India and Pakistan have inaugurated a new trading post on the heavily militarized Attari-Wagah border between the two countries. The move follows an important symbolic visit by Pakistan's president to Delhi last week, and coincides with a groundbreaking Pakistan trade fair in the Indian capital. ...
In India's remote and poverty-stricken areas, health resources and qualified doctors can be scarce. Many people still rely on faith-based healers, who sometimes promote outlandish theories about how the body works. VOA South Asia Correspondent Kurt Achin looks at one extreme example that has been...
In India's remote and poverty-stricken areas, health resources and qualified doctors can be scarce. Many people still rely on faith-based healers, who sometimes promote outlandish theories about how the body works. VOA South Asia Correspondent Kurt Achin looks at one extreme example that has been...
India's economy is growing at a blistering pace, and while that is increasing welfare for millions, it's also raising some alarming public health red flags. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from New Delhi.
Madeeha Anwar / Kurt Achin: India's capital has held its first ever large-scale drill for a potential disaster. The drill highlights some of the public awareness and logistical challenges India faces as its economy burgeons. Pakistan had two major natural disasters in the past decade. Experts say...
Illegal alcohol is a widespread problem in India, where it offers short-term relief from life's hardships, but takes a heavy toll on health. VOA's Kurt Achin presents this video report.
Police in India's West Bengal state say they have arrested a key leader responsible for distributing poisonous homemade alcohol that killed scores of people last year. Illegal alcohol is a widespread problem in India-- offering short term relief from life's hardships, but taking a heavy toll in t...
Sarah Zaman / Kurt Achin: A new social media game is drawing renewed attention to an age-old problem in India -- the illegal practice of dowry, or the transfer of wealth from a bride's family to a groom's family to coax him into marriage. The practice is often abused by families that make excess ...
Stay Hard (1992) Label: KK FP Illing - Vocals Helmut Merk - Bass Danny Oliver - Drums Kurt Bergt -Guitars Lyrics: Drivin' home tonight love in sight you're on my mind the music's low can't let you go You made me hot for more is that what you're lookin' for Burn my heart and burn my soul I only wa...
Madeeha Anwer / Kurt Achin: In India's burgeoning economy, more and more women are going to work in offices -- exposing them to what can sometimes be dangerous urban conditions. Now, a new technological initiative aims to tip the scales of justice in their favor against sexual assault.
Các con đường đầy tuyết và các tiếng than khóc đau buồn bao trùm đoạn video truyền hình trực tiếp từ Bình Nhưỡng trong lúc nhân dân Bắc Triều Tiên chia tay nhà lãnh đạo tối cao Kim Jong Il. Giới truyền thông quốc tế không được tham gia sự kiện này. Thông tín viên Kurt Achin của VOA theo dõi tang ...
North Koreans in massive numbers have turned out in central Pyongyang for the conclusion of funeral ceremonies for leader Kim Jong Il. His young son and successor begins leadership with all of his father's challenges - and very little of his experience. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.
South Korean activists Wednesday launched balloon-borne leaflets into North Korea that call on the public to reject the leadership of Kim Jong Il's designated successor. Kurt Achin reports from Seoul that activists are seizing a unique moment to stoke public opposition to the North's authoritaria...
Pakistan says it will boycott a major Afghanistan reconciliation conference next week in Germany to protest NATO's recent airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. VOA's Kurt Achin has more from Islamabad.
10 seconds of fame for an article of mine on the Rachel Maddow show. Blink and you'll miss it!
By mobile phone, Internet and shortwave radio, Tibetan exiles maintain a constant watch on their friends, contacts and relatives living in Tibet under Chinese control. China's increasingly sophisticated ability to conduct cyber-warfare is making the task more challenging, and pushing Tibetan exil...
Tibetan exiles have inaugurated a new prime minister. Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-educated legal scholar, is the first democratically-elected leader to take office since the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, retreated from political duties. VOA South Asia Correspondent Kurt Achin reports fr...
