Newsletter Archive

Among the images from the Iran protests that is likely to become iconic is one of a woman covering her face as she runs from tear gas with her fist raised in the air. Other symbols of unrest include the image of another young woman standing defiantly out in public without a hijab. Although President Hassan Rouhani promised to create social and political opportunities for women after he was elected, reform has been slow to come. As a female Rouhani political appointee said, women have ‘faced serious obstacles from the beginning.’

Did Iran’s hard-liners orchestrate the start of the Iranian protests? Iranian authorities blame the West and the country’s regional enemies of fomenting the street protests that have roiled Iran for a week. But there are questions about whether some of the regime’s domestic conservative foes had a hand in stirring up the demonstrations in the first place — possibly to weaken the government of President Hassan Rouhani.

Ongoing coverage: Be sure to follow all of the latest developments and up-to-date content on the on-going protests in Iran by following VOA’s live blog.

The Turkish government has supplied weapons to the Somali army, Somalia’s defense minister confirms to VOA Somali. Turkey gave the weapons to a Somali army unit that recently graduated from a Turkish military training camp in Mogadishu. State Minister for Defense Mohamed Ali Haga tells VOA just over 400 soldiers were supplied with small weapons and machine guns allowed under a partial UN embargo on Somalia.

People walking around wearing face masks is an increasingly common sight in New Delhi, where the air is so toxic that it ranks among the world’s dirtiest. Now a team of Indian innovators has come up with another solution — a tiny respiratory filter that can be stuck in the nose to filter the air without hampering breathing.

Robots could displace up to 30 percent of workers worldwide by 2030, and people with less education are at the greatest risk of losing their jobs. A recent study suggests smart machines have the potential to replace our minds, but it also finds that there are three types of jobs that will be difficult to replace with a machine.

Indonesia is one of the most volcanically active countries in the world, and Mount Merapi, in the city of Yogyakarta, is one of its most important volcanoes. When it erupted in 2010, 353 people died and another 350,000 were evacuated. Since then, Yogyakarta has developed one of the most comprehensive volcano management systems in the world, one that includes a spiritual guardian who works hand-in-hand with government officials.

VIDEO: From ancient discoveries to pieces reflecting first contacts with colonizers, artifacts from Congolese life are being collected for a new museum in the city of Kinshasa. The variety of the pieces reflects the country’s many different ethnic groups. VOA gets a sneak peek at the future museum that officials hope will be a center for the artistic and historical study of a country renowned for its cultural diversity.