Newsletter Archive

In Pakistan, China is spearheading construction of one of the world’s biggest ports. Three of the most commercially important regions of the world — the oil-rich Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia — converge at Pakistan’s Gwadar port. China’s aim is to link Gwadar to landlocked western China, giving China a shorter, secure route through Pakistan to global markets. But some in Pakistan worry skilled Chinese workers and businesses will flood the country, hurting local laborers and industries.

Guillermo Peralta Martinez doesn’t not know how old he is, where he was born or his mother’s name, according to his attorney. Friends and acquaintances of the mentally disabled man in York Springs, Pennsylvania, say he’s lived there since at least the late 1990s. Yet Peralta was picked up by US immigration officials earlier this year and now faces deportation.

Khady Faye of Senegal was 11 when she learned she’d soon be getting married and the girl was pregnant soon afterwards. West and Central Africa are home to some of the highest child marriage rates in the world. VOA met Khady, who is now 23, living at a Dakar shelter facing a future with limited prospects. She and other child brides represent more than $8 billion in lost income. 

Almost all acid attack survivors in Pakistan are women, who are often shunned by society after being disfigured and sometimes even blamed for the attack. VOA visited a center in Lahore that not only assists victims in their physical recovery, but also gives them job skills to help rebuild their lives.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s political thought is being added to the Communist Party constitution. Xi and the country’s founder, Mao Zedong, are the only Chinese leaders to have their name and vision added to the constitution while still in office. VOA is in Beijing where this latest move puts Xi on par with Mao, and bolsters growing expectations that the 64-year-old will remain China’s most influential leader for many years to come.