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Beirut — Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said Saturday it had targeted northern Israel with drones and guided missiles after cross-border Israeli strikes killed three people, including two of its members. A statement from the group said it "launched a complex attack using explosive drones and guided missiles on the headquarters of the Al Manara military command and a gathering of forces from the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade." The Israeli army said its Iron Dome air-defense system "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into the area of Manara in northern Israel." The army also "struck the sources of fire" of several anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon into the Manara border area, it added. Lebanon's National News Agency later reported that an Israeli airstrike on a house in Srebbine village had wounded 11 people, one seriously. Earlier Saturday, Israeli fighter jets "struck a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Qouzah in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement. The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began nearly seven months ago. In two separate statements earlier Saturday, Hezbollah mourned the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kfar Kila and Khiam. It said they had been "martyred on the road to Jerusalem," the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire. Overnight Saturday to Sunday Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of rockets at the Israeli military base at Meron, northern Israel. The group said it was in reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilian homes at several places in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila and Srebbine. An Israeli army statement said its Iron Dome system had succeeded in intercepting missiles fired toward northern Israel from Lebanon's al-Manara region. It added that it had fired at "military infrastructure" in the village of Srebbine. Hezbollah has intensified its targeting of military sites in Israel since tensions soared between Israel and Iran over the bombing of Tehran's Damascus consulate on April 1, widely blamed on Israel. 

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LONDON — Two Russian journalists were arrested by their government on extremism charges and ordered by courts there on Saturday to remain in custody pending investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin both denied the charges. They will be detained for at least two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of six years for alleged "participation in an extremist organization," according to Russian courts. They are the latest journalists arrested amid a Russian government crackdown on dissent and independent media that intensified after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The Russian government passed laws criminalizing what it deems false information about the military, or statements seen as discrediting the military, effectively outlawing any criticism of the war in Ukraine or speech that deviates from the official narrative. A journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, Sergei Mingazov, was detained on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military, his lawyer said Friday. Gabov and Karelin are accused of preparing materials for a YouTube channel run by Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which has been outlawed by Russian authorities. Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in February. Gabov, who was detained in Moscow, is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters, the court press service said. Reuters did not immediately comment on the ruling by the court. Karelin, who has dual citizenship with Israel, was detained Friday night in Russia's northern Murmansk region. Karelin, 41, has worked for several outlets, including The Associated Press. He was a cameraman for German media outlet Deutsche Welle until the Kremlin banned the outlet from operating in Russia in February 2022. "The Associated Press is very concerned by the detention of Russian video journalist Sergey Karelin," the AP said in a statement. "We are seeking additional information." Russia's crackdown on dissent is aimed at opposition figures, journalists, activists, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin. A number of journalists have been jailed in relation to their coverage of Navalny, including Antonina Favorskaya, who remains in pretrial detention at least until May 28 following a hearing last month. Favorskaya was detained and accused by Russian authorities of taking part in an "extremist organization" by posting on the social media platforms of Navalny's Foundation. She covered Navalny's court hearings for years and filmed the last video of Navalny before he died in the penal colony. Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokesperson, said that Favorskaya did not publish anything on the Foundation's platforms and suggested that Russian authorities have targeted her because she was doing her job as a journalist. Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, is awaiting trial on espionage charges at Moscow's notorious Lefortovo Prison. Both Gershkovich and his employer have vehemently denied the charges. Gershkovich was detained in March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent more than a year in jail; authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have to support the espionage charges. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, was taken into custody on Oct. 18 and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent while collecting information about the Russian military. Later, she was also charged with spreading "false information" about the Russian military. A court in Tatarstan ordered her to remain behind bars at least until June 5. The Russian government has also cracked down on opposition figures. One prominent activist, Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ready to renew a right-wing alliance with Hungary’s Viktor Orban if he wins the election in November. The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee made the comments in an address to the CPAC conservative conference in Budapest. As Henry Ridgwell reports, analysts say Orban seeks a global conservative movement that is hoping for success at the ballot box in a crucial election year.

madrid — Thousands of supporters and members of Spain's Socialist party rallied outside the party's national headquarters in Madrid on Saturday to show support for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and urge him not to step down.  Sanchez stunned Spain when he announced Wednesday that he was canceling his itinerary while he considers whether to resign after what he described as a "smear campaign" against his wife. He said he would reveal his plans Monday.  Sanchez's shocking announcement came hours after a Spanish judge opened a preliminary investigation into allegation of corruption made against Sanchez's wife by a group aligned with right-wing interests. The Spanish leader said the allegations were "spurious" and that they formed the worst attack in what he described as an orchestrated campaign to discredit him by targeting his family. The Madrid regional prosecutor's office recommended the allegations be thrown out.  The crowd packing the downtown street of Madrid on Saturday shouted, "You are not alone!" and waved party flags. Socialist leaders and the leaders of other left-wing parties have urged Sanchez not to resign. Prime minister since 2018, Sanchez has more than three years left of his term.  The right-of-center opposition Popular Party, however, said Sanchez's behavior was a desperate attempt to draw attention away from his wife and win support in upcoming regional and European elections. 

Washington — Security was tight Saturday at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner where President Joe Biden will make what is a traditionally lighthearted address amid protests and boycott calls over the conflict in Gaza. A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and shouting slogans such as "You have blood on your hands" rallied near the entrance to the Washington Hilton hotel. At the banquet, in keeping with longstanding tradition, interrupted during the Donald Trump years, Biden will sit on the dais keeping a steady smile on his face as a guest comedian rips into him. The event comes as Biden's has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over U.S. support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of "Genocide Joe" and noisy calls for an immediate cease-fire. More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner. "You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity," the letter said. "It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs." According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists, at least 97 journalists — including 92 Palestinians — have been killed since war erupted on October 7 with Hamas's invasion of southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded. The group Code Pink, part of an anti-war coalition planning demonstrations, said it intended to "shut down" the dinner to protest "the complicity of the Biden administration in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military." It said its action would be "nonviolent" but offered no details. The gala dinner and a surrounding series of society events are taking place as the Gaza protest movement has been spreading to colleges across the country, and as police crackdowns on some campuses have led to hundreds of arrests. This year's comedian will be Colin Jost, a longtime writer and actor with NBC's Saturday Night Live. The 81-year-old Biden will follow with his own speech, sure to include some self-mockery, some ribbing of the press and, no doubt, some sharp-elbowed jabs at Trump, his presumptive opponent in November's presidential election. The annual dinner has been organized since 1920 by the influential White House Correspondents' Association, which honors top reporters and awards journalism scholarships. Last year, 2,600 people attended. The association declined an AFP request to comment on the boycott call and the planned demonstration.  

JERUSALEM — Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones Saturday, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft. The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating. The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province. Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: "God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam." The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company. Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year. Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which the Hamas-controlled health ministry says has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons because of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

Kano, Nigeria — Eleven militia fighters working alongside Nigeria's military to battle jihadis were killed Saturday in the country's northeast when their vehicle hit a landmine on a highway near the border with Cameroon, two militia sources told AFP.   Jihadis in Nigeria are increasingly resorting to planting mines on highways to target military and civilian convoys after they were pushed back from the territory they once controlled during the early years of the country's more than 15-year Islamist insurgency.  The militia fighters were escorting a civilian convoy from the town of Gamboru in Borno State to the regional capital Maiduguri when around 1230GMT their vehicle drove over a landmine suspected to have been planted by jihadis at Damno village, the two sources said.  "The rear tires of the vehicle carrying 13 of our comrades hit a wide pothole in which a landmine was buried, and it exploded," Shehu Mada, an anti-jihadi militia leader in Gamboru said. "Eleven people in the vehicle were killed while two escaped with injuries."   The victims were removed from the remains of the vehicle and returned to Gamboru for burial, said Usman Hamza, another militia leader who gave the same toll.   Nigeria's militant conflict has gradually eased in intensity as the military carries out offensives against the militants.   The Gamboru to Maiduguri highway is a strategic 140-kilometer (87-mile) trade route in the region and provides an important link with neighboring Cameroon.   The highway was reopened in July 2016 after it was shut by the military for two years due to incessant jihadi attacks.   Boko Haram and rival Islamic State West Africa Province  still launch sporadic ambushes on convoys from their hideouts and plant landmines along the highway.   In January, 17 people were killed along the highway in two separate mine blasts that were blamed on jihadis. Ten more people were killed by a landmine in April.  Nigeria's grinding conflict has killed 40,000 and displaced around 2 million from their homes in the northeast since 2009. The violence has spilled over into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.  The recent military coups in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and subsequent withdrawal of French and U.S. troops from the Sahel to Nigeria's north have heightened concerns over regional instability and violence extending farther into the coastal West African states. 

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Jakarta, Indonesia — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia's main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage.  The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning.  High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta's satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake also was felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.  The agency warned of possible aftershocks.  Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta.  Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire."  A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java's Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.  In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province. 

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.

America's high-tech industry is looking at the presumptive U.S. presidential candidates and their priorities concerning semiconductors. The Biden administration last week announced a major investment in the industry. VOA's Carolyn Presutti reports.

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 — Changes are being urged to plans for returning thousands of Afghan citizens from Pakistan to make the process more effective.  While Pakistan has delayed the expulsion of some 850,000 documented Afghan refugees to Afghanistan, a senior Red Cross official is appealing for the returns to occur "in a more staggered way" so Afghanistan can better absorb the enormous influx of people.  "It will be important to work with the government of Pakistan in 2024 to ask that if there are going to be returnees," that they arrive "in smaller numbers at a time just so it is more manageable on the Afghan side," said Alexander Matheou, regional director, Asia Pacific Region for the International Federation of the Red Cross.    Speaking in the Qatari capital, Doha, Matheou told journalists in Geneva on Friday that he had just concluded his fifth visit to Afghanistan since the autumn of 2021, shortly after the Taliban takeover of the country.  He said the challenges facing Afghan returnees from Pakistan was one of several pressing issues he discussed with de facto Taliban rulers.    "You will be aware that over half a million have crossed the border over recent months, and it is likely that we will see large numbers of new arrivals in the coming months," he said. "I imagine this is probably the largest population flow in a short period of time in Asia since the population movement from Myanmar into Bangladesh in 2017," he added. "So, it is a significant event." Returnees ill-equipped to start over Since October, Pakistan has expelled more than 500,000 Afghan refugees who lacked proper documentation. In a second phase of expulsions, which has been temporarily halted, more than 850,000 Afghans holding identification cards issued by the Pakistani government are slated to be forcibly deported.  Matheou notes many of the returnees have lived in Pakistan for decades and are ill-equipped to begin a new life in a country that to them is unknown, without government or international support.  The humanitarian effort is, he said, " largely concentrated on trying to help people on arrival at transit stations near the border. He added that the real challenges start once people move away from those transit areas.     "When we interviewed the returnees themselves, it was also clear that most had no idea how they were going to settle in their point of destination or how they were going to build a livelihood with nothing," he said. "They largely expected to be living with distant relatives, which would actually make very, very poor people some of the poorest communities in the world, even poorer."  Children make up half of returning Afghans Matheou described the returnees as being in generally poor health, especially the children, who account for nearly half of all returnees.    "The evidence of that was we visited clinics where they reported a real spike in cases of acute malnutrition coming from the arrivals from Pakistan.    "We visited routine immunization programs of the IFRC and the Afghan Red Crescent in the villages, and there it was clear looking at the children that as well as being anemic, you could see wasting and stunting among the children," he said.     Wasting in a child is a condition that increases the risk of death and requires intensive treatment and care.  While Afghanistan is a country with multiple challenges, Matheou said there have been a few positive changes since the Taliban came to power.    "There are still plenty of security incidents going on in Afghanistan every day or most days, but the security on the whole is better than it has been for decades, and on the surface it is peaceful, and this is clearly deeply welcomed by a war-ravaged population," he said, noting there is also a welcomed commitment to reduce theft and corruption.  Human rights crises remain  While security has improved, however, he said the country's humanitarian and human rights crises remains severe. That is most clearly manifested in the mental health crisis afflicting the population.  "Beneath those crises, there is an invisible crisis of hopelessness, depression, desperation that stem from a collapsing health service, mass unemployment, barriers to education, and frustrated boys, girls, men, and women who are stuck at home all day.    He said the IFRC has a staff in two to three of the provinces of Afghanistan, but the work of ministering to the physical and mental health needs of the population was done primarily through the Afghan Red Crescent.    Despite the Taliban ban on women's participation in work and education, he said, "We try to ensure that our work is gender balanced. We employ women in all our health, mental health, primary health services, as well as services for women-headed households."    He warned, though, the outlook for Afghanistan is bleak. If the Taliban does not change its discriminatory policies against women, he said it will be difficult to get the kind of funding needed to turn Afghanistan into an economically viable society.  "The future of where the next generation of doctors and nurses will come from, where the next generation of teachers will come from, and where employment generated for families to be economically independent and hopeful about the future is looking quite grim," he said.