Newsletter Archive

SPECIAL REPORT: About 200 people are dying from opioid overdoses each day in the United States. Most of that toll – two-thirds – involves pain pills, heroin and the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl. And as bad as the estimates seem, researchers believe actual overdose deaths are significantly higher. VOA captures stories from the front lines of the opioid epidemic at a time when overdoses are now the top cause of death for adults under 50.

Social media efforts to influence US voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in November appear to be up and running. Private companies and government officials are hesitant to say who is behind the recently discovered campaigns. Facebook announced Tuesday it shut down 32 Facebook and Instagram accounts due to ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior.’

Here comes the granny caravan. Grandmothers in New York State are on their way to McAllen, Texas, the epicenter of the child separation crisis, where they plan to participate in ’24 hours of action.’ Their advocacy is reminiscent of 1960s-era protests that some of these same women marched in more than a half century ago.

Could a Space Force be the next branch of the US military? President Trump has called for the new military branch that would be ‘separate but equal’ to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Today was the deadline for the Pentagon to submit its Space Corps plan to Congress.

VIDEO: It is one of the oldest and most complicated of all musical instruments. Building one requires an engineering degree, a good ear, and a talent for craftsmanship. VOA goes behind the scenes at a small company in Tennessee that has built these grand musical instruments for nearly 30 years.