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Harassment, arrests, declining trust and economic constraints make the work of journalists in the United States tough. The country’s media are mostly free from interference, but the U.S. still dropped 10 points on the World Press Freedom Index in 2024. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit and Michael Lipin have the story, as narrated by Caicedo Smit. Videographer: Keith Lane

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.

Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament has passed a set of legal amendments granting lawmakers greater investigative power to scrutinize the government under President Lai Ching-te, who took office on May 20.   Despite days of protests that have attracted hundreds of thousands of people since May 17, the two opposition parties, the China-friendly Kuomintang, or KMT, and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP, used their combined majority to push through the deal on Tuesday. The bills still require the president’s signature to become law.  While the KMT and TPP have repeatedly argued that the bills would ensure checks and balances and give the legislature more power to target corruption, their attempt to pass the bills has triggered widespread concerns in civil society and the academic community.  “Now that Taiwan’s legislature has passed the bills, lawmakers will uncover all corrupt officials and all kinds of malpractices in the future,” Fu Kun-chi, the KMT legislative caucus convenor, told journalists on Tuesday. Fu said the opposition parties will form a “special investigation team” to start looking into corruption cases.   As lawmakers were voting on the legislative amendments, thousands of protesters chanted slogans and passed around a giant white ball bearing the phrase “rejecting Chinese political interference.”   Some protesters criticized the opposition parties for undermining Taiwan’s democratic system by fast-tracking the legislative amendments through parliament without thorough negotiations among all political parties.   “There is a democratic negotiation mechanism in Taiwan’s parliament but the opposition parties’ insistence on pushing the bills through the legislature without proper deliberation has violated the regular democratic practices,” Liao Yan-cheng, a 78-year-old retiree, told VOA at the mass demonstration outside the legislature.  Other young protesters said they are worried that the opposition parties will turn Taiwan’s parliament into a tool to undermine the Lai administration’s governance in the next four years.   “Since the opposition parties will maintain control over the legislature for the next four years, they can ramp through this controversial bill without following the proper legislative process,” Max Wang, an 18-year-old student, told VOA at the protest.   The reforms passed on Tuesday grant lawmakers the power to require the president to deliver annual reports and answer questions from lawmakers. Government officials could also be fined or jailed for behaviors deemed “contempt of parliament” by lawmakers.   Additionally, the legislature now has more power to control government budgets and investigate government projects, including the power to ask the military, private companies, or individuals to disclose information deemed relevant to parliamentary investigations. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, which advocates for Taiwanese sovereignty, said the reforms would undermine Taiwan’s democracy because the laws may constitute an overreach of power.   However, the KMT argues that the amendments could help the legislature rein in the president’s power, which they said has been too extensive. Dozens of legal scholars and two major bar associations in Taiwan have expressed concerns about potential violations of the constitution of the Republic of China — Taiwan’s official name. They argued that the reforms could create many disputes about its applicability in the future.  Huang Cheng-Yi, a legal expert at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, told VOA that since the Republic of China’s constitution doesn’t require the president to be questioned by lawmakers, part of the reform may eventually be viewed unconstitutional by justices when the DPP brings the case to the constitutional court, as the party is expected to do.   In the meantime, some analysts worry that the opposition parties will use the amendments to target the Lai administration.   “The legislators’ enhanced power to investigate government officials could make it easier for the opposition parties to explore possible scandals in the previous government under former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen or the current government under Lai Ching-te,” said Austin Wang, an expert on Taiwan politics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  He told VOA that these investigations could slow down the Lai administration’s policy implementation and “harm” his government’s legitimacy as well as Taiwan’s national security.   “Some KMT legislators have been accused of leaking sensitive defense information to China, and this investigation power will be a loophole to help the legislators access more sensitive information,” Wang added.   Wang predicts that Lai, who is facing both domestic division and growing pressure from China, would choose to exercise his constitutional power to ask legislators to reconsider the reforms. “I don’t think Lai will easily back down,” he told VOA. And since no political party enjoys a majority in parliament, Wang said Taiwan will likely experience political gridlock over the next few months.  “The gridlock may influence defense spending in Taiwan and it will stay there until all three parties agree on some social welfare policies,” he added.   Huang at Academia Sinica worries that if political gridlock becomes the defining feature of Taiwan’s politics over the next four years, it may eventually paralyze the island’s democratic system.   “If all three political parties repeatedly resort to mobilizing supporters to clash with each other, it may ultimately cause Taiwan’s democratic system to cease functioning properly,” he told VOA.

