Newsletter Archive

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In Iraq, a few families remain in the crumbling villages and neighborhoods that have been damaged and abandoned by the ongoing fight to liberate Mosul from Islamic State. VOA checks in with some of those who’ve stayed behind, people who suffered under Islamic State rule, only to find that ‘liberation’ is, in many ways, worse. With no water, electricity, food sources and really nowhere better to escape to, some families feel abandoned.

Hopes of rehabilitating President Trump’s image with Muslims appears to be a key reason Saudi Arabia was selected as the first stop on Mr. Trump’s first foreign trip as president. He’ll be greeted by King Salman and up to 20 heads of state representing a large percentage of the world’s 1.5 billion Sunni Muslims. Images of being warmly welcomed by Muslim kings, emirs and presidents is a potential bonanza for the US leader. It also signals a shift in US Middle East strategy.

Southeast Asians also have a less-than-flattering view of President Trump, if a new survey is anything to go by. A significant number of those surveyed said the US is ‘undependable’ as an ally as compared to four months ago. In Myanmar, VOA discovers the negativity isn’t the result of anything Mr. Trump has said or done.

There’s an unsettling new trend in Somalia — an increase in summary executions. The sudden hike has drawn the attention of human rights groups. Somali military courts and the militant group al-Shabab have each executed about a dozen people so far in 2017, all of them killed in public settings.

Lack of food in northern Cameroon is causing trouble between local communities and Nigerian refugees displaced by the Boko Haram conflict. In Minawao, VOA speaks to police, refugees and residents, who say disputes are growing more common as locals accuse refugees of stealing.

An influential environmental activist is a wanted man in Vietnam. Local media report authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt for Bach Hong Quyen. The 28-year-old is wanted for organizing a protest that attracted 2,000 people angry at the government’s response to a toxic spill.