Newsletter Archive

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VIDEO: The Carrier manufacturing facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, was in the limelight in late 2016 when then President-elect Trump negotiated to keep the plant open in Indianapolis, saving US jobs that were slated to move to Mexico. Now, with hundreds of employees at the plant facing layoffs this year, VOA revisits Indianapolis to see if the deal to save American jobs had a lasting impact.

Infographic: The president’s son-in-law denies colluding with Russia or having improper contacts with any foreign government. Jared Kushner, a close adviser to President Trump, and the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., are under scrutiny for a June 16 meeting with a Russian attorney and other figures connected to Moscow. If you’re murky on the particulars, this graphic sorts out what we know about the relevant relationships of the people who were in the room.

Most of the players on Cambodia’s national basketball squad are Americans. Teams are allowed to field foreign-born or foreign-raised players as long as they play for a parent’s native land, which is why the 12-man squad includes nine Cambodian Americans. So what do the locals think about foreign-born players coming in and taking over a source of national pride and identity?

VIDEO: Rising model and activist Rain Dove is the first to call herself ‘different.’ The 27-year-old New Yorker is often mistaken for a man. But rather than being insulted, she embraces her unique looks by being a ‘gender capitalist.’

QUICK TAKE VIDEO: Kids rarely celebrate when they have to go back to school, but Mosul is another story. Just days after Iraqi soldiers declared victory over Islamic State, students are already back in class. It will be months before the schools are up and running with supplies, electricity and a proper curriculum. But, as VOA learns from some of the children, anything is better than school days under IS control.

A food court on the ground floor is one of the newest amenities offered to New York City apartment dwellers. Food halls are popping up all around NYC, offering patrons a variety of food options, while vendors avoid the high rents and operating costs that make it almost impossible for aspiring restaurateurs to establish themselves in big cities.

VIDEO: Waste. Fraud. Abuse of power. It is often thanks to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), that American journalists are able to uncover misdeeds by US public officials. Established a half-century ago, the purpose of FOIA was to make government transparent by allowing anyone to petition for official US records. But is secrecy increasing rather than decreasing as FOIA turns 50?

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Shoving, chair tossing and grabbing political opponents in headlocks could be considered statesman-like behavior in Taiwan, where instigators of scuffles in the legislature are rarely held to account. The brawls have become so common that Taiwan’s legislative battles are routinely watched by television audiences worldwide. In Taiwan, VOA learns there’s a reason lawmakers put on a show.

Was the July 2016 meeting between President Donald Trump’s eldest son and a Russian attorney part of a Kremlin campaign to subvert a  2012 US law targeting Russian human rights abusers? The American businessman who successfully fought to have the Magnitsky Act signed into law thinks so.

VIDEO: Friends of a missing Chinese university scholar in Illinois say they aren’t giving up the search, even though a former physics graduate student has been charged in the case. Yingying Zhang’s disappearance is trending on social media in China, raising questions about the safety of coming to the US to study. Some Chinese students on the University of Illinois campus tell VOA’s Mandarin Service the case would have been solved more quickly in China.

The US piano industry has hit a sour note thanks to the rising popularity of electronic keyboards, which are often cheaper, don’t require tuning, and are much easier to move around. In such a tough climate, piano sellers have to get creative — whether that means donating the instruments to schools in need overseas, or going online to reach a growing number of East Asian and Indian immigrants still interested in playing music the old-fashioned way.

It takes two to tango…South Korea’s new president is reaching out to North Korea in hopes of increasing inter-Korean dialogue and assistance. ​But so far South Korea has only succeeded in raising eyebrows in the United States, its main ally.