Tbilisi, Georgia — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday overrode the president’s veto of a controversial foreign agent law, despite protests at home and criticism in Western capitals, including a U.S. threat to impose sanctions. The new measure is officially called the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence.” However, opponents have dubbed it the "Russian law," a reference to Russia’s foreign agent law, which requires anyone who receives support from outside Russia, or is seen as acting under “foreign influence,” to register as foreign agents. The Georgian law requires civil society organizations, media and other entities receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign interests. The law primarily targets U.S. and European Union democracy assistance programs. President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the legislation on May 18, but it was widely expected that the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary majority would override the veto. Georgian Dream reintroduced the law in April, a year after it abandoned in March 2023 after it sparked mass protests. Protesters view the law as a move by the government to tilt the country toward Moscow, even though polls show more than 80% of Georgians support Georgia’s path toward EU membership and 73% endorse the country’s bid to join NATO. General elections in October will determine whether the Georgian Dream party remains in power for a fourth term. Georgian nongovernmental organizations say the foreign agent law may hinder international organizations' ability to observe the October vote. While the government claims the law promotes transparency, local NGOs and Georgia’s Western partners view it as targeting Western funding for Georgian civil society. “Having no chances of victory in the upcoming general elections in October if they are conducted freely and fairly, [Bidzina] Ivanishvili” — Georgian Dream’s shadow leader — “is tightening his grip on power through harsh authoritarian measures and is openly driving the country into Russian influence,” former Georgian ambassador to the United States David Sikharulidze told VOA outside the parliament building in Tbilisi. “It’s very much in line with Putin’s tactics,” he said. “This law is a Russian law in essence and spirit, which contradicts our constitution and all European standards,” Zourabichvili said in her veto statement. Zourabichvili, whose election as president in 2018 was supported by Georgian Dream, has increasingly found herself at odds with the party. Apprehension over the domestic and foreign policy trajectory of Georgia’s government has grown since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Official Tbilisi refused to side with Ukraine publicly or to join sanctions against Moscow, while attacking Ukrainian officials publicly and echoing anti-Western rhetoric. In addition, U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about Georgia’s role in helping Russia evade Western sanctions. For more than a month and a half, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest the foreign agent law, the largest protests the country has seen since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. “Georgian people have erupted in protest. They deserve more than just statements from the Western partners,” Sikharulidze said. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions against those "responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia." “The Department of State is implementing a new visa restriction policy for Georgia that will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members,” Blinken said in a statement. “This includes individuals responsible for suppressing civil society and freedom of peaceful assembly in Georgia through a campaign of violence or intimidation.” Georgian Dream officials dismissed the visa restrictions as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs. “The blackmail with visa restrictions are nothing but a crude attempt to limit the independence and sovereignty of Georgia," the Georgian Dream party said in a statement, labeling the move "anti-Georgian." For their part, European Union officials have warned that adopting the foreign agent law would jeopardize Georgia’s bid for EU membership. "The law of foreign influence is not in line with EU values. If the law is enacted, it will impact Georgia’s EU path," said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Georgian officials have dismissed the critical voices in Washington and Brussels as part of what they call the “Global War Party,” which one Georgian Dream MP described to a British podcaster as a “‘force akin to the Freemasons.”

