Wisconsin Trucker Shares Immigration Views With VOA: Enforce Laws ‘We Already Have’

Todd Schmitz from Boscobel, Wisconsin, discusses his feeling on immigration with VOA. “Just be a little more diligent about watching who comes in and out,” he said. “I mean, the majority of people aren’t here to kill me and my family, or Americans. But there are a few that make it bad for everybody that …

Oklahoma City Bombing: Template of Homegrown Terrorism

The Oklahoma City bombing 22 years ago was an act of domestic terror by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh and his accomplice, Terry Nichols. The bombing destroyed one third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 680 others. In his documentary, “Oklahoma City,” filmmaker Barak Goodman …

Local Communities Break Bread With Refugees to Break Barriers

In cities across the United States, local communities are hosting dinners for refugees. It is a part of an initiative called “Refugees Welcome.” The goal is to break barriers by breaking bread together. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee attended a dinner in Los Angeles where Syrian refugees shared their experience of settling in the U.S. …

Rights Groups Promise Fast Action to Block New Travel Ban

Rights groups say the new executive order U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Monday is no improvement over the original one issued in January and say they will move to block it. The new version removes the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees and drops Iraq from the list of seven majority-Muslim countries affected by the …

Juppe Says No to French Presidential Bid but Slams Candidate Fillon

Former prime minister Alain Juppe said on Monday he had decided “once and for all” not to stand in France’s presidential election, dashing the hopes of many in his conservative party whose scandal-hit candidate faces defeat. Juppe said Francois Fillon had wasted a chance of victory, calling the 63 year-old obstinate for staying on in …

China Taking Political Risks for Economic Reforms, Foreign Investments

China is responding to international criticism that it gives favorable treatment to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) while neglecting of the needs of foreign companies, and even foreign markets that buy Chinese goods. Releasing the annual work report, or budgetary proposals, in the National People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signaled a crackdown on loss-posting “zombie …

China’s Congress Meeting Brings Crackdown on Critics

Chinese authorities have shut down activist Ye Haiyan’s blogs and forced her to move from one city to another. Left with few options, she now produces socially conscious paintings to make a living and advocate for the rights of sex workers and people with HIV or AIDS. Using calligraphy brushes, Ye creates images of naked …

Navalny Says Tatarstan Not Treated Fairly

Russian opposition political activist and anticorruption campaigner Aleksei Navalny said that, if elected president, he would support more self-rule for the semiautonomous Tatarstan region. Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service in Kazan, the Tatar capital, Navalny said on March 5 that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been gradually limiting powers previously given to …

15 Hospitalized as Details of Alleged Mosul Chemical Attack Emerge

“We can’t sleep at night because it’s hard to breath and our eyes are watering,” says Yunis Mohammad Hassan, a father of three, outside his Mosul home in the Noor area. On Tuesday, a bomb hit his neighbor’s house releasing rancid-smelling white smoke, sickening the family and people in the surrounding area. It was one …

Burkina Faso Film Festival Fespaco Defies Islamist Menace

On the dusty streets of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou soldiers searched visitors to the pan-African Fespaco film festival on Thursday night after they’d emptied their pockets and passed through a metal detector. Close by a soldier manned a heavy machinegun mounted to the back of a military pick-up. Other international events in West Africa, including …