VOA News Africa

China Proposes New Restrictions on Foreigners, Religious Services

China’s gov­ern­ment is con­sid­er­ing requir­ing for­eign vis­i­tors who want to hold a reli­gious activ­i­ty to first pro­vide exten­sive infor­ma­tion about who is attend­ing and what they are read­ing, before the ser­vice can receive gov­ern­ment permission.Authorities say they are propos­ing the

Official: Over 1,000 Chinese Researchers Have Left US Amid Tech Theft Crackdown 

WASHINGTON — More than 1,000 Chi­nese researchers have left the Unit­ed States amid a U.S. crack­down on alleged tech­nol­o­gy theft, John Demers, the U.S. Jus­tice Depart­men­t’s top nation­al secu­ri­ty offi­cial, said Wednes­day. William Evan­i­na, chief of the coun­ter­in­tel­li­gence branch

Hundreds Flee as Indonesian Volcano Spews Lava, Ash 

LUMAJANG, INDONESIA — Hun­dreds of Indone­sians have fled their vil­lages after a rum­bling vol­cano spewed hot ash thou­sands of meters into the air and belched lava down its crater. Mount Semeru on Java island spout­ed the tow­er­ing col­umn Tuesday,

Former Astronaut Kelly Sworn In as US Senator

What It Means to Become Pres­i­dent-Elect in the US In the Unit­ed States, Demo­c­rat Joe Biden is being called the pres­i­dent-elect. Pres­i­dent-elect is a descrip­tive term not an offi­cial office. As such, Biden has no pow­er in the gov­ern­ment, and

Uzbek Journalists Push Back Against Media Regulator

In Uzbek­istan, the fight for greater press free­dom is at a turn­ing point as jour­nal­ists push back against warn­ings from the gov­ern­ment media reg­u­la­tor that cov­er­age of issues, includ­ing the pan­dem­ic and ener­gy short­ages, is in vio­la­tion of legal norms.The Agency

Jihadists Abduct Aid Worker, Local Officials in Nigeria 

KANO, NIGERIA — A human­i­tar­i­an aid work­er and two local offi­cials have been abduct­ed by Islam­ic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fight­ers in con­flict-plagued north­east­ern Nige­ria, two secu­ri­ty offi­cials said Wednes­day. Jihadists kid­napped them at a check­point in the village

Human Rights Watch Accuses Azerbaijan of Abusing Armenian POWs

Human Rights Watch accused Azer­bai­jani forces Wednes­day of bru­tal­iz­ing some Armen­ian troops cap­tured in the con­flict over the dis­put­ed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Acts of mis­treat­ment were cap­tured on video and cir­cu­lat­ed on social media over the past two months, HRW

China Joins Race to Mine Moon for Resources

China’s space pro­gram cel­e­brat­ed a major accom­plish­ment this week when its Chang’e 5 lunar probe mis­sion safe­ly land­ed on the moon. The land­ing Tues­day brought Bei­jing a step clos­er to becom­ing the third coun­try in the world to retrieve geological

European Alpine Nations Split on Opening Ski Resorts During Pandemic

Europe’s alpine nations are split regard­ing how to han­dle the ski sea­son at their respec­tive resorts dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Ger­many, France and Italy are stay­ing tem­porar­i­ly closed, while Switzer­land, Spain and Aus­tria are par­tial­ly open­ing. France, like Italy, Austria

WMO: Global Warming Triggering Extreme Weather Events

GENEVA — The World Mete­o­ro­log­i­cal Orga­ni­za­tion reports 2020 is shap­ing up to be one of the three warmest years on record and a year in which extreme weath­er events have wreaked hav­oc on the lives and liveli­hoods of millions