Newsletter Archive

The divorce is on. British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 this week, kicking off what promises to be a lengthy, messy and complex process of ending four decades of engagement with the European Union. The passage of Brexit, and the heated emotions surrounding the issue, raises the wider question of whether globalization has been good for communities. In England, VOA visits a town where the strike against globalism and homogeneity began five years ago.

The larger war against Islamic State is up in the air, even though the terror group is in retreat across much of Iraq and parts of Syria. It’s not that Iraqi and US officials worry IS will suddenly make more massive land grabs. They fear something far more subtle — that the resilient terror group has played the long game well enough that even as its self-declared caliphate teeters on the verge of collapse, it will be a force to reckon with for some time to come.

The Trump administration has vowed its North Korea policy will differ from that of former President Barack Obama, but the question is, how? Experts tell VOA that the strategies outlined by the Trump team so far aren’t much different from Obama’s approach, which some considered a failure.

A Silicon Valley tech executive who remembers his Indian neighbors risking lung disease by cooking with kerosene and wood, is now in a position to make a difference. Ravindra Sunku is using his professional skills to help a Kenyan organization that makes clean cook stoves. The relationship is the result of a unique mentorship program in Silicon Valley that connects tech professionals to socially-minded startups around the world.

You could call it too much of a good thing in Myanmar. The fact that Myanmar is no longer a military dictatorship means many foreigners now see it as a viable holiday spot. In Myanmar, VOA learns that, while the growth in tourism has given the country an economic boost, there are concerns that temple-climbing tourists are damaging sacred, centuries-old structures.

‘We are losing 17 mothers and 106 newborns every day.’ A looming health care worker shortage and possible US international aid cuts are sparking fears the maternal death rate will grow in Africa. In Johannesburg, VOA speaks with experts who believe major gains can be made without complicated, costly medical research.