Newsletter Archive

VIDEO: Wildland firefighters, also known as Smokejumpers, parachute out of a plane to combat wildfires. VOA talks to them about their job and the dangers they face putting out large forest fires.

With the Islamic State’s physical caliphate destroyed, the next challenge for many countries is what to do with hundreds of children of IS militants stranded in Kurdish-held refugee camps of northeastern Syria. Those born to IS foreign fighters and Syrian mothers face the most uncertain future of all, according to local rights activists and experts.

VIDEO: Damaged money — burned, drenched or even shredded into pieces — can be legally exchanged at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The main condition is that more than 50% of the banknote should be identifiable as U.S. currency. VOA talked with Treasury Department experts and learned more about their unusual work.

VIDEO: While many people have office jobs, working inside an office is not for everybody. These days in the U.S., more people are turning to gig work — temporary jobs that allow them to work from home, hold multiple jobs and have flexible hours. More gig workers are now using smartphone apps to find jobs that set them free of office work.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces this week announced the establishment of a new force made up of ethnic Armenians. The SDF is a Kurdish-led multiethnic military alliance that played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State terror group in Syria.