Newsletter Archive

The U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh got off to a rocky start Tuesday, with demonstrators shouting against his appointment and minority Democrats losing a bid to delay the proceedings until thousands of pages of documents about Kavanaugh’s past work at the White House are made public. Republicans contend plenty of materials have been made public.

Sara Tasneem wanted to join the Air Force and go to law school, but instead, when she was just 15, her America-born father gave her to a man to be married. Her dad told her she had arrived at an age when she was drawing the attention of boys, and she had to marry because sex outside of marriage was forbidden. Tasneem was married to a man 13 years her senior and taken away to her husband’s country, which she does not want to disclose.

VIDEO: As the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh kick off, VOA gives an explainer on how the confirmation process works.

VIDEO: Every culture has its own wedding ceremony traditions. In India and Pakistan, weddings can be costly, and traditions such as a dowry can prevent women from getting married because of their family finances. Now, a nongovernmental organization in Srinagar, Kashmir, is helping Indian parents and couples lower the financial burden by organizing marriage events where more than 100 couples tie the knot.

Evading surveillance is a new skill for Andy Chan, founder of the Hong Kong National Party, but one he had to learn quickly over the summer. In July, Chan noticed that he was being followed repeatedly by unidentified individuals. He noticed that once spotted, the snoops would suddenly disappear only to reappear later or be replaced by others.