GENEVA  — U.N. officials warn medicine and fuel supplies in Gaza are drying up as humanitarian workers struggle to provide life-saving care to an ever-expanding population of sick and wounded.  “The medical supplies and fuel supplies are running very, very low,” World Health Organization spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris told journalists Tuesday in Geneva.   She said only three WHO trucks carrying aid have entered the besieged city of Rafah since the Israeli incursion began there in early May.   “We have 60 WHO supply trucks waiting at al-Arish unable to cross into Rafah due to the closure of the border,” she said.   “Fuel is particularly critical,” she said, noting that an estimated 200,000 liters a day are needed to run the 14 officially functioning hospitals in Gaza. “We have been able to get in 60,000 liters per day at best. Some days none. So, all the hospitals are really struggling and making decisions about what they can do … particularly in Rafah where only Emirati hospital remains barely functional.”  This means that key health services are no longer available in Rafah, including dialysis, surgery, and maternity care, she said.  UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said because of the lack of fuel, the desalination plants in Central and Southern Gaza have been shut for at least eight hours every day, dramatically shrinking the water supply.   “On average, in Rafah, a person is getting around one liter of water a day, which is catastrophically below any emergency level,” he said. The WHO says people need a minimum of 15 liters per person per day to cover hydration and sanitation-related needs.    Israel has faced heavy international pressure to step up the flow of aid into Gaza, where relief groups have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis threatening a population of more than 2 million people.  Israel has repeatedly denied allegations that it is preventing aid from reaching the territory and accused U.N. aid agencies of failing to properly distribute the relief supplies that get in. However, Israeli protesters have been captured on video blocking aid trucks and throwing supplies from the trucks onto the ground.   According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, at least 45 people sheltering in a camp for displaced Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike Sunday. Since October 7 when Israel began its invasion of Gaza in response to a brutal attack on Israel by Hamas militants, Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 81,000 injured.  Amid all this death and destruction, WHO spokesperson Harris said “one little bright spot” in Gaza is the return of dialysis services in Nassar General hospital and the reported return of similar services soon in al-Shifa hospital.  “It is extraordinary how despite the massive destruction and the difficult circumstances people are working under, is that the people keep on coming back and restoring services as best they can to keep on serving the people,” she said.  Dr. Akihiri Seita, director of health for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, echoed this sentiment.   “I am very proud to say that UNRWA never stopped health services,” he said. “We continue to provide services and they include vaccinations. We started vaccinations from the beginning of the year and so far, we have 100,000 children vaccinated. So, it is quite a good catch-up to the pre-war level.”  “We provide primary health care. At this point we have seven health centers and 105 medical points that are all in the shelters. … Every day, we treat 15,000 to 20,000 people, and sometimes 25,000,” he said.  However, this comes at a heavy cost. UNRWA’s Department of Health Annual Report 2023, issued Tuesday, notes that as of April 2024, “UNRWA has lost over 188 staff members including 11 health care professionals.”  In the last three months of 2023, the report says medical consultations in Gaza dropped rapidly as UNRWA was forced to close 14 of its 22 health centers and power outages shuttered access to telehealth systems.  “Not only did access to basic healthcare become near impossible, but the hostilities also created dozens of new health catastrophes, with mounting war injuries, internal displacement, mental health crises, the destruction of sanitation infrastructure, and the probable conditions for epidemic and famine,” the report said.  Seita said UNRWA has had great difficulty providing health and other humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza since 16 countries suspended financial aid early in the year due to Israeli allegations that the organization was harboring Hamas terrorists.   While 14 countries have since resumed financial aid, he said hardships in providing aid persist because “we have still not yet reached the sustainable financing level.”  That sentiment was echoed by WHO’s Margaret Harris, who described the enormous struggle for all the medical teams in Gaza who are unable to meet the needs of the critically ill and wounded.  “This is one of the hardest things for a doctor or a nurse. You know you want to help but you do not have what it takes, and you are watching people who should not die, die in front of you because you simply either lack the tools, the skill, or the supplies to do what need to be done,” she said.

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.

