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Afghan cancer patients say they are struggling to enter Pakistan for treatment after the placement of tighter restrictions on cross-border travel. From Peshawar, Pakistan, VOA’s Muska Safi has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. Camera: Muska Safi.

Israel has been quick to react to a Biden administration warning Thursday that it must protect Palestinian civilians and aid workers or lose the unconditional support of the United States. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.

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.

washington — A Serbian journalist is being harassed and threatened after a fake video circulated online in which he appears to make an offhand comment praising a war criminal.  Dinko Gruhonjic, a media professor and a journalist for the local news website Autonomija, had participated in a regional festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia, last year.   Then last month, a manipulated video of that appearance circulated online. In it, Gruhonjic appears to say that he is pleased to share a name with Dinko Sakic — a commander imprisoned for his role overseeing a World War II concentration camp.   The Vienna-based International Press Institute, or IPI, says that Gruhonjic "has been the target of a public lynching campaign including threats of physical violence" since the doctored video was shared online.   Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also commented on the video, Gruhonjic told VOA.   "Vucic addressed my case: in his own style, holding a knife in one hand and a flower in the other, claiming that no one should harm me. But, on the other hand, saying I should be ashamed of the statements I made. Which, in fact, I did not make," said Gruhonjic.   36 attacks this year The threats reflect a wider trend in Serbia. The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia or NUNS has documented 36 attacks on journalists so far this year. These include four physical attacks, one attack on property, 17 cases of journalists being pressured and 14 instances of verbal threats.   So far, three people have been arrested on suspicion of threatening Gruhonjic and a second journalist — Ana Lalic-Hegedis — who appeared at the same festival.   An arrest also was made in the case of Vojin Radovanovic, a journalist at the daily newspaper Danas, who received death threats via Instagram in 2023.   "When I received a death threat, in which it was said that I should be killed as an example, I realized that such people should be prosecuted as an example to others who think it is OK to make death threats to someone only because you don't like the way they work," Radovanovic told VOA.   The journalist, who covers politics and media issues, said authorities should take all threats seriously.   Just a few months after police arrested the person suspected of sending the death threat, a different individual made threats against Radovanovic's media outlet, saying it should be set on fire.   Radovanovic said the threats come from an "environment in which critically oriented journalists are considered as someone who gets in the way."  Neither the Serbian Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime responded to VOA's requests for comment about the harassment of Gruhonjic and other journalists.   Threats cause suffering Serbia ranks among the Council of Europe member states with the highest number of attacks on journalists, according to an annual report by partner organizations to the Council of Europe's platform that promotes the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.   Referring to the wider trends across Europe, Teresa Ribeiro, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, told VOA, "Threats and attacks on journalists are not only causing suffering, destruction and in the worst case loss of life, they also lead to self-censorship and undermine the credibility of public authorities and public trust in the media."  Ribeiro said that media freedom is possible only in an environment where journalists are able to work without fear of reprisal.  "Without this, there can be no quality and independent journalism, nor can there be a lasting and well-functioning democracy and informed citizenry," said Ribeiro.   She added that OSCE states have an obligation to ensure media freedom. To ensure that it is upheld, she said, all attacks — both physical and online — must be "swiftly and effectively investigated and prosecuted."  Attila Mong, from the nonprofit the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said a lack of accountability for attacks makes the situation worse.   "Despite some efforts, such as the establishment of working groups for the safety of journalists, it is evident that more needs to be done to comprehensively address these issues," Mong told VOA.   Mong cited a court decision in February to acquit four former secret police who had been convicted of the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija. At the time, the CPJ called the acquittal a "huge blow to justice."  The rise in attacks is resulting in a decline in Serbia's ranking on media and human rights indexes. The country registered the biggest drop in the EU-Balkans region on the World Press Freedom Index last year. Serbia fell 12 places, to 91 out of 180 countries, where 1 shows the best media environment.   The watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which compiles the index, notes that Serbia has a solid legal framework but that journalists are under political pressure and face threats.  This article originated in VOA's Serbian service.

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.

