African Stories

The terrorist group Boko Haram has exploited high unemployment to recruit new fighters in Cameroon along the Nigerian border. To counter those efforts, some charity groups are offering training for unemployed youth to help them start their own businesses. Moki Edwin Kindzeka has this report by Anne Nzouankeu in Amchidé, Cameroon.

In 2003, then-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the Child Right Act into law in 2003, to preserve the rights of children and protect them from exploitative labor. But 17 years later, millions of Nigerian children still take on physically challenging work to earn money to survive or to support their families. Ifiok Ettang reports from Jos, Nigeria~VOA NEWS

Guatemalan Journalist Dedicates Career to Give Voice to Indigenous Groups

In an effort to amplify the voices of those affected by human rights and environmental issues, a Guatemalan journalist Quimy de León,helped found a media outlet that focuses on marginalized and indigenous communities.Now she is being recognized for that work with an international press freedom award.

North Korean women in China catch ‘Disco Fever’

A rare video clip that shows North Korean women — dispatched to China as workers — dancing with Chinese men to loud disco music, indicates that they are picking up elements of capitalist culture that would be forbidden in their restrictive home country.

Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion Pushes Ukraine’s Drive Toward Digitization

Ukraine now a world leader in the driver, to digitize government services, from digital passports to apps that allow conscripts to update their details in the draft register or issue air alerts.

As UN Warns Kabul’s Groundwater Could Deplete by 2030,Residents Wait for Hours to Collect Water

Due to acute water shortages, residents of Kabul often have to wait for drinking water for hours at the dwindling wells in the Afghan capital. Within the next five to six years, urbanization and climate change could deplete the city’s groundwater,the United Nations cautions.

Despite Risks,Unaccompanied Child Migrants Keep Crossing US Border

One of the top entry points for migrants under the age of eighteen who enter the United States without proper documentation or adult companions is still South Texas.Although fewer crossings took place in the fiscal year 2024 than in previous years, the risks these children face remain concerning.