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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

In Georgia, leaders of political opposition and the president are leading protests against the foreign agent bill, which critics say threatens the nation’s EU membership and could become a tool of political oppression in the hands of the governing party.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone went down in Yemen, images purported to show Wednesday, as Yemen's Houthi rebels continued attacks on shipping around the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis released footage they said showed the aircraft being targeted with a surface-to-air missile in a desert region of Yemen's central Marib province. It marked the third such downing this month alone. Images analyzed by The Associated Press showed the MQ-9 on its belly in the barren desert, its tail assembly disconnected from their rest of its body. At least one hatch on the drone appeared to have been opened after it landed there, though the drone remained broadly intact without any clear blast damage. One image included Wednesday's date. The drone did not appear to carry any markings. Authorities in Marib, which is held by allies of Yemen's exiled government, did not acknowledge the drone. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told the AP that "the U.S. Air Force has not lost any aircraft operating within U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility." The official declined to elaborate. The CIA also is believed to have flown Reaper drones over Yemen, both to monitor the war and in its campaign against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen's local affiliate of the militant group. The CIA declined to comment when reached by the AP. Reapers cost around $30 million apiece. They can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (about 15,000 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The Houthis in recent months have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. On Wednesday, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree acknowledged the rebels attacked the bulk carrier Laax on Tuesday. Two missile attacks twice were reported on the Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned ship Tuesday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, with a private security firm saying radio traffic suggested the vessel took on water after being struck. "The crew are reported safe, and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call," according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

Kharkiv, Ukraine, has been under sustained fire from Russia for nearly a month. Despite the civilian casualties and destruction of energy infrastructure, most residents are still there. Lesia Bakalets talked to some women about why they decided to stay.

State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Moldova, pledging $135 million to enhance energy security and counter Russian disinformation during his visit to Chisinau. During Wednesday’s visit, Blinken announced that up to $85 million in USAID funding will subsidize equipment to strengthen Moldova’s national power grid and facilitate greater electricity trade with Romania, Ukraine, and the broader European market. He also unveiled additional aid for Moldova, a pro-Western country facing renewed threats from Russia. “Today, I'm announcing that we'll be working with our Congress to provide an additional $50 million to further advance these efforts from reforming the energy and agricultural sectors to pushing back and further against disinformation,” said Blinken during a joint press conference with Moldova President Maia Sandu. “That in turn will bolster the ability of Moldova to resist Russian interference, to hold free and fair elections to continue down the path to the European Union and Western integration to create more economic opportunity,” he said. Watch related report by Veronica Balderas Iglesias: Blinken’s trip comes amid concerns over Russia's military presence in Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region. Moldova has accused Russia of waging a hybrid war through election interference and disinformation campaigns aimed at toppling the government and hindering its EU aspirations. Russia denies these accusations. Sandu welcomed Blinken’s second visit in two years as "a strong sign of support." "Through unity and with the support of our partners, we will stand by our people and move forward," Sandu said during the press conference. She also expressed gratitude for U.S. support to both Moldova and Ukraine. Since Russia's 2022 invasion, the Biden administration has directed billions of dollars in weapons assistance to Ukraine, which Sandu said "also makes Moldova safer and more resilient." Historically, Moldova’s heavy reliance on outside energy resources has made the country vulnerable to external disruptions and price fluctuations, delaying its progress toward sustainable economic development. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has further exacerbated Moldova’s energy challenges by driving up electricity and gas prices and creating sector instability. Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States has provided Moldova with $774 million in assistance, including $300 million through USAID, to support energy security. NATO, Ukraine After Chisinau, Blinken is heading to Prague for NATO foreign ministers’ meetings, where “a substantial show of support for Ukraine” is expected, according to U.S. officials. On Wednesday, Blinken said the U.S. is working hard to deliver more air defenses to Ukraine as it defends itself against intensifying Russian attacks. But Blinken, along with other officials from the Biden administration, said Washington does not encourage or enable the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia. “Ukraine has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself,” Blinken said. ‘’We're going to make sure that it has the equipment it needs.” This week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the alliance's members to lift some of the restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons, potentially enabling their use for strikes directly on Russian soil. “The right to self-defense includes hitting legitimate targets outside Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said Monday at a NATO meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to July 11. Blinken said there will be “very strong deliverables” in terms of Ukraine’s further integration with the Atlantic alliance. Thirty-two countries have either completed or will soon complete bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Brussels — Action must be taken immediately to address the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel or other countries will be drawn in and it will "become a problem for the world," a UNHCR official warned Wednesday. The volatile situations in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso risks overflowing into neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency's director for west and central Africa, Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde told AFP in an interview in Brussels. "The Gulf of Guinea, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire are already suffering because of the spiral of insecurity and the humanitarian situation — the same with Mauritania, the same with Algeria," he said. "If we don't act now, if we don't respond now, if we don't find a way to remain there, stay and continue to remain engaged, finding a solution, then somehow those countries will be overwhelmed, the state will be overwhelmed, and it will become a problem for the world," he said. The official was on a visit to Brussels to stress to EU officials the need to stay focused on the African regions where some 10.5 million people have been displaced by conflict, even as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza dominate international news. "Despite all the change, all the crises that we see in the world, despite all the conflict that we have, things are happening in the Sahel and that merits our attention," Gnon-Konde said. The day before, he participated in an EU-hosted donors' conference for the Sahel. At the event, the European Commission pledged 201 million euros ($218 million) for vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. Military regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have pushed out troops from France, the former colonial ruler, and are increasingly turning to Russia for support as they battle jihadist insurgencies, causing wariness from Western donors. Gnon-Konde said, for UNHCR, "it doesn't matter who is in charge" in those countries, as the most important thing was to respond to the needs of the civilian populations. He added that Chad, located between Niger and Sudan, was emerging as "a testing case" for countries in the region, international donors and the U.N.   Chad — which has just announced its first government after three years of military rule — is hosting nearly one million Sudanese refugees and "there is a risk that that number will increase by the end of the year," the UNHCR director said.

