Newsletter Archive

America is changing colors. The number of mixed-race Americans is growing three times faster than the U.S. population as a whole. More and more families are multiracial, multicultural and, often, multilingual. In Los Angeles, mixed race Americans are more common than ever.

Twitter’s new safety measures are designed to stop online harassment and protect people from viewing offensive material. The social media company announced last week that it will start hiding potentially menacing tweets. That’s got some free-speech advocates worried about the potential for censorship of unpopular ideas.

Millennials have been criticized for bucking tradition and rejecting the behavior and beliefs of the generations that came before them. But one thing hasn’t changed for this group of 18- to 35-year-olds — like the young people who came before them, millennials still have a passion for protest and political involvement.

QUICK TAKE VIDEO: An annual agricultural fair outside Paris often draws French politicians, giving them a chance to mingle with ordinary people, and take the pulse of voters ahead of the April-May elections. Polls show far-right frontrunner Marine Le Pen is popular in rural areas. VOA checked in with folks at the fair to learn what’s on the mind of some French voters.

VOA finds evidence of at least four separate attacks involving home-made chemical weapons in Mosul. Four attacks in the past 10 days have prompted international organizations to warn that Islamic State militants could, for the first time, be using chemical weapons against civilians in eastern Mosul. VOA travels to Mosul and Erbil to speak to some of the afflicted, who worry about their long-term health.

Some of the world’s top diplomats went to the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, visiting a camp for displaced persons in Nigeria. The UN delegation arrived at the camp in Maiduguri under heavy security, just two days after the latest Boko Haram suicide attack. VOA accompanied the ambassadors as they met with displaced women and listened to their stories of being widowed, terrorized and abused.

VIDEO: Russia was a monarchy for more than 1,000 years before the revolution that led to the rise of the Soviet empire. As that country marks the 100th anniversary of the revolution, there are some in the former Soviet republic who believe that royal tradition ought to make a comeback.

The destruction Islamic State left behind led to a fascinating discovery for Iraqi archaeologists. While assessing the damage of the destroyed mosque of the Prophet Younis, or Jonah, in Mosul, the antiquities experts unearthed a 2,500-year-old ancient palace.