Newsletter Archive

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President Trump departed on his first international trip as president Friday.  First stop:Saudi Arabia, which some see as a surprising destination for the man who called for a “Muslim ban” while campaigning for office.  Steve Herman, who is in Riyadh to cover the president’s trip, offers this preview of the visit, which will be highlighted by Trump’s speech to the Muslim world on Sunday.

The U.S. officials and lawmakers outraged when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards beat peaceful protesters in Washington will no doubt be further incensed when they see another video shot by VOA’s Turkish service that shows Erdogan stood and watched as the melee involving his guards unfolded.

The walls of a cave at one of California’s first wineries are peppered signs of a forgotten past that surprises many people when they visit: pick marks made by the Chinese laborers who dug the underground caverns to store the products of the state’s fledgling wine industry.

Had French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen not been handily defeated by centrist Emmanuel Macron, a group of officials and ministers from the outgoing government had a plan in place to weaken her, including delaying the handover of power and keeping outgoing President Francois Hollande as head of state until after next month’s parliamentary elections.

A succession of brutal murders of women and children in South Africa has sparked national outrage and calls for action. South African President Jacob Zuma spoke out for harsher laws to deal with the crisis, and activists urged stronger policing, and efforts to educate young boys to respect women.

As Nigeria fights the brutal insurgency of Boko Haram, its army is hampered by an equally dangerous enemy: corruption. Transparency International found that officers, politicians and other elites enriched themselves by diverting money meant to fight terror through kickbacks, payments to “ghost soldiers” who don’t exist, and no-bid contracts that benefit politically-connected contractors.

Donald Trump earned admirers on the campaign trail with his bold promises – build a wall, improve trade deals, make America great again. But some, including an Illinois farmer who spoke to VOA, find the brash sloganeering isn’t working out so well when it comes from a head of state.