Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. AUGUST 11, 2020

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has started a weeklong trip to central Europe with a stop Tuesday in the Czech Republic, where he is scheduled to give a speech and have a dinner meeting with Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On Aug. 11, 2014, actor and comedian Robin Williams commits suicide at age 63. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in the mid-1970s, but shot to fame in the TV sitcom “Mork and Mindy.” In the 1980s, he crossed over to the big screen and starred in several popular movies in which he was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 1997, Williams won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a therapist in “Good Will Hunting.”

Ruhel Islam gazes where the kitchen used to be as he walks around the charred ruins of his restaurant. The popular eatery was one of many businesses damaged or destroyed in a wave of violence that struck Minneapolis in May, after the death of George Floyd.

Roya Hakakian, an author and poet who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, is an outspoken critic of “cancel culture,” a practice that purports to create safe spaces for marginalized people.

VIDEO: While the possibility of children returning to schools is being debated, parents are beginning to overcome their virus-rleated worries enough to take their children to pediatricians for routine evaluations and vaccines. VOA visited a pediatric clinic in Paterson, New Jersey, and took a look at its safety protocols.

North Korea continues to see historic levels of rainfall, further threatening an economy already battered by a coronavirus-related lockdown.