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Guatemala City — A Guatemalan court on Wednesday granted a prominent journalist and corruption critic a conditional release in a case of alleged graft, though he must clear another legal hurdle before being freed from prison.  Jose Ruben Zamora has rejected money-laundering accusations against him as retaliation for his newspaper's reporting on alleged government corruption under former right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei.  A criminal court granted the 67-year-old home detention while awaiting a retrial on those charges, its president, Veronica Ruiz, announced.  The three judges decided there was no danger of Zamora fleeing or obstructing the investigation and criminal proceedings against him.  However, he will not be freed from the military barracks in Guatemala City until a separate obstruction-of-justice case against him is resolved.  Zamora told journalists after the ruling that he was waiting for a hearing date in that case, which he said he believed would be "dismissed and I can go home."  In October 2023, an appeals court overturned a six-year prison sentence for Zamora — founder of the now-shuttered El Periodico — and ordered a new trial.  A date has not yet been set.  Press freedom and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as a "witch hunt."   On Tuesday, Colombia's prestigious Gabo Foundation named Zamora the winner of its annual journalism award for his "tenacious and courageous professional work."  Jose Carlos Zamora, the journalist's son, told Agence France-Presse in an interview on Wednesday that his father had suffered "torture" in prison during Giammattei's government.  The younger Zamora, who now lives in Miami with his mother and brother, said his father saw prison "as part of his work" and that it "helped expose abuses of power in Guatemala."  Giammattei has been accused by rights groups of overseeing a crackdown on anti-graft prosecutors and journalists during his term, which ended in January.  He was replaced by President Bernardo Arevalo, an underdog anti-corruption campaigner who overcame attempts by the political establishment to block his inauguration.

islamabad — China on Wednesday hailed its "ironclad" relationship with Pakistan and vowed to further enhance economic and anti-terrorism security cooperation between the neighboring countries at a bilaterial strategic dialogue in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi renewed the pledge at a news conference after hosting formal talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister. Broadcast live by Pakistan's state-run TV, the media talk comes just weeks after a suicide car bombing in northwestern Pakistan killed five Chinese engineers who were working on a hydropower project. Their local driver also was killed. The Pakistani military said this month that its probe into the March 26 attack revealed that an Afghan national carried it out and terrorists based in Afghanistan had planned it. Wang stated that the Pakistani side promised to make every effort to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Chinese state media quoted him as expressing hope that Islamabad would ensure "the safety of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan, and eliminate the worries of Chinese enterprises and personnel." Dar said that the dialogue with Wang also reviewed the Afghan situation, and both sides agreed that peace and stability in the war-ravaged neighboring country are crucial for regional development, connectivity, and prosperity. "We are concerned about the continued presence of terrorist entities operating in Afghanistan and call upon the Afghan interim government to take credible and verifiable actions against such elements using Afghan soil to threaten the peace and security of the neighboring countries," the Pakistani foreign minister said. Wang calls for 'united front' Islamabad maintains that the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, was behind the car bombing and other attacks in the country, alleging that the terrorist outfit is being facilitated by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban leaders reject allegations that Afghan soil was used in the attack against the Chinese workers. They reiterated that no one is permitted to threaten other countries, including Pakistan, from Afghanistan. Wang said, without mentioning Afghanistan, that Beijing "is willing to further deepen counter-terrorism security cooperation" with Islamabad. Without elaborating further, he called on the international community to "eradicate the breeding ground for terrorism" through a "united front" against the threat. The China-Pakistan dialogue comes one day after a new report warned that power vacuums in Afghanistan created in the wake of U.S.-led allied troop departures are fueling the resurgence of transnational terrorist groups, including TTP. "The post-U.S. withdrawal environment in Afghanistan offers terrorist groups a range of new opportunities for regrouping, plotting, and collaborating with one another," said the study conducted by the U.S. Institute for Peace, based in Washington. Beijing 'ready to work' Wang said Wednesday that Beijing is ready to work with Islamabad to advance the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. The Chinese-funded multibillion-dollar collaboration has built roads, highways, power plants, and ports as part of President Xi Jinping's global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Dar insisted the decade-long CPEC undertaking "has transformed Pakistan's economic landscape by eliminating power outages and developing a robust infrastructure network, thus laying a strong foundation for Pakistan's future development." Pakistan's foreign minister noted that the two sides agreed to "further upgrade and expand" CPEC cooperation. In a recent speech in Islamabad, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong referred to CPEC as a pilot project of BRI and said it had brought more than $25 billion in direct investment, created 155,000 direct job opportunities, and built 510 kilometers (316.8 miles) of expressways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and 886 kilometers (550.5 miles) of core transmission grids to Pakistan. Some critics attribute cash-strapped Pakistan's deepening economic challenges to CPEC-related Chinese investments and loans. A $3 billion International Monetary Fund loan helped the South Asian nation narrowly avoid default on its foreign debt payments last year.

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Tehran, Iran — Iran's parliament approved changes to the working week for all government employees on Wednesday that would establish a 40-hour work week with a Friday-Saturday weekend. The legislation, which still requires a green light from constitutional watchdog the Guardian Council, would replace the existing 44-hour work week with a half-day Thursday and Friday — the Muslim day of prayer and rest — the only full day off. The change had been hotly debated, and 136 lawmakers voted in favor, with 66 against and three abstentions, the official IRNA news agency said. Economists had warned that the alternative of a Thursday-Friday weekend risked deepening Iran's isolation by limiting most international transactions to three days per week. But some clerics accused supporters of a Friday-Saturday weekend of taking their lead from the Judeo-Christian traditions of the Western world. However, lawmaker Mohsen Pirhadi told parliament Wednesday that leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Javadi Amoli had raised no objection to Saturday as a weekend day.

WASHINGTON — America's foreign adversaries will again seek to influence the upcoming U.S. elections, top security officials warned members of the Senate on Wednesday, harnