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As Orthodox Christians in Ukraine prepare to celebrate Easter on May 5th, Orthodox priests in Ukraine are finding themselves trying to serve their church and support their state, even when those two are at adds. VOA’s Anna Kosstutschenko reports.

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Marking this year’s World Press Freedom Day, Amnesty International said Thursday it is concerned about eastern and southern African authorities’ imposition of severe restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom. The organization said there was increased intentional disruption of internet connectivity and the enactment of tough cyber security laws aimed at silencing the media and controlling the spread of information. Sarah Kimani, the media manager of Amnesty International in east and southern Africa, outlined other ways governments are hampering the media. “Some of the issues we documented include the fact that across the east and southern Africa region, authorities used national security laws, including counterterrorism and cybersecurity legislation, to undermine the right to freedom of expression, punish journalists and suppress media freedom,” she said. “For example, in Madagascar, the Cybercriminality Code and the Communication Code have forced journalists to self-censor due to fear of reprisals,” Kimani said. “The laws are broad, and vaguely defined provisions within the laws — such as attacks on state security, defamation, dissemination of fake news and incitement to hatred — have been used to intimidate, harass and target journalists.” Kimani said Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe are other countries where Amnesty recorded serious violations over the past year. In Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government says it is making a better environment for journalists, having awarded 14 licenses for private radio and television stations in the last few years. Zimbabwe Information Minister Jenfan Muswere told VOA, "The second republic has made significant progress in ensuring a safe, free and competitive operating environment. This has been done through enactment of media-friendly laws and the repealing of laws that affected media operations. This has also led to the opening up of airwaves for both radio and television, thus ensuring media diversity.” Muswere said more regulations are yet to come to, in his words, professionalize and allow the independence and co-regulation of the media sector and ensure growth and development. Tabani Moyo, the director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, acknowledged Muswere’s comments but said Zimbabwe and several other countries in the region still present a difficult environment for journalists in which to operate. “All these are the mix of challenges within these countries, including restrictive laws, laws that are curbing civic space, others coming with cyber security laws,” he said. “But what this means is that the region is ... a mixed bag, in terms of going backwards — two steps forward, five backwards.” This situation, he said, calls for a consolidated approach towards media development at a regional level. Moyo said it would be helpful if regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community and the African Union promoted model progressive laws on the issue of media freedom on the continent.

Washington — Marking World Press Freedom Day on Friday, Somali journalists continue to struggle with reporting on climate change and environmental issues in their country because of insecurity and the dangers connected to environmental journalism. This year, Somalia marks the day as El Nino, a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with increased temperatures worldwide, worsens the abnormally heavy rainfall hitting the country’s south and central regions. Farah Omar Nur, the secretary general of the Federation of Somali Journalists, a Mogadishu-based agency that advocates for reporters’ rights and safety, said environmental journalism is not easy, especially in Somalia. “In Somalia, reporters and the news outlets do not always get the funding and the proper training for environmental journalism, and those who try often face challenges, including insecurity and threats from the armed groups,” Nur said. Nur said that the small amount of training given journalists for environmental reporting has helped many to understand the significance of reporting about the planet. “With the help of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, we have been able to provide training to some journalists for environmental issue reporting, but that is not enough,” Nur said. According to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, heavy rains have led to localized flooding affecting more than 120,000 people. The worst-affected areas are Jubaland, Hirshabelle and Southwest states of Somalia. Nur says another challenge is the logistics of reporting on environmental problems. “The rain has caused flooding in many areas of Somalia, destroying roads, bridges and other important infrastructure. Therefore, it is not easy for a journalist to travel to remote rural locations,” Nur said. “In addition, armed clan militias and the al-Shabab militant group — who are not friendly with independent journalists — have [a] huge presence in many areas.” Marking World Press Freedom Day, the United Nations in Somalia raised the importance of the work Somali journalists do in reporting on “the climate challenges facing their country” and encouraged increased coverage. “Somalia is on the front line of climate change, with the climate crisis affecting the lives of millions of Somalis, especially the most vulnerable. Much more needs to be done to raise awareness of all aspects of the environmental crisis, and journalism is indispensable for this purpose,” said the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia, Catriona Laing. “For Somalia to achieve its goals of stability and sustainable development, it is necessary for journalists to report accurately, timely and comprehensively on environmental issues and their consequences, as well as on possible solutions,” she said. The U.N. General Assembly established World Press Freedom Day in 1993. The theme this year is “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis.” It’s dedicated to the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis. It aims to highlight the significant role that the press, journalism, access and dissemination of information play in ensuring a sustainable future. A new report published by UNESCO on May 3, warns of increasing violence against and intimidation of journalists reporting on the environment and climate disruption. The report said about 749 journalists or news media reporting on environmental issues have been attacked in the last 15 years, and online disinformation has surged dramatically in this period. UNESCO is calling for stronger support for environmental journalists and better governance of digital platforms.

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.

Bangkok — Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, says press freedom in Asia continues to see a decline, with 26 out of 31 countries falling on its annual index. According to the group’s latest press freedom index, Asia is the second-most difficult region for practicing journalism. Five countries in the region — Myanmar, China, North Korea and Vietnam — are among the world’s 10 most dangerous countries for media professionals in the 2024 rankings. There are no countries in the Asia-Pacific region in the top 15 ranking for press freedom. China, North Korea and Vietnam, three of the world’s remaining communist governments, have long been near the bottom of RSF’s press freedom index ranking of 180 countries. This year, China was ranked 172, Vietnam 174 and North Korea 177. Overall, it’s the countries and territories that have shown a drop in press freedom in recent years that have contributed to East Asia becoming a difficult place for media to operate. Hong Kong was once a model for press freedom in the Asia region, but the city’s ranking recently dropped from 80 to 148 following political unrest and new laws that affect media freedoms. Since the Beijing-imposed national security law came into force in 2020, at least a dozen media outlets have closed. Beijing says the law has been necessary to stabilize the city following mass political unrest in 2019. Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy officer at RSF, said Hong Kong’s media freedoms still haven’t improved. “The worst for Hong Kong is the political and legal factors. Hong Kong’s position is very low; the situation remains very difficult,” she told VOA. Hong Kong is in the middle of two high-profile national security trials. Jimmy Lai, the media mogul and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, faces national security charges for “collusion with foreign forces” that could see him sentenced to life in prison. Stand News, which ceased operations in 2021 after a police raid, is also on trial, with its chief editors facing charges under Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition law. The verdict was recently postponed until August. Hong Kong’s Justice Secretary Paul Lam recently said that press freedom still exists in the city and that media can criticize the government. But Emily Lau, a former journalist and former chair of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, said many reporters are unsure whether that is the case. “There is concern. I don’t know whether that is reassuring. Journalists themselves are concerned. People are not sure whether it is really true,” she told VOA. Due to the sensitivity of the cases and concerns over press freedom, several media experts in Hong Kong declined to speak to VOA when requested. Although RSF ranked Hong Kong up five spots to 135 in 2024, that doesn’t mean press freedoms have improved. “The reasons for that are because of the movement of other countries inside the index itself,” Bielakowska said. RSF said the deteriorated media environments in Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea, which are the bottom three countries of the rankings, have pushed other countries further up the list. The same can be applied with Myanmar. The new RSF rankings puts Myanmar up two places to 171, but it doesn’t mean press freedom is improving. Today, the Southeast Asian country is the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, only behind China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Following a military coup led by General Min Aung Hlaing and his troops in 2021, Myanmar’s junta has been accused of arbitrary arrests, harassment and torture, while at least four journalists have been killed by the military, rights groups say. At least a dozen media outlets have had their licenses revoked by the military government in three years, while hundreds of journalists have been arrested. Media outlets who are allowed to legally report in Myanmar must be registered with the military government to operate. But registering for press accreditation means journalists must provide the junta with their personal details, which discourages them from doing so over fear of arrest. For the journalists who have continued to report, they have had to work “undercover” to avoid being targeted by military personnel. Aung Naing Soe, a Myanmar reporter, said journalists are a “primary threat” toward the military’s attempts to rule. “The junta arrests not only journalists but everyone against them. They see journalists as one of their primary threats since before the coup,” he told VOA. Since the junta attempted to rule, ousted politicians formed a civilian-led government, while civilian defense forces and ethnic political groups have taken up arms against the military. But Aung Naing Soe, who is also the filmmaker of the documentary “Undaunted” —about the uprising against military rule — added that the difficulties in reporting come from both sides. "Everybody knows the risks from the military's intimidation. We expected a little bit of press freedom from the revolutionary groups, but lately we've started seeing some [rebel] groups attempt to control the media," he said. "Like everyone else in the country, Myanmar journalists are getting tired. Sometimes we don't have any energy left to write a short story or make a short interview. We're all emotionally drained." There was some encouraging news for media freedom in East Asia. Thailand saw the biggest jump in the 2024 rankings, moving up 19 spaces to 87. Thailand’s security performance was one of the main reasons for the jump, according to Bielakowska. “There was less violence than in other years, and the electoral campaign for the general elections of May 2023 did not result in demonstrations of violence against journalists,” she said. On the other hand, she said that despite the political transition, there has not been notable improvement in the overall political environment.

