Newsletter Archive

China’s on track to be the world’s second biggest wine market by 2020, experts believe. That’s why many Chinese are trying to master the trade now and they’re learning from the best— the French. VOA sits in on a class at the School of Wine and Spirits in Dijon, France, where nearly one-third of the student body is from China.

More than a million college-educated immigrants in the US are in low-skill jobs, according to estimates. They have trouble finding work in their professions, including in the US tech industry, which desperately needs skilled workers. To help bridge that gap, newcomers recently attended a Silicon Valley job fair for refugees and new immigrants and learned how to network American-style.

How well are Pakistan’s religious schools preparing students in the technology age? That’s what the country’s powerful army chief of staff wants to know. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa posed the question while visiting the southwestern city of Quetta, which the US believes is home to the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban movement began among students attending Pakistani religious schools, which are accused of stifling students’ critical thinking skills.

The eyes of the nation are on Alabama. Voters in the southern state go to the polls in a special election tomorrow to fill a vacant senate seat. Republican Roy Moore would seem the obvious choice in the deeply conservative state, but allegations that he came onto teenagers in the past are overshadowing his candidacy. If opponent Doug Jones manages an upset, Democrats could feel emboldened to pose a greater challenge to  President Trump’s agenda.

QUICK TAKE VIDEO:  You’d think the carpentry trade would be booming in Iraq after the defeat of Islamic State, but VOA finds skilled carpenters in Mosul are still struggling to recover. They used to export their products all over the country, but war destroyed their equipment and drove their customers away.

When the male breadwinner dies, Hazara families suffer in Pakistan. With their distinctive looks, Hazaras — a  Shi’ite minority sect in Pakistan — are easy to pick out and many have been targeted by Sunni extremist groups. Over the years more men have died in bomb blasts and targeted killings than women. VOA meets some of the wives and children who’ve been left behind in Quetta — unskilled family members who struggle to survive.