Cape Town — The run-up to South Africa’s general elections Wednesday has been mostly peaceful but not without incident. In Western Cape province, the opposition Democratic Alliance, or DA, accused rival parties of trying to intimidate voters in February by chanting violent slogans and brandishing weapons at voter registration locations. For years, some black voters in the province have been scared of being attacked if they admit to supporting the white-led DA. This supporter of the Democratic Alliance is a single mother who works in a restaurant. “I don’t want to identify because most of the people in my area is a black people. I don’t know, maybe I can get hurt because they don’t like a DA member. They still vote for the ANC even (though) ANC doesn’t give them nothing. ANC’s too much corruption. That’s why we get fed up with that,” she said. The woman says she believes that the track record of the DA, South Africa’s main opposition party, speaks for itself. According to reports from South Africa’s Auditor-General, the Western Cape, which the DA party governs at the provincial level, is the best run province in the country. Despite this achievement, the DA’s critics say it protects only white business interests. The voter, whom VOA spoke with, disagrees. “To me the DA’s for everyone. Even if you are black or white or colored, you are in a rainbow nation,” she said. The woman’s mother, who is in her late eighties, does not agree and remains a staunch ANC supporter, ever grateful to that party and its former president, Nelson Mandela, for the state-sponsored house she received in 1996. “When Mandela was coming outside then I was voting ANC because ANC then, they give me a house because I was stay(ing) in a shed,” she said. However, both women are afraid they will be targeted if people know whom the daughter votes for in the general election. Political analyst Cherrel Africa, associate professor at the University of the Western Cape’s Department of Political Science, believes that attitudes will change when political leaders stop harping on race to win votes. “That can often lead to inflammatory rhetoric, particularly racially divisive rhetoric where there’s an attempt to play on the anxiety of particular voters,” said Africa. While intimidation is a legitimate concern for voters, the Western Cape is not known for political killings. They are far more common in KwaZulu-Natal province, where according to the National Police Minister Bheki Cele, at least 155 officeholders and city councilors had been killed between 2011 and September last year. And with former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Party making its debut in this election, tensions in that province, Zuma’s home, are heightened. For this election, police have put more boots on the ground countrywide and urged political parties to adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct, which makes intimidating candidates or voters an offense. Parties that break the code can be fined up to 200,000 rand (about $11,000) or sent to prison for up to 10 years.

Washington/Jakarta — Planned revisions to Indonesia’s broadcasting bill that include restrictions on investigative journalism are raising concerns among journalists and free expression analysts.   The draft bill seeks to revise Indonesia’s 2002 broadcasting law. Among the amendments are restrictions on the “exclusive broadcast of journalistic investigation,” the broadcasting of content that portrays LGBTQ “behavior,” and content on a profession or figure that shows “negative behaviors or lifestyles that could potentially be imitated by the public.”   Penalties for violations of the law could include written warnings or the revocation of licenses, according to the International Federation of Journalists.   Lawmakers say the revisions are needed to update a law that was first enacted more than 20 years ago. Critics say the proposal will restrict media and free expression.   "We see that the current draft of the bill is very far from our national interests, and it actually suppresses many rights of creativity, press freedom, and expression from citizens," said Yovantra Arief, of the Jakarta-based media monitoring group, Remotivi.   Arief, who is executive director of Remotivi, said that with the development of digital platforms, the revision of the law should capture the spirit of growth, instead of being a setback.  A 2021 survey by the data analysis group, the Katadata Insight Center, and the Ministry of Communication and Information showed that the majority of Indonesians — 73 percent — access information through social media, followed by television at 59.7 percent and the internet at 26.7 percent.  Ade Wahyudin, director of the Legal Aid Institute for the Press, questioned the reason for the proposed restrictions on investigative journalism, and noted that the Press Law already guarantees protection for journalists’ work, including the right to do news investigations.  "This vague article could potentially undermine journalistic work, not limited to investigation because its interpretation is still unclear," he told VOA. If passed, the bill would bring Indonesian media into the dark ages, he added.   Discussions to amend the broadcasting law have been taking place since 2020.  According to Reuters, the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Informatics said the government has not received the draft bill.  Rizki Natakusumah, of the House of Representatives, acknowledged the concerns about the proposed law.  "The essence of this Broadcasting Law is to discuss what is appropriate, what is suitable (for broadcast), or the ethics in broadcasting itself,” Rizki said, adding that the government does not want to regulate press freedom.   Rizki said that lawmakers received input from law enforcement agencies who want to limit how the media report on some cases.  But investigative journalists say such carve-outs would restrict their ability to act as a watchdog for citizens and the public interest.   "The problem is, in some cases, from my personal experience, law enforcement agencies do not work properly," said Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan, an investigative producer for the Narasi media outlet in Jakarta.    "Many investigative news reports in Indonesia ultimately manage to uncover a case that initially failed to be resolved by law enforcement agencies," he added.   He cited how Ferdy Sambo, the head of internal affairs for the national police, was convicted for his role in planning the 2023 murder of his bodyguard.   According to Aqwam, if media had not pushed to uncover the truth in that case, then justice may not have been secured for the family of the victim.   The proposed ban on LGBTQ content is also criticized by media advocates.   Homosexuality is still considered a taboo subject in Muslim-majority Indonesia, and it is illegal in Aceh province, which is under sharia, or Islamic law.  But Yovantra from Remotivi said audiences need to be able to access information on such issues.  Yovantra told VOA that all stakeholders should be involved in discussions on the bill and that its passage should not be rushed. "It's OK to discuss it again in the next period because this law will affect the lives of many people," he said.  This article originated in VOA’s Indonesian service. Fathiyah Wardah contributed to this report; some information is from Reuters.