ISLAMABAD — A bomb blast in southwestern Pakistan ripped through the car of a regional journalist Friday, killing him and two passersby on World Press Freedom Day. Local police said that the afternoon attack in the Khuzdar district of Baluchistan province injured seven people, mostly passersby. They identified the slain journalist as Siddique Mengal, the district press club president, and said he apparently was the target. Ghulam Mustafa Rind, an area police officer, told VOA by phone that Mengal was wheeling slowly through a busy crossing when an unidentified motorcyclist attached a homemade magnetic bomb to his vehicle. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement that he “expressed deep sorrow and grief over the martyrdom” of Mengal. No group immediately claimed reasonability for the bombing in natural resources-rich Baluchistan, which has lately experienced almost daily attacks mostly claimed by ethnic Baluch insurgents. Militants loyal to the Islamic State terrorist group and the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, are also active in the province. Pakistani security forces are also accused of targeting critics of their counterinsurgency operations in the province with attacks and enforced disappearances. Friday’s attack is yet another instance of the dangers that journalists face in their line of work in Pakistan, both from government forces and militants. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, which promotes press freedom globally, lists Pakistan as “one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with three to four murders each year that are often linked to cases of corruption or illegal trafficking and which go completely unpunished.” RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index, released Friday, dropped Pakistan’s ranking from 150 to 152 in 2024, indicating a worsening situation for press freedom in the country. The index assesses the level of freedom available to journalists and media outlets in various countries. Death threats Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, on Friday urged Pakistan to immediately investigate death threats and online harassment targeting a prominent television anchor, Hamid Mir. The global press freedom advocate said in a statement that Mir, who hosts the flagship political show “Capital Talk” on Geo News and has survived at least two previous assassination attempts, told CPJ that he had received multiple death threats on social media and warnings that his life was in danger from two journalists familiar with the situation. Mir, who has 8.4 million followers on his social media platform X, posted a video of Friday’s attack in Khuzdar, with an accompanying comment that suggested the violence could be “a message to all independent journalists” in Pakistan. “The threats and online hate campaign against one of Pakistan’s most prominent television anchors illustrate the severity of intimidation and pressure faced by journalists in Pakistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. She called on Pakistani security agencies to urgently act against those trying to silence Mir and hold them accountable. Pakistan ranked 11th on CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index, which ranks countries by how often the killers of journalists go unpunished. Sharif, in a statement on World Press Freedom Day, said that his government was determined to ensure the safety of Pakistani journalists, stating that freedom of expression "is the foundation of democracy and protection of civil rights."

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.

Defense ministers from the United States, Australia, Japan and the Philippines met for a second round of quadrilateral talks in less than a year this week amid further aggression from the Chinese military. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports on the allies’ growing military ties.