Washington — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes. In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito said his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down U.S. flag over his home in 2021 and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag at his New Jersey beach house last year. Neither incident merits his recusal, he wrote. "I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request," he wrote. The court is considering two major cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the Capitol, including charges faced by the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges. Alito has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse on other issues. The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito's home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the attack on the Capitol. The paper also reported that an "Appeal to Heaven" flag was flown outside of the justice's beach home in New Jersey last summer. Both flags were carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 echoing Trump's false claims of election fraud. Alito said he was unaware that the upside-down flag was flying above his house until it was called to his attention. "As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused," he wrote in nearly identical letters to Democrats in the House and Senate.

The American-built pier on the coast of Gaza has broken, as Joe Biden struggles politically with two seemingly un-ending conflicts. It’s Election Day in South Africa and the Prime Minister of Ukraine reports on his meetings with allies in Prague. Vladimir Putin continues to warn the West against allowing the Ukrainians to use American weapons on Russian soil. A look at rescue efforts in Papa New Guinea. Was there more to the helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi than we know about? Plus, press freedom in the United States and why it appears to be on the decline.

Sydney — Australian university leaders held talks Wednesday with their Chinese counterparts over the Canberra government’s plans to cut the number of international students.  Australia has said the reductions will ease the stress on housing and reduce immigration. Representatives from the Group of Eight Universities, which represents large research-intensive institutions in Australia, met Wednesday in Adelaide with leaders from the China Education Association for International Exchange. The Chinese delegation included senior officials from 22 leading research-intensive universities in China. In a joint statement, the two groups said that “our research and education links not only deliver enormous economic and social benefits for both countries, but also foster enduring people-to-people ties.”    The talks focused on “constructive dialogue focused on challenges and opportunities around university research in a fast-evolving, globalized world.” One major challenge is Australia’s plans to cap the number of international students it allows into the country to relieve pressure on housing and rental accommodation in the major cities.  It is part of a broader effort to reduce immigration. In 2023, official data showed that 787,000 international students studied in Australia, exceeding levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the tertiary sector says plans to shut out some foreign students would cost the economy billions of dollars. Vicki Thompson is the chief executive of the Group of Eight Universities.  She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday that it is unclear how far international student numbers would be cut.   “At the moment there is a lot of unknowns about what this will actually mean.  We are in very good discussions with government, though.  They certainly understand the impact that our international education sector has on tourism, on the economy.  So, you know, they do not want to bust it either.  It is just how can we come to, I guess, a compromise position where, you know, we do not damage one of our most successful export markets,” she said. Most overseas students in Australia come from China, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to government data. Under the government’s plans, colleges and universities would have to provide purpose-built accommodation for international students if they wanted to exceed the caps on numbers. Specific quotas for foreign students, however, have not yet been made public by the Canberra government. Australia’s plan to curb the number of students from other countries is expected to be discussed when Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra next month.

