Newsletter Archive

‘Our lives are nothing.’ Freezing to death in the snow, flooded tents, and lack of fuel for heaters. Those are the conditions Syrian refugees in Lebanon face as cold weather bears down on them. VOA meets refugees living in a camp in the Bekaa Valley, where temperatures can plunge below zero. Although their children are safe from the violence that blighted life in Syria, parents in the camps now live in fear of the weather as they and their children endure harsh winter conditions in flimsy tents.

VIDEO EXPLAINER: One member of the Cabinet was missing when President Trump gave his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was the evening’s ‘Designated Survivor.’ His absence was to ensure the continuity of government. If a catastrophe were to wipe out the president, vice president and the rest of the nation’s leaders, Perdue would have become the acting commander in chief. Here’s how the concept of the ‘Designated Survivor’ became a thing.

A nation divided. The vote on whether to leave the European Union exposed and exacerbated divisions across Britain, according to a new study on the societal effects of Brexit. The divisions do not come down along party lines, they are between towns and cities, north and south, the UK’s different regions, young and old, people with degrees and people without degrees. There are also sharp differences on key values like attitudes toward ethnic minorities in Britain.

At the age of 9, Lal Mohammed was recruited as a child soldier into Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His brother Ali recalls that up to 150 other children lived and trained with them. VOA talked to the young brothers in Islamabad, where they told us their indoctrination included weapons training and religious lessons focused on jihad. The children were told if they carried out suicide bombings, all their troubles would be over and they would go straight to paradise.

Quick Take Video: Recent attacks in Afghanistan are pummeling the local economy and scaring off potential investors. A suicide bombing last weekend damaged about 80 stores in a commercial area of Kabul. The Chamber of Commerce says small investors feel unsafe and a feeling of hopelessness dominates the private sector.

Deneena Hughes was the only woman competing when she started carving ice sculptures in the 1990s, and passers-by are still surprised when they see the mother of five making art out of 136-kilogram blocks of ice – a medium dominated by men. VOA watches Hughes in action in Minnesota, on a day when temperatures hover at around minus two degrees Celsius.