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Thirty Years On, Chernobyl Evacuees Yearn to Return to ‘Death Zone’
April 26 marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster – when a reactor at a nuclear power plant in then Soviet-controlled Ukraine exploded, releasing huge amounts of radiation. 116,000 people living around the plant were evacuated, and a further 220,000 were forced to leave in subsequent years as the "death zone" of contamination was expanded. Henry Ridgwell reports from Chernobyl on the emotional heartbreak still felt three decades later – and the eerie ghost towns left behind.
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Nepalis Reflect on Delayed Response One Year After Massive Quake
As Nepal marks the one year anniversary of its devastating earthquake, Nepalis’ reflect on the government’s delayed recovery response. Steve Sandford reports from Bhaktapur, Nepal.
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Maryland Creating Jobs While Fighting Climate Change
More than 150 countries on Friday signed the climate change agreement negotiated last December in Paris, making a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Critics say the U.S. plan to do so will wreck the economy, but some states are already taking action, and predictions of economic devastation have not come true there. VOA’s Steve Baragona reports from Maryland.
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Fusion Reactor Still in Works
All today’s nuclear power plants make energy by thge splitting of uranium atoms -- which creates a lot of useful heat but also a lot of dangerous and deadly nuclear waste. The opposite process -- fusion -- also creates heat but with hardly any pesky radiation. The problem is that fusion is way more difficult to achieve. Scientists from 35 nations, including United States, Russia and China, are painstakingly trying to solve the problem. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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France’s ‘Up all Night’ Movement Hard to Characterize
Now entering its fourth week, France’s Nuit Debout (Up All Night) defies easy stereotypes. The left-wing Paris movement that began to protest government labor reforms has spread to other French and European towns, taken on a hodgepodge of different grievances and sparked talk of social revolution. Lisa Bryant reports for VOA from Paris.
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Immigrants Fuel Silicon Valley Startups
America's high-tech center of Silicon Valley, near San Francisco, continues to grow, and much of the energy is coming from immigrant entrepreneurs. VOA's Mike O'Sullivan spoke with the immigrant founders of two Internet startups: one starting operations and the other expanding its base of millions of online users.
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Preservationists Warn Syria's Historic Sites Still at Risk
The expulsion of Islamic State forces from historically significant sites in Syria has shed light on the overall damage they inflicted on the country’s priceless past. While some in the archaeological community view recent Syrian and Russian military operations to take control of these sites as a positive development, some preservationists warn much remains at risk. VOA's Kane Farabaugh has more.
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Brackish Drinking Water a Serious Problem in Pakistan’s Tharparkar Region
What is life like for people who live in a region where water is not fit to drink? VOA's Ayesha Tanzeem visited a place like that in Pakistan and has the story.
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Photographers Document 'World in a ZIP Code' US Community
During the current presidential campaign, anti-immigrant sentiment seems to have grown in the U.S. But for one Virginia community outside the nation's capital, home to more than 130 ethnic groups, diversity is not an issue but an asset. VOA’s June Soh has more in this report, voiced by Carol Pearson
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Myanmar Development Could Worsen Child Labor
As Myanmar emerges from a half-century of stagnation under a military regime, all eyes are on the new government to protect its most vulnerable citizens - underage children who are made to work instead of going to school. The Southeast Asian country has one of the world's worst records for child labor. Zlatica Hoke reports many children work full-time and support their families.
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Kenyan Musical Brings African Folklore to Life
A popular Kenyan cartoon series, Tinga Tinga Tales, has been adapted into a live musical performance. In the stage version, the actors dress up as animals and other characters to teach children African folk tales. Lenny Ruvaga reports for VOA from Nairobi.
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Famine Threatens Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa
Many parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas are scorching in heat caused by a cyclical phenomenon known as El Niño. The unusually warm waters that come up to the surface in the Pacific Ocean every three to six years cause extreme weather conditions. Zlatica Hoke reports the resulting drought is especially hard on the poorest people of sub-Saharan Africa.