Africa's Sahel has become the epicenter of global terrorism, prompting nations to intensify efforts to counter the violence through military training such as the Flintlock 2024 drills in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Analysts, however, say that addressing economic deficiencies in the region would be a more effective deterrent. Senanu Tord reports from Tamale, Ghana.

The world is still reeling from an Israeli attack in Rafah that killed dozens of civilians along with the targeted Hamas officials. Recovery efforts are continuing, though are still quite difficult in Papua New Guinea following last week’s landslide. The latest from Tblisi as the Georgian parliament takes up the controversial ‘Foreign Agents’ law, and an update from Kyiv as President Zelenskyy is in Brussels drumming up European support for Kyiv. The weather has turned deadly and a look at life expectancy.

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.

Washington — The judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday denied prosecutors' request to bar the former president from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the prosecution.  Prosecutors had told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the restriction was necessary to protect law enforcement from potential threats and harassment after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee baselessly claimed that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly two years ago.  Cannon chided prosecutors in her order denying their request, saying they didn't give defense lawyers adequate time to discuss the matter before it was filed Friday evening. The judge warned prosecutors that failing to comply with court requirements in the future may lead to sanctions. She denied the request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.  A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith's team declined to comment Tuesday.  The decision came as Trump's lawyers were delivering their closing arguments at trial in another criminal case against Trump in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign.  It's the latest example of bitterness between Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, and prosecutors who have accused the former president of illegally hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 and then obstructing the FBI's efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.  Cannon has repeatedly chided prosecutors both in hearings and in court papers over a number of matters, including telling Smith's team during one hearing that they were "wasting the court's time." Prosecutors have also signaled their frustration with Cannon's rulings, saying in one recent court filing that a request from the judge was based on a "fundamentally flawed legal premise."  Prosecutors' request followed a distorted claim by Trump earlier this week that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 were "authorized to shoot me" and were "locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."  The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was referring to the disclosure in a court document that the FBI, during the search in Palm Beach, Florida, followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the "subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person."  Prosecutors said in court papers late Friday that Trump's false suggestion that federal agents "were complicit in a plot to assassinate him" expose law enforcement officers "to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment." They had urged the judge to bar Trump from making any comments that "pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents" participating in the case.  Defense attorneys in a court filing late Monday called prosecutors' proposed restriction on Trump's speech "unconstitutional" and noted that the identities of law enforcement officers in the case are subject to a protective order preventing their public release. Defense attorneys said they asked Smith's team on Friday if the two sides could meet on Monday before prosecutors submit their request to give the defense time to discuss it with Trump.  But prosecutor David Harbach said the situation needed to be addressed urgently, saying in an email to the defense that Trump created a situation that "necessitated a prompt request for relief that could not wait the weekend to file." They told the judge in their filing late Friday while Trump's lawyers didn't believe there is any "imminent danger," Trump had continued that day to make false statements "smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search."  A spokesperson for Trump's campaign, Steven Cheung, said in a statement Tuesday that "the entire documents case was a political sham from the very beginning and it should be thrown out entirely."  It's among four criminal cases Trump is confronting as he seeks to reclaim the White House, but outside of the ongoing New York hush money prosecution, it's unclear that any of the other three will reach trial before the November election.  Trump has already had restrictions placed on his speech in two of the other cases over incendiary comments officials say threaten the integrity of the prosecutions.  In the New York case, Trump has been fined and threatened with jail time for repeatedly violating a gag order that bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the matter.  He's also subject to a gag order in his federal criminal election interference case in Washington. That order limits what he can say about witnesses, lawyers in the case and court staff, though an appeals court freed him to speak about special counsel Smith, who brought the case.