Louisville, Kentucky — Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed, ending a legal saga that began with images of the world's top male golfer being arrested and handcuffed in Louisville during the PGA Championship. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell asked a judge Wednesday afternoon to drop the four charges against Scheffler, who was not required to be in the courtroom. The prosecutor said his team reviewed the case in a "thorough and expeditious manner." "Based upon the totality of the evidence, my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr. Scheffler," O'Connell said during the hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. "Mr. Scheffler's characterization that this was 'a big misunderstanding' is corroborated by the evidence." Scheffler was charged with a felony for assaulting a police officer with his vehicle, along with three misdemeanors. The arresting officer, Detective Bryan Gillis, was outside the gate of Valhalla Golf Course May 17 directing traffic after a pedestrian death when he encountered Scheffler. Scheffler, 27, was driving a PGA courtesy vehicle when Gillis said he "refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging" Gillis to the ground. Gillis said his uniform pants were damaged in the fall and he was taken to the hospital for his injuries. A surveillance video released by Louisville police last week showed Gillis pursuing Scheffler's vehicle on foot and stopping him from entering the course. Scheffler is later pulled from the car and cuffed. But the video did not show Gillis' first contact with Scheffler, authorities said. Gillis has been disciplined for not activating his body-worn camera during the arrest. In a report on that failure, Gillis wrote that Scheffler had "demanded to be let in" the golf course. Scheffler has said he simply misunderstood the commands coming from traffic officers. The famous golfer spent a brief stint in a jail cell, then returned to the course for the second round. He finished the tournament tied for eighth place.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Geneva — Despite the failure of negotiators to reach a pandemic accord ahead of this week’s World Health Assembly, a senior U.S. official remains optimistic that an agreement to lessen the threats of global killer disease outbreaks is in sight. “We think the elements of a good deal are already on the table and that is why we feel optimistic because those are pretty good deals. It is just a matter now of fine-tuning it to make sure everybody says we are ready to sign on the dotted line,” Xavier Becerra, U.S. secretary of health and human services, told journalists at a briefing in Geneva Wednesday. While disappointing, Becerra indicated that it was not surprising that an accord was not reached after two-and-a-half years of negotiations. “Negotiations go on forever,” he said. “I think we have to put this in perspective. You do not build a nation overnight. You do not build an Empire State Building overnight. It takes a long time. Name me a major international achievement that came overnight. “I think there is clear consensus that we cannot let the status quo be upon us if another pandemic comes,” he said. His view reflects that of World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who, in his opening remarks at the World Health Assembly on Monday, assured delegates that the negotiations were on track and were not a failure. “Of course, we all wish that we had been able to reach a consensus on the agreement in time for this health assembly and cross the finish line,” he said. “But I remain confident that you still will—because where there is a will, there is a way.” WHO says 7,010,681 people have died from the COVID-19 outbreak as of April 13 and that a total of 704,753,890 cases have been confirmed in 229 countries and territories. Becerra noted that threats against global health have an outsized influence on broader global political and economic interests. “There is no stability without health. There is no security without health. Our nations cannot be strong unless they are healthy. “Getting out of COVID is our main health priority,” Becerra said, noting that U.S. President Joe Biden was committed to achieving a pandemic treaty. “When the president came in, we were experiencing two or three 9/11s every day in America in terms of loss of life. That is where we started. Today, we are walking around without masks. We are treating COVID the way we treat the flu,” he said, indicating that now is not the time to become complacent. “I think we realize that another pandemic could be upon us. I mean, we are dealing with avian flu in the U.S. right now. We do not know how long it is going to be before we get another type of COVID kind of tragedy. We do not want to wait,” he said. Sticking points to a pandemic treaty include disagreements over sharing information about pathogens that cause pandemics, a formula for global sharing of vaccines and medicine during international health emergencies, and financing to set up surveillance systems. The WHO says that member states have agreed to continue to work during the World Health Assembly “to develop the world’s first pandemic accord” to prevent a repeat of the “global health, economic and social impacts” of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We really have an incredible opportunity this week,” Loyce Pace, assistant secretary for global affairs at HHS, said. “We have spent so long trying to come together and finding compromise and consensus. I think we talk about what is left to do, but I do not know if we talk enough about what has been done toward reaching an agreement.” “So, whatever happens this week, we need some deliverable, if only to keep this momentum on towards any other work that should continue. We shouldn’t be leaving Geneva and go home without an accord, not after all that has been done,” Pace said. Secretary Becerra agrees, saying that he does not think there are substantive disagreements about the essential elements of a pandemic treaty. “It is more how they are packaged, how they are defined. People generally agree with what we have to do in order to be ready to take on any pandemic that may come across our path,” Becerra said. “I am the son of immigrants. Optimism is in my DNA and so, I believe we are going to get this done because it would be tragic, especially given how far we have come and not get it done. “We have to be ready,” he said. “Who knows what is coming around the corner. Something is going to broadside us. We just have to be ready.”