WASHINGTON — Next week could prove pivotal for Ukraine, as U.S. legislators reconvene following the Easter break. One of the most pressing topics for discussion is President Joe Biden’s supplemental request, which includes $61 billion for Ukraine. Without these funds, U.S. aid to Ukraine will have de facto halted. Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated a potential willingness to provide weapons to Ukraine on loan. Would this address Kyiv’s immediate needs? What are the repercussions of delaying this aid? And what are the prospects for its swift approval? We discussed this with Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova on Thursday. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. VOA: Madam Ambassador, since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, you've been advocating for more help from the American partners. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once reportedly said, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” And today, as Russians are gathering their troops and may be getting ready for another offensive, what does Ukraine need to stand strong? Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S.: Well, nothing has changed, and it will not change until we win. So, from President Zelenskyy to defenders on the front line to everyone, including myself here in Washington, we have only one message: We need to win. And for that, we need more weapons, more ammunition, more support for Ukraine and more sanctions, isolation and bringing Russia to justice. Right now, we're at a pivotal moment in this fight. During the past two years, we have been able to liberate 50% of the territories. Last year, we literally liberated the Black Sea. We're conducting very successful strikes against the Russian military, but we are not yet at the point where we can claim victory, and that is solely due to the availability of weapons and support. So, we must stay the course. We have to continue doing what has worked before. And we must do more. VOA: President Biden has said multiple times that Ukraine has support among Republicans and Democrats on the Hill. However, the supplemental [aid package] has not resulted in a vote, mainly due to a couple of legislators, including Speaker Johnson. When President Zelenskyy visited Washington, you participated in a meeting with Mr. Johnson. I'm curious, what did you have to say to convince him to pass this legislation? Markarova: We do have strong bipartisan support, and not only do we feel it, but we know it. We are talking to so many people on the Hill and to ordinary citizens, and we hear strong expressions of support from everyone, including Speaker Johnson. I mean, he was publicly supportive of why Ukraine needs to win. Now, this year has been difficult, and I know that's not an excuse; it's just that we have to work harder. This is the fifth supplementary package; four of those we had during the last two years. And not all of them were easy to pass. But this one started as the Ukraine supplementary; it was during Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy's time, then there was a change of speakership, then there were discussions about a joint supplementary. So, there were many issues which are very important for the United States, not related to Ukraine. We were made part of the package, which delayed discussions on this Ukrainian supplementary bill at different stages. Now, since February, when the Senate passed a supplementary package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, there has been very active discussion on the Hill. We just needed that support yesterday. And I think the majority of people in the House also understand it. So, we all look forward to next week when the House will come back after the recess. And I really hope, as we heard Speaker Johnson saying, that this is going to be one of the first things that the House will start discussing. We need decisions. VOA: As you said, the political environment in Washington, D.C., is quite dynamic. So, you had to talk to multiple speakers and the speakers have changed over the last year, a couple of times. How do you deliver those messages regarding Ukraine's needs? Is it hard to find this human-to-human contact with them? Markarova: Well, it's a big team that works on it. And as you said, President Zelenskyy met with Speaker Johnson when he was here. They just had a very good phone call last week. But when I talk to people, whether it's the speaker's office or any senator's, congressman's, administration, anyone, I don't think it's hard to find a style, as you said, of how to talk. Ukraine is just sharing what really happens on the ground. You know, truth is our best weapon, as we say. We don't need to come up with ways to say it. We are just informing our friends of what's going on and why it is important for all of us to win. Putin says publicly that his goal and intent did not change. He wants to destroy us. Everyone understands that this war was unprovoked, that he attacked us for no reason at all. It’s a genocidal, terroristic war of an autocratic state against a peaceful, democratic, much smaller neighbor. VOA: Do Americans understand the Ukrainian pain here? Markarova: Yes. When you explain it to them, yes. The problem is getting information to them. Because there is so much going on, and when you are not on TV, sometimes you disappear from the discussion. And frankly, people in some areas ask me whether the war is still ongoing. I don’t mean to criticize them. I’m ... saying we have to remind people about us. That’s why all the brave journalists we have in Ukraine keep working. It’s because of them people throughout the globe were able to see what's happening, and we have already lost, as you know, more than 70 people in Ukraine. They were journalists, camera people. Russia targets them. VOA: Ambassador, Speaker Johnson indicated recently that he may be willing to consider a loan to Ukraine, say, a Lend-Lease Act 2.0. However, the State Department has criticized these efforts saying that it's not acceptable to put more burdens on Ukraine during the war. In the light of this dire situation on the front line, would Ukraine consider this option of getting a loan instead of the supplemental? Markarova: The Lend-Lease Act, adopted in 2022, addressed a portion of the military support provided during the presidential drawdown. This allowed the United States to provide not only grants through PDA from their own stockpiles but also lease or loan items. What is being discussed now, and again, there are several options, but in general, it's to provide support to Ukraine in the form of a loan. We've heard about 0% loans, long-term loans, among other options. We will see the actual proposal when it's presented. Of course, we would be grateful for any type of support. Grants are preferred over loans because they also contribute to our macroeconomic and public finance stability. However, if the United States decides to provide aid in the form of a loan, especially budget support, it will be more challenging and have more implications than a grant. Nevertheless, it will be much better than receiving no assistance. We are very grateful to the U.S. for not only providing us with help for two years but also providing it in the form of grants, as you know, while other partners mostly offered concessional loans. So, that is also a viable option. VOA: Ambassador, I'm curious, what is the first thing you plan to do once the war is over? If you can share that. Have you ever thought about it? Markarova: Oh my God, I never thought about that. I think we all will be so happy and glad. I will probably just take a day off to watch movies and sleep for as long as I can. But jokes aside, I don't know. Again, right now, victory is the goal for all of us. But when we win the war, our task will not be over. The very next second, we'll have to continue working on not only rebuilding but also bringing Russia to justice. And that's a comprehensive, very big task that a large team in Ukraine, again, led by the president, but with the prosecutor general and all investigators, are doing. And you know, continue working, continue serving the country, continue doing what we can in order to win the peace.

