Newsletter Archive

Sometimes undermining stereotypes can be as simple as showing real people going about their daily lives. That’s the point of Every Day Africa, an Instagram community of photographers that strives to capture ordinary moments on the African continent — images that document life in Africa that aim to shatter misconceptions often found in Western media.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte may have committed human rights abuses to accomplish his goal, but statistics show he reduced crime as promised in 2017. Crime fell more than one-fifth in the Philippines this year, delighting the public after Duterte’s deadly anti-drug campaign stirred outrage overseas.

The European Union has survived a series of seemingly existential threats after lurching from one crisis to the next over the past few years. From the 2008 euro debt crisis, to the chaotic arrival of millions of migrants, plus Britain’s 2016 vote the leave the EU, the European Union has endured a decade of troubles. But EU leaders say 2017 proved to be the year that Europe got back in business.

Rohingya refugees are setting up their own small businesses inside the camps after arriving in Bangladesh often with only the clothes they were wearing when they fled persecution in Myanmar. VOA meets one of these enterprising entrepreneurs at a refugee camp in Cox Bazar. Twelve-year-old Abul Kazeem got a 75-cent loan to start his beetle nut business and now makes double that each day to help buy food for his family of eight. But he’s competing with new Bangladeshi-backed enterprises that are opening inside the camps, employing Rohingya workers at half the normal salary.

QUICK TAKE VIDEO: Russian ballet is admired worldwide, which inspires many Russians to pursue a career in the classical dance. In Moscow, VOA talks to dancers who say that to break into ballet, they have to struggle through a brutal training regime and gender stereotypes.

VIDEO: A Chinese bike-share business model is gaining traction in Silicon Valley. Dockless bike sharing allows people to use an app to unlock a bike and take it for a ride. Riders can drop the rental wheels off almost anywhere when they’re done, rather than having to search for the docking stations common to most bike-sharing businesses. But a Silicon Valley dockless bike-share startup faces tough competition from a Chinese conglomerate.