WASHINGTON — The nation’s employers pulled back on their hiring in April but still added a decent 175,000 jobs in a sign that persistently high interest rates may be starting to slow the robust U.S. job market.  Friday’s government report showed that last month’s hiring gain was down sharply from the blockbuster increase of 315,000 in March. And it was well below the 233,000 gain that economists had predicted for April.  Yet the moderation in the pace of hiring, along with a slowdown last month in wage growth, will likely be welcomed by the Federal Reserve, which has kept interest rates at a two-decade high to fight persistently elevated inflation. Hourly wages rose a less-than-expected 0.2% from March and 3.9% from a year earlier, the smallest annual gain since June 2021.  The Fed has been delaying any consideration of interest rate cuts until it gains more confidence that inflation is steadily slowing toward its target. Fed rate cuts would, over time, reduce the cost of mortgages, auto loans and other consumer and business borrowing.  Stock futures jumped Friday after the jobs report was released on hopes that rate cuts might now be more likely sometime in the coming months.  Even with the April hiring slowdown, last month’s job growth amounted to a solid increase, although it was the lowest monthly job growth since October. With the nation’s households continuing their steady spending, many employers have had to keep hiring to meet their customer demand.  The unemployment rate ticked up 3.9% — the 27th straight month in which it has remained below 4%, the longest such streak since the 1960s.  Last month's hiring was led by health care companies, which added 56,000 jobs. Warehouse and transportation companies added 22,000 and retailers 20,000.  The state of the economy is weighing on voters’ minds as the November presidential campaign intensifies. Despite the strength of the job market, Americans remain generally exasperated by high prices, and many of them assign blame to President Joe Biden.  America’s job market has repeatedly proved more robust than almost anyone had predicted. When the Fed began aggressively raising rates two years ago to fight a punishing inflation surge, most economists expected the resulting jump in borrowing costs to cause a recession and drive unemployment to painfully high levels.  The Fed raised its benchmark rate 11 times from March 2022 to July 2023, taking it to the highest level since 2001. Inflation did steadily cool as it was supposed to — from a year-over-year peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.5% in March.  Yet the resilient strength of the job market and the overall economy, fueled by steady consumer spending, has kept inflation persistently above the Fed’s 2% target.  The job market has been showing other signs of eventually slowing. This week, for example, the government reported that job openings fell in March to 8.5 million, the fewest in more than three years. Still, that is nevertheless a large number of vacancies: Before 2021, monthly job openings had never topped 8 million, a threshold they have now exceeded every month since March 2021.  On a month-over-month basis, consumer inflation hasn’t declined since October. The 3.5% year-over-year inflation rate for March was still running well above the Fed’s 2% target. 

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.

A US architect is helping to design and renovate housing for internally displaced Ukrainians. VOAs Tetiana Kukurika has the story from the Khmelnytskyi region in Western Ukraine. Anna Rice narrates. Camera and edit: Vitaliy Hrychanyuk

"Threats to democracy" have overtaken the economy and immigration as the chief concern of U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a recent Ipsos poll. VOA's Veronica Balderas Iglesias breaks down the results.