washington — Slowly but surely, the Islamic State terror group seems to be regaining its footing in Syria, launching new and brazen attacks against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A report issued this week by the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project (CEP) counted at least 69 confirmed attacks by the Islamic State group, also known as IS, ISIS or Daesh, in central Syria last month. The attacks killed at least 84 Syrian soldiers and 44 civilians, and they more than doubled the total number of confirmed IS operations for all of 2024. “March was, by every metric, the most violent month of ISIS’s Badia [central Syrian desert] insurgency since late 2017, when the group first lost control of its territory,” according to the CEP report. “The unique and alarming difference in March was the scale of attacks against security forces,” the report added. “ISIS cells successfully and consistently targeted regime outposts and ambushed patrols, frequently capturing and executing soldiers.” But at a time when most of the world is focused on Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, blamed for the deadly attack last month on a concert hall near Moscow, CEP is not alone in its warning about the group’s Syrian operatives. A separate report this week published by the pro-Kurdish Rojava Information Center (RIC) found IS maintained a high tempo of attacks in parts of Syria nominally controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. RIC’s monthly sleeper cell report counted 27 Islamic State attacks in March, following 26 in February and 16 in January. The RIC report also noted a heavy focus by IS on targeting SDF troops and locations, including at least three attacks from March 7 through March 15. The concerns about the upswing in IS attacks across Syria are not new. Officials with the SDF’s political wing told VOA in January that the terror group’s activities had “increased significantly,” both in areas patrolled by the SDF and in areas overseen by the Assad regime. U.S. officials, however, have expressed skepticism regarding a possible IS resurgence in Syria. The terror group is “struggling in many ways to mount a major capability that is relevant to the United States,” said National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid during an appearance this week on the "In the Room" podcast with terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. Recent public U.S. intelligence estimates put the total number of IS fighters and nonfighters — including financiers and other facilitators — at no more than 1,000 across Syria and neighboring Iraq. And the Worldwide Threat Assessment, issued last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, cautioned that while IS remains a centralized global terror organization, “it has been forced to rely on regional branches in response to successive leadership losses during the past few years.” But an intelligence assessment compiled by the United Nations and issued in January, based on information from member states, has pushed back against the U.S. view. The U.N. report warned Islamic State still likely had 3,000 to 5,000 fighters across Syria and Iraq, adding that the central Syrian desert had become a “a logistics and operations hub with 500 to 600 fighters.” Despite the vastly different U.S. and U.N. assessments, many counterterrorism officials and independent analysts say Islamic State is still nowhere near reasserting itself in a way that resembles the terror group’s heyday six to eight years ago, when it controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq. Yet there is also some agreement that the terror organization has been successful in at least temporarily regenerating capability in territory that once formed the heart of its self-declared caliphate. “The Islamic State always maintained capacity, even though it lost its control of Mosul and Raqqa and other strongholds,” said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It was never truly defeated … because we never do enough to actually defeat them,” Roggio told VOA. “And in places like Syria, it's extremely difficult because who do you work with, who do you partner with to do that?” The U.S. partner in northeastern Syria is the Kurdish-led SDF, charged not only with conducting operations to counter IS but also with being responsible for a series of prisons holding 9,000 former IS fighters and with overseeing security at displaced persons camps, like al-Hol, which remain home to tens of thousands of IS wives and children. Further complicating matters, the SDF has increasingly found itself in conflict with Turkish forces, who view it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, labeled as a terror organization by Ankara and Washington. And 900 mostly U.S. special forces in Syria have been distracted by recent drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. bases by Iranian-backed militias. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its SDF allies have little reach into parts of central Syria, where forces loyal to the Assad regime battle Islamic State cells with Russian support. U.S. officials have long criticized those Syrian and Russian efforts as insufficient. “The Russians, really, in my estimation, are in the same mode as the U.S.,” Roggio said. “They're doing enough to keep the Assad regime propped up and keep them alive and keep the pressure on the Islamic State. But they have bigger fish to fry in Ukraine. “They're not devoting the resources and the energy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.” And some former officials warn that any goodwill between Russia and the U.S. when it comes to battling the Islamic State has long since dried up. “It’s [Russia’s] been consulted,” said Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former senior U.N. counterterrorism official who currently serves as a senior adviser for CEP. “And now we seem to have lost that. “That is a problem because some of the people who are best equipped to analyze and predict what might happen are not playing ball,” Fitton-Brown told VOA following last month’s IS attack in Russia. The Kremlin is “capable of helping in this if they wanted to, but they don’t,” he said. Experts and analysts warn these sorts of problems provide IS with fertile ground to grow its forces and its operations. For now, though, those efforts still seem to be in the early stages. “ISIS is not poised to capture major cities … and likely will be unable to capture smaller strategic objectives,” the CEP report said. “However, March’s attacks appear to show a pattern in which ISIS cells have seized control over much of the ‘empty’ space outside hardened regime positions.”

