VOA News Africa

Ivanka Trump Questioned Under Oath in Inauguration Funds Lawsuit

Ivan­ka Trump, the pres­i­den­t’s daugh­ter and advis­er, was ques­tioned under oath this week as part of a civ­il law­suit alleg­ing mis­use of non­prof­it funds for Don­ald Trump’s inau­gu­ra­tion four years ago. Dis­trict of Colum­bia Attor­ney Gen­er­al Karl Racine’s office disclosed

Nurses Wanted: Swamped US Hospitals Scramble for Pandemic Help

OMAHA, NEBRASKA — U.S. hos­pi­tals slammed with COVID-19 patients are try­ing to lure nurs­es and doc­tors out of retire­ment, recruit­ing stu­dents and new grad­u­ates who have yet to earn their licens­es and offer­ing eye-pop­ping salaries in a des­per­ate bid to

Bloggers, Activists Stage Hunger Strike Over Vietnam Prison Conditions 

A blog­ger jailed after film­ing protests over a tox­ic spill has gone on a hunger strike over unjust treat­ment in Vietnam’s An Diem prison, along­side two oth­er pris­on­ers of con­science. Nguyen Van Hoa, 25, a blog­ger and con­trib­u­tor to Radio

US Republicans Balk as Trump Uses Defense Bill for Leverage on Big Tech

Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s threat to veto a defense bill if it does not repeal legal pro­tec­tions for social media com­pa­nies faced stiff bipar­ti­san oppo­si­tion Wednes­day, set­ting the stage for a con­fronta­tion with law­mak­ers scram­bling to pass the mas­sive bill by

Bill Forcing Chinese Firms to Meet US Accounting Standards Passes Congress

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives passed leg­is­la­tion on Wednes­day that could pre­vent Chi­nese com­pa­nies from list­ing their shares on U.S. exchanges unless they adhere to U.S. audit­ing stan­dards. The mea­sure passed by unan­i­mous voice vote, after pass­ing the

Former French President Giscard d’Estaing Dies at 94

Valery Gis­card d’Es­taing, the pres­i­dent of France from 1974 to 1981 who became a cham­pi­on of Euro­pean inte­gra­tion, died on Wednes­day. He was 94.Giscard d’Es­taing’s office said he passed away in his fam­i­ly home in the Loir-et-Cher region, in central

US Tightens Definition of Service Animals Allowed on Planes

The Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment issued a final rule Wednes­day cov­er­ing ani­mals on air­lines. It decid­ed that only dogs can fly as ser­vice ani­mals, and com­pan­ions that pas­sen­gers use for emo­tion­al sup­port don’t count.  The rule aims to set­tle years of tension

Lon Adams, Slim Jim Jerky Recipe Creator, Dies of COVID-19

RALEIGH, N.C — Alon­zo “Lon” T. Adams II, the man who cre­at­ed the for­mu­la for Slim Jim beef jerky sticks, has died from com­pli­ca­tions of COVID-19. He was 95.   Lynn Bar­row of Brown-Wynne Funer­al Home in Raleigh, North

Britain Approves Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine, Raising Hopes of Return to Normality

Britain says it plans to start inject­ing peo­ple with the Pfiz­er-BioN­Tech vac­cine as ear­ly as Mon­day after becom­ing the first coun­try to approve a COVID-19 vac­cine fol­low­ing large-scale clin­i­cal tri­als. The British gov­ern­ment approved the use of the coro­n­avirus vac­cine on

Thai Prime Minister Not Guilty; Protesters Decry Justice System

Thailand’s high­est court on Wednes­day acquit­ted Prime Min­is­ter Prayuth Chan-Ocha of wrong­do­ing linked to his stay in an army house long after he retired from the mil­i­tary, a case that could have seen him removed from office and offered a way