Newsletter Archive

A growing humanitarian crisis is not happening in the Middle East but rather much closer to home  — along the border of Venezuela and Colombia. Serious food and medicine shortages, along with out-of-control inflation are driving 25,000 Venezuelans across the border into Colombia every day. VOA is in Colombia where officials are struggling to deal with the influx of a half-million new migrants and some are proposing the construction of refugee camps.

C’est manifique! France’s president is out to make sure the French language thrives far into the future. Despite its status as a top official language, French is in retreat at international bodies like the United Nations and European Union. Emmanuel Macron wants to turn French into the ‘premier language in Africa,’ and even possibly worldwide. VOA reports from Paris, where the effort is being saluted by some, but denounced by others who say it smacks of neocolonialism.

Schools are supposed to be a safe haven, but across Africa all too often they become venues for the sexual exploitation of children, especially girls. While kidnappings and shootings draw international attention, millions of students in Africa experience these other kinds of school-based violence, with profound effects on their development and well-being.

VIDEO: Women weed warriors. Marijuana is a billion dollar industry in Colorado, where recreational cannabis has been legal since 2014. From setting marijuana policy to selling accessories or running pot dispensaries, women are getting in on the action in a big way. Just four years into the Colorado experiment, female entrepreneurs are on the front lines of the marijuana gold rush.

Fourteen-month-old Georgette is severely malnourished and her tiny limbs tremble as her mother hands her to nurses at a roadside clinic in the town of Kananga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The child is one of 13 million people in need aid in Congo, including 2 million children already experiencing severe, acute malnutrition. In Kananga, VOA speaks with local health workers who say they’ve never seen it this bad.