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.

pentagon — U.S. and Chinese defense officials met this week for the first time in nearly two years to talk about unsafe and aggressive incidents between the two militaries’ ships and aircraft in the Pacific region. The talks, which ran from Wednesday through Thursday in Hawaii, mark the restart of a dialogue Beijing abruptly ended following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own. Chinese officials have criticized U.S. support for Taiwan as interference. U.S. officials said the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) working group reviewed safety-related events over the last few years and discussed ways to sustain operational safety and professionalism between China and the United States. “We've observed a reduction in unsafe behavior between us and PLA [People’s Liberation Army] aircraft and vessels over the last several months, so we're encouraged by that,” one U.S. official told reporters on the condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to discuss the meetings before their conclusion. “The United States will continue to operate safely and professionally in the Indo-Pacific wherever international law allows, and we take this responsibility seriously. Open, direct and clear communications with the PLA — and with all other military forces in the region — is of utmost importance to avoid accidents and miscommunication,” the head of the U.S. delegation, Army Colonel Ian Francis, said in a press release. Last November U.S. President Joe Biden met with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. The first senior military-to-military contact since Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was made about a month later, when the top U.S. military officer, General CQ Brown, spoke with his Chinese counterpart in a video call. Officials said this week's meetings included about 18 senior officials from each side.  Beijing has asserted its desire to control access to the South China Sea and bring Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary. Biden has said U.S. troops would defend the democratic island from attack. Following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, China’s military has surged aggressive actions around the island — repeatedly crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait with its warships and aircraft — and firing missiles both over Taiwan and into Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific affairs, testified in October 2023 that there had been more than 180 reckless intercepts of U.S. military aircraft by Chinese aircraft in the past two years, more intercepts than U.S. officials had seen in the entire decade before that. “And when you take into account cases of coercive and risky PLA intercepts against other states, the number increases to nearly 300 cases against U.S., allied and partner aircraft over the last two years,” Ratner said. In one of the instances, a Chinese pilot flew within 3 meters (9.8 feet) of a U.S. Air Force B-52 in international airspace over the South China Sea.

