Following the departure of many Western companies as a result of Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, Moscow has opened the first of the restaurants that will eventually replace McDonald’s. The renamed Russian counterpart, dubbed a copycat by some, intends to affirm Russia’s self-sufficiency and defiance in addition to serving hamburgers
After the government provided subsidies for cooking gas connections, millions of poor rural households in India switched to using cleaner energy in their kitchens. However, rising fuel prices are posing a challenge to the programme, which is aimed at addressing the serious health risks posed by indoor air pollution
Indonesian police in the past several days have arrested five members of a little-known group espousing an Islamic caliphate – a concept that goes against the Muslim-majority country’s state ideology – including its leader and the main propagandist, who was arrested Monday
The Chinese government is imposing an information lockdown after a series of earthquakes in a Tibetan county in Sichuan province displaced more than 25,000 residents, RFA has learned
A sculpture of a Hindu god carved into a Cambodian mountain around the year 600 is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art
As journalists report on the aftermath of the military coup, Myanmar’s independent media face increasing attempts to block access to information and free expression
After years of reported abuses, including beatings, rapes, and deaths, Kenyan officials are now instructing domestic workers sent to the Middle East on their rights. According to authorities,23 such incidents have been reported so far this year, most of which have occurred in Saudi Arabia
Bangladesh’s decision to shut down a leading human rights group that documented alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances will have a “chilling effect,” the United Nations said Friday, a day after 11 rights advocacy organizations jointly raised similar concerns
Pu Wenqing, the mother of jailed rights activist Huang Qi, says her cancer is spreading from her lungs to her liver, and has called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to allow her to visit her son in prison before she dies
Reports of ethnic cleansing and mass detention of Tigrayans have surfaced throughout Ethiopia’s civil war, particularly in the western Tigray region, where authorities have prevented rights groups and media from entering. VOA was granted rare but restricted access to the region, including several alleged detention and mass grave sites