WASHINGTON — Roughly 100,000 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children are expected to enroll in the Affordable Care Act's health insurance next year under a directive the Biden administration released Friday. The move took longer than promised to finalize and fell short of Democratic President Joe Biden's initial proposal to allow those migrants to sign up for Medicaid, the health insurance program that provides nearly free coverage for the nation's poorest people. But it will allow thousands of people, known as "Dreamers," to access tax breaks when they sign up for coverage after the Affordable Care Act's marketplace enrollment opens Nov. 1, just days ahead of the presidential election. "I'm proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country and committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed," Biden said in a statement Friday. While it may help Biden boost his appeal at a crucial time among Latinos, a crucial voting bloc that he needs to turn out to win the election, the move is certain to prompt more criticism among conservatives about the president's border and migrant policies. The action opens the marketplace to any participant in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, many of whom are Latino. Xavier Becerra, the nation's top health official, said Thursday that many of those migrants have delayed getting care because they have not had coverage. "They incur higher costs and debts when they do finally receive care," Becerra told reporters on a call. "Making Dreamers eligible to enroll in coverage will improve their health and well-being and strengthen the health and well-being of our nation and our economy." The administration's action changes the definition of "lawfully present" so DACA participants can legally enroll in the marketplace exchange. Then-President Barack Obama launched the DACA initiative to shield from deportation immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as children and to allow them to work legally in the country. However, the "Dreamers" were still ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having a "lawful presence" in the U.S. The administration decided not to expand eligibility for Medicaid for those migrants after receiving more than 20,000 comments on the proposal, senior officials said Thursday. Those officials declined to explain why the rule, which was first proposed last April, took so long to finalize. The delay meant the migrants were unable to enroll in the marketplace for coverage this year. At one point, there were as many as 800,000 people enrolled in DACA at one time, though now that figure is roughly 580,000. The administration predicts only 100,000 will actually sign up because some may get coverage through their workplaces or other ways. Some may also be unable to afford coverage through the marketplace. Other classes of immigrants, including asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status, are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the ACA, Obama's 2010 health care law, often called "Obamacare." The president last year also unveiled a regulation that was aimed at fending off legal challenges to DACA; former President Donald Trump tried to end it, and it has bounced back and forth in federal court. Last fall, a federal judge said the current version can continue at least temporarily. "President Biden and I will continue to do everything in our power to protect DACA, but it is only a temporary solution," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. "Congress must act to ensure Dreamers have the permanent protections they deserve."

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Angry youths in Chad are pulling down campaign posters of transitional President General Mahamat Idriss Deby in protest of what they call his attempt to seize power. Deby's main challengers in the May 6 election, including former opposition leader and current Prime Minister Succes Masra, say several hundred of their supporters have been arrested. Some among the disgruntled opposition are calling for an election boycott. Several hundred civilians shout as they pull down campaign posters of Chad's transitional president, General Mahamat Idriss Deby. The posters have come down in several towns, including Chad's capital, N'djamena, and Moundou, the central African nation's second-most-populated city. In the audio extracted from videos circulating on social media, especially Facebook and WhatsApp, the civilians say they need a leadership change in Chad and an end to what they call a Deby dynasty. Deby took power as a military ruler in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the country for 30 years, was killed by rebels. Chad's opposition and civil society have always condemned what they call Deby’s seizure of power, asking him to hand power to civilians. The younger Deby told Chad state TV this week that campaigning for Chad's May 6 polls has faced major hitches, including attacks on his campaign officials and the pulling down of his posters. Deby says he has asked government troops, the guarantors of peace and security, to restore order and end growing hate speech and preelection violence. He says when he took power three years ago, he vowed to maintain Chad as a peaceful country before handing it to constitutional order after the May 6 presidential polls. Deby did not accuse his challenges of ordering or allowing their supporters to pull down his campaign posters. But he said civilians who are planning to disturb the elections have been arrested. Deby’s main election rivals, Prime Minister Masra and Pahimi Padacke Albert, who also served as Chad's prime minister under Deby from April 2021 to October 2022, say hundreds of their supporters are in jail illegally. Meanwhile, opposition candidates also accuse Deby of ordering government troops to crack down on his challengers’ campaign caravans. Masra says Deby wants to crack down on his rivals to maintain his grip on power. He spoke to VOA via a messaging app from N'djamena Friday. Masra says he and his supporters will not be intimidated into stopping the fight for the rule of democracy in Chad. He says he is committed to making sure that all Chadians have access to electricity, water and security, which are basic needs Deby and his father have not been able to give civilians for more than three decades. And yet, he says, the Deby family wants to stay in power eternally. Some opposition and civil society groups have intensified their campaign for a total boycott of the election. They assert that Deby controls Chad’s election commission, the National Agency for Elections Management, or ANGE. Djimet Clemen Bagaou, president of the Democratic Party of Chadian People says ANGE will declare Deby the winner, so there is no point to the elections. ANGE rejects that line of thinking, saying the country’s more than 8 million registered voters should count on its independence to ensure a free, transparent and credible vote. It is urging Chadians to come out to the polls. Deby says he will respect the verdict of the ballot and hand over power if defeated.  

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.