Newsletter Archive

Some China neighborhoods look like a war zone after authorities launched what they say is a sweeping safety campaign that’s left tens of thousands of migrant workers without a place to live. Beijing launched the 40-day effort to rid the city of safety hazards after a fire killed 19 people, including children. VOA is in Beijing where entire blocks have been demolished in what seems to some like an all-out assault on migrant workers.

Top US women diplomats are speaking out about sexual harassment they’ve experienced on the job. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the department has ‘zero-tolerance’ when it comes to discriminatory and sexual harassment. Still, female ambassadors say they’ve had to learn to adjust and handle the challenges the come with working in male-dominated diplomatic circles.

Let them eat cake — as long as he doesn’t have to bake it. One of the most closely watched Supreme Court cases right now involves a self described Christian ‘cake artist’ who refused to design a custom cake for a gay couple’s wedding in 2012. Baker Jack Philips argues that being forced to make the cake violates his First Amendment right not to be forced to participate in a ceremony to which he objects. Now the high court must decide whether US laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation infringe on religious freedom and freedom of expression.

After living for years without tap water, women in a New Delhi slum decided to take on the government to get what they’re legally entitled to. Using the Right to Information Act, they discovered that water tankers allocated to their area were often going elsewhere. That prompted local authorities to fit the tankers with GPS trackers to make sure they reach their destination. But now that they feel empowered, the women aren’t stopping there.

It’s a fast track to US citizenship. Or at least it used to be. The Pentagon launched the MAVNI program in 2009 with the aim of bringing immigrants with medical or language skills into the armed services. The program allows foreign-born military recruits to earn an expedited path to American citizenship. But, in 2016, the Department of Defense ordered more extensive, lengthy background checks on MAVNI recruits. The delay is causing some of the immigrants in the program to become illegal while waiting to serve in the US military.

Spanish translator Maria del Mar Illescas is fed up with battling anxiety about her future in Britain. She’s sensed a rising nativist hostility toward migrants since Brexit, the decision by Britons to leave the European Union. Illescas and her British husband will join an exodus of tens of thousands of other EU nationals leaving Britain, where they no longer feel welcome. However, many of the people electing to depart are not the ones the British government wants to be rid of.