Headlines
Even though human interactions are very limited because of the coronavirus pandemic, business is brisk at a Virginia animal park that’s found a way to safely keep its doors open. As VOA‘s Saqib Ul Islam reports, visitors are lining up for up-close-and-personal interactions with the animals, while still adhering to social distancing guidelines
A scholar of race relations reflects on why many in the United States have taken to the streets in protest, and reflects on his own life struggles
More than 100 activists have been detained by police in Kazakhstan where two opposition parties had planned to hold rallies on June 6 in several cities to demand democratic reforms
Real talk with students at a predominantly African American elementary school, a discussion about the history of slavery and modern US race relations
The nationwide demonstrations in the U.S. protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have also been accompanied in some instances by looting and vandalism. In one immigrant community near Los Angeles, residents are angry and fearful after seeing their livelihoods destroyed in just one night. This latest experience brings back painful memories of the past
As hospitals in New York treat the flood of patients with COVID and as people wear masks and gloves to grocery stores and banks, discarded Personal Protection Equipment dumped in the city’s streets is becoming a health and environmental hazard
Hayat Dakhil Murad — a young Yazidi woman who fled the Islamic State (IS) attack on Sinjar in 2014 to the Sharya Refugee Camp in the Kurdistan Region’s Dohuk province — has found solace in painting the realities of her people’s ordeal in Iraq
It’s been 10 years since Azimjon Askarov was arrested by Kyrgyz security forces in connection with ethnic Uzbek-Kyrgyz clashes that first erupted in the city of Osh. The violence left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. His wife, Khadicha Askarova, told RFE/RL that in that time “our grandchildren have been born. Some of them have passed away.” A court in Bishkek recently upheld the ethnic Uzbek human rights activist’s life sentence, despite international pressure for his release
Some parts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, have been without running water for weeks, after a landslide destroyed a water pipe, making frequent handwashing for coronavirus prevention a challenge. Water distribution points have been set up to help tens of thousands of Kenyans to cope. But the gatherings to collect rationed water risks exposing more people to the virus
After a few fits and starts, South Africa will gradually open schools this coming week, and feelings are mixed about the event as students between 7th and 12th grade go in first. Is it safe? Is it too soon, or overdue?