Newsletter Archive

India’s Ganges River at Haridwar is a revered spot for Hindus, who believe a ritual bath in the Ganges absolves a lifetime of sins. But the river is so polluted that Indian officials have declared the water not fit for bathing. It’s hard to wash away sins as garbage floats by.

Although US employment numbers are looking up, American farmers continue to struggle. They’re grappling with the high cost for fertilizer and seed at a time when demand and prices for their products are low — economic hardship that have a ripple effect beyond the farmers’ fields.

Missing the boat. The exodus from Myanmar has taken both an emotional and physical toll on the Rohingya escaping to Bangladesh. Described as the largest stateless group in the world, Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. In the latest upswing of violence, boatmen from Bangladesh are charging more than $100 per trip, and those who can’t afford the fee face being left behind.

Twenty-four years ago, an American journalist founded The Cambodia Daily, with the aim of strengthening democracy and training local journalists. The Daily closed last week after being slapped with a $6.3 million tax bill, which the newspaper claimed was politically motivated to silence any critical voices ahead of next year’s elections. The journalists who are waking up this week with no story to chase say they’ve lost more than a job.

President Trump’s love of Twitter could be a double-edged sword when he tweets about North Korea. While the message is immediate and transparent, it is can also cause miscalculations on the part of North Korea, depending on how Pyongyang interprets the American president’s 140-character messages.

Police in Los Angeles want to add drones to their crime-fighting arsenal, potentially joining a growing number of US public safety agencies that already have the small unmanned aircrafts with cameras. Both LA police and sheriff officials say the drones won’t be used for surveillance, but critics of the plan worry about ‘mission creep.’

What’s $75 worth? In the US, it’s a family night out for dinner or at the movies. But in a typical African village, that same money can help a family break out of poverty. A Nigerian-American man left academia to create a nonprofit to help people in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, while here at home, he assists African immigrants to assimilate into American society. He hopes to inspire the immigrants he works with to reach back to their African roots and aid African villagers, particularly women, to become self-sufficient.