reaching the safety of the Iraqi army, where soldiers assured them they could toss their veils.

‘Worse than nuclear warfare’ is how some elected officials in Indonesia have referred to gay people. The acronym LGBT — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender — has become so symbolically loaded in the Asian nation that politicians use it as shorthand for liberal values. VOA is in Jakarta, where Indonesia’s right-wing party is turning gay rights into a wedge issue to ignite middle-class moral outrage before upcoming regional elections.

The possibility of a protectionist turn in the West could spell trouble for China’s exporters, a mainstay of the Chinese economy. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to slap heavy import tariffs on Chinese goods. This Sunday marks the 15-year anniversary of China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, a milestone China had once hoped would mark the communist-ruled country’s rise as a market economy.