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers stated their intention Wednesday to join a United Nations-organized meeting in Doha on June 30 that aims to facilitate and coordinate the world’s engagement with the country hit by a multitude of crises.  The announcement came a week after a senior U.N. diplomat visited Kabul and extended to the de facto authorities “an advance invitation” to participate in the two-day conference of special envoys on Afghanistan.   The international event will be the third Afghanistan-centered gathering in Qatar's capital since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the process in May 2023, aiming to increase interaction with Afghanistan “in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner.”  Zakir Jalali, a senior Taliban foreign ministry official, said in a “keynote speech” to its staff in the Afghan capital that “representatives of the Islamic emirate will take part in the main discussions” in Doha. A ministry spokesperson posted details of his remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.  Jalali stated that a formal decision to attend the “Doha III” meeting would be announced later. He defended the Taliban’s decision not to join the previous two meetings, saying that any “symbolic participation would have been futile” for Kabul as the organizers had refused to accept its conditions and address objections over the agenda.   “However, the agenda for the third Doha format meeting has changed positively, and there are no significant differences regarding the topics of the discussion,” Jalali noted. He explained that the upcoming meeting would discuss financial and banking-related problems facing Afghanistan, alternative livelihoods for poppy growers, and climate change impacts on the country.   Jalali said the Taliban foreign ministry was waiting for the U.N. to share the latest details about the Doha huddle to enable Kabul to send its delegation there.   Rosemary DiCarlo, the under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, visited Afghanistan from May 18 to 21, where her discussions with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, among others, centered on the June 30 meeting.   The Taliban had asked the U.N. in the run-up to the second Doha meeting in February that their delegates would be accepted as the sole official representatives of the country, meaning that Afghan civil society activists and members of opposition groups would not be present.   De facto Afghan authorities also sought a meeting between their delegation and the U.N. at “a very senior level,” saying it “would be beneficial.” The Taliban also opposed the planned appointment of a U.N. special envoy to coordinate international engagement with Kabul in line with the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Afghanistan.  However, Guterres rejected the Taliban conditions while briefing reporters at the end of the second Doha meeting.  “These conditions, first of all, denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society and demanded a treatment that would, I would say, to a large extent be similar to recognition,” the secretary-general argued.  It was unclear immediately whether the U.N. would relax those conditions to allow Kabul’s delegates to attend the upcoming meeting despite their controversial governance in poverty-stricken Afghanistan.   The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions since taking power in August 2021, including a ban on girls attending school beyond the sixth grade and prohibitions on many Afghan women’s access to employment and public life at large.  De facto Afghan leaders, who are ethnically Pashtun, have also rejected international calls for giving representation to other ethnicities in the government, saying all groups are represented in it.   The elusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, insists he is governing the country in line with local culture and Islamic law and dismisses international criticism of his policies as an interference in the country’s internal affairs.  Afghan rights groups and activists have criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the upcoming Doha meeting, saying it would embolden the Taliban to further tighten their curbs on women.   U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, while responding to the criticism, told reporters in New York on Tuesday that his organization continues to engage with the Taliban “because they are the de facto authorities in Afghanistan.”  Dujarric emphasized that the U.N. is persistently urging the Taliban to uphold the rights of women and girls, as well as advocating for increased humanitarian aid for the Afghan people.  “We’ve invited envoys on Afghanistan to attend a meeting in Doha … to bring some clarity and consistency to the way the world deals with the situation in Afghanistan while continuing to put the human rights of women and girls at the forefront,” he said.   Separately on Tuesday, in her address to a U.N. Security Council meeting, DiCarlo cited Afghanistan as a “crying example” where women and girls are systematically denied rights and dignity, particularly in education. “Women in Kabul aspire to the same opportunities as men and seek international support to realize their rights and contribute to their country’s future,” she stated.  U.N. agencies describe Afghanistan as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, where more than two-thirds of the estimated 40 million population needs assistance following years of conflict and natural disasters. In recent weeks, hundreds of Afghans have died in flash floods triggered by climate change-induced heavy seasonal rains, which displaced more than 80,000 people.  The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 invited international financial and banking sanctions on the country, worsening economic and humanitarian conditions.