Ngay sau khi giành độc lập từ tay người Anh, chính phủ Ấn Độ đặt ra luật cấm phân biệt đối xử với những người thuộc giai cấp thấp, thường được gọi là "những người không đáng để đụng tới." Thế nhưng trong thực tế, hằng trăm triệu người Ấn Độ thuộc giai cấp thấp vẫn tiếp tục bị coi thường, bị kỳ th...
India's Supreme Court is deliberating the fate of a massive treasure trove recently made public at an ancient Hindu temple -- riches that the man who brought the case says should be turned over to the local state government. But beneath the glitter of the treasure is a history of royal religious ...
Soon after it gained independence, modern India outlawed discrimination against so-called "untouchables," the lowest of social classifications outlined in Hindu scripture. In reality, hundreds of millions of Indians continue to be ostracized and mistreated because of their connection to that clas...
June 12 marks the World Day Against Child Labor sponsored by the International Labor Organization. The annual occasion is meant to draw policy attention to the more than 200 million children around the world who work full time, many in sweatshop conditions. But not all child labor situations are ...
In India's West Bengal state, the Trinamool Congress, an ally of the nation's ruling Congress party, swept to power after inflicting a crushing defeat on communist parties, thereby ending its three-decade reign. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Kolkata.
The sun is setting on the world's oldest democratically elected communist government. In a vote expected to sweep the Communist Party decisively from power, voters in the Indian state of West Bengal are favoring the Trinamool Congress party and its leader, Mamata Banerjee, to form a new governmen...
It's a centuries-old culture - of Indian minstrels who blend spirituality, marijuana, and a search for the human body's most intimate secrets. And it's being re-discovered by a new generation of international audiences. VOA's Kurt Achin visits West Bengal to hear the music of the "Honey Gatherers."
Kunleng News 1. India, China and Tibeta Indian authorities last week detained Tibetans protesting against Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India. China takes issue with India's hosting of the Tibetan exile community. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports, that community is approaching a major politica...
India has hosted the Dalai Lama, and more than 100000 Tibetan exiles, since they fled the Chinese army across the Indian border in 1959. His Holiness is 76 now, and expected to make a formal request to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile for permission to retire from politics. Tibetan officials are n...
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is on a three day visit to New Delhi for a series of meetings with India's top leaders. The two rising Asian powers insist there the world is big enough for both of them to prosper, but negotiations over sensitive security issues still lie before them. VOA's Kurt Achin ...
Kashmir is looking younger and younger, as 20 and 30-somethings become the predominant demographic. However, those young people feel increasingly frustrated by the region's 63 year old conflict, and a security regime enforced by India. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Srinagar.
Muhammad Atif / Kurt Achin, Urdu VOA News, Washington In an address to a joint session of India's parliament, President Obama hailed India as an already-emerged global power and said that a relationship with the United States will be indispensable for the 21st century. Mr. Obama's speech also inc...
Excitement is mounting in India over the pending visit of US President Barack Obama. US officials say the visit will deepen the bilateral relationship, amid indications both sides will tread softly on delicate issues, such as US assistance to India's rival Pakistan and violence in the disputed re...
The world is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. One of the darkest aspects of that war is the number of civilians killed, and a special commission formed to shed light on the killings is due to wrap up its work soon. It may accomplish little in reconciling South Ko...
South Korea's state-of-the-art military is very different from the one that needed help after the 1950 surprise attack that began the Korean War. These days, South Korea and its ally, the United States, are preparing for a change that gives Seoul direct command of its own forces in the event of a...
South Korea and the rest of the world this month are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Most of the world agrees on when that war started, and who started it. But North Korea has its own, unique version of the story. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.
Human rights activists are eager to use whatever tools they can to chip away at the information blockade the North Korean government imposes on its people. In the past, activists have launched leaflets by helium balloon into the North. These days, the messages flying through the air arrive with f...
Human rights activists are eager to use whatever tools they can to chip away at the information blockade the North Korean government imposes on its own population. In the past, they have launched leaflets by helium ballon into the North. These days, the messages flying through the air arrive in f...
An American facing trial in North Korea may have been inspired to trespass into the country by the incursion of a fellow American just four weeks earlier. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, the two were friends.