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 — The U.N. Human Rights Council overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Friday calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Only six countries voted against the resolution, which passed with 28 votes in favor and 13 abstentions. The council chamber erupted in a wild burst of applause when the results of the vote were announced to the glee of the many countries that supported the resolution and to the dismay of those that did not. “The Human Rights Council has just adopted a resolution supposedly addressing accountability and justice,” Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israeli ambassador to the U.N., told reporters after the vote. The ambassador told journalists that the council’s adoption of the resolution clearly shows that “Israelis do not matter, the murder of Jews does not matter, the hostages do not matter, the rape of Israeli women does not matter.” “Where is the accountability for the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism?” she asked. The resolution calls upon all states “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.” It demands that Israel immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of collective punishment, and “calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.” Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Bilal Ahmad, introduced the draft resolution on behalf of the OIC, the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. He said the resolution responds to “egregious human rights violations” in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, and to “Israel’s disregard for international law.” “The preamble reflects this council’s grave concern at war crimes and crimes against humanity in the [occupied Palestinian territories] and the [International Court of Justice’s] determination that the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation face the plausible risk of genocide,” he said. In an emotional address to the council before the vote, Ibrahim Khraish, the Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, decried the “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza. “We need you all to wake up and stop this genocide … televised live across the world, killing thousands of innocent people. This must be stopped,” he said. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Michele Taylor, agreed that “far too many civilians have been killed” in the Gaza conflict. “The protection of all civilian life is both a moral and strategic imperative and Israel has not done enough to mitigate civilian harm. We continue to express grave concern at the unprecedented loss of life and the lack of adequate humanitarian assistance that has placed men, women, and children in Gaza on the brink of widespread starvation,” she said. Despite this critical review of Israel’s conduct of the war, Taylor said the U.S. could not vote for the resolution because it contained too many “problematic elements.” “For example, there is no specific condemnation of Hamas for perpetrating the horrific October 7 attacks, neither is there any reference to the terrorist nature of those actions. ... The text makes no distinction between hostages who were brutally abducted by a terrorist organization that heeds no international law … and are likely experiencing repeated sexual violence, and detainees whose fate is regulated and governed by legal processes. Let me be clear: these groups are not equivalent,” she said. More than a dozen countries took the floor in vocal support of the resolution. Besides the U.S., Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Malawi and Paraguay voted against the measure. France abstained. The Israel ambassador expressed her disappointment at the lack of support from European countries, naming Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland as countries that supported “a resolution that did not condemn Hamas.” “This council has long abandoned the Israeli people and long defended Hamas,” said Ambassador Shahar. “It has become a shield for terrorists. It has turned a blind eye to any acts of violence against Israelis and Jews. “This resolution is a stain on the Human Rights Council and on the United Nations as a whole,” she said.

Following a conversation between Biden and Netanyahu, Israel opens a border grossing in northern Gaza as the UN Security Council meets in New York. NATO wraps up its 75th birthday party in Brussels, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is in China and a look at water scarcity in the Middle East

VOA Connect Episode 325 - The resurgence of lowrider cars and the cutting-edge manufacturing techniques transforming the automotive industry.