Newsletter Archive

‘Now they are in our shoes.’ Cape Town is about to become the first major city worldwide to run out of water. The South African city will turn off municipal taps on ‘Day Zero,’ which is expected to be in early June. In more affluent neighborhoods, people are chafing under strict new water restrictions. But for many residents in low-income townships, water has always been a rare commodity. In Cape Town, VOA meets people like Welekazi Rangana, who has treated water as a precious resource for as long as she can remember and has never, in her 53 years, taken a shower.

A Chinese actor in blackface. An African actor in a monkey costume. A Chinese government New Year’s skit is drawing global criticism for its use of offensive caricatures and a story line about Africans’ admiration for China.The skit prompted an immediate backlash on social media ​with viewers in China expressing shame and regret that their country had perpetrated negative stereotypes.

VIDEO: The recent rape and murder of a 7-year old girl in Pakistan highlights the issue of child sex abuse, something that hasn’t been a topic of public debate in the conservative Islamic country. VOA speaks to people impacted by child sexual abuse in Kasur, Pakistan, where Zainab Ansari’s murder has sparked outrage and widespread protests, propelling the issue of protecting children into the national conversation.

A new Bollywood film about menstruation has catapulted the taboo topic into the headlines in India, where shopkeepers discreetly pack sanitary napkins in black plastic bags under the counter so that they’re not visible. The film is based on the true story of a man who sets out to make low-cost sanitary napkins after he discovers his wife uses rags. VOA reports from New Delhi, where dozens of Bollywood actors and actresses are showing their support by tweeting photos of themselves holding up sanitary pads to help erase the stigma that surrounds the hushed topic.

VIDEO: As a boy, Mexico-born Jesus Sanchez waded across the Rio Grande with his parents to illegally enter the United States. That was almost 30 years ago. He’s been mostly undocumented since then, but expects to get his Green Card next month after being sponsored by his American-born son, a biochemist. His other son is applying for a job with US border control — an irony that is not lost on his father.

Legally, Catholics in China can only attend state-sanctioned churches not overseen by the Vatican, with bishops appointed by Beijing rather than the pope. But ties between the Vatican and Beijing have warmed under Pope Francis, so much so that the Vatican and Beijing are reportedly working out a deal on the appointment of bishops in China. But could that do more harm than good to Catholics in the underground church movement who reject China’s patriotic church apparatus?