Newsletter Archive

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Ten days ago, Bana Umar was a Boko Haram fighter. Today, he considers himself a defector, having left the group he now considers to be merciless and unjust, manipulating Islam to its own violent ends. The defector credits the BBC and VOA for helping him realize there was a way out once he decided Boko Haram’s ‘activities are evil.’

Dried blood on the walls, bullet holes, an empty bedroom. It’s been more than 40 years since the man many consider Bangladesh’s founding father was gunned down along with most of his family. The Dhaka home of independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, where the killings took place in 1975, has attracted visitors since opening as a memorial museum in the 1990s. But while the home is being preserved, the museum itself is getting a virtual upgrade so it can be visited from almost anywhere in the world.

El Salvador wants the Trump administration to extend Temporary Protected Status to nearly 200,000 of its nationals living in the United States. The US originally granted TPS to Salvadorans in the US in March 2001 following a series of earthquakes, but that designation is set to expire in March. It’s a critical economic issue for El Salvador; about 17 percent of the country’s GDP depends on the money sent back to the Central American country from workers in the US.

With Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House, you’d think passing President Trump’s legislative agenda would be a slam dunk. But as Congress returns next month for the crucial fall legislative session, a growing feud between the president and fellow Republicans threatens to stall the president’s priorities, including his proposed southern border wall, tax system overhaul, and massive infrastructure revamp.

Our growing dependence on the internet makes us all more vulnerable to cyberattacks. From power grids to major corporations, nothing in the world is immune, but it’s hard to tell just often these attacks are happening. Federal laws on reporting breaches are vague, and many corporations stay quiet to avoid bad publicity. No matter who you are, experts say it’s not a matter of if an attack will occur, but when.

No military action against North Korea can happen on the Korean peninsula without his government’s consent, says South Korea’s president. But former US military commanders and analysts aren’t exactly on board with that.

Pro-Islamic State groups from Indonesia have reportedly crossed into the Philippines to join local militants fighting against the Philippines military. As IS loses ground in Syria and Iraq, the terror group is trying to expand in Southeast Asia. Analysts believe that Indonesian extremists who want to join IS are now heading to the Philippines instead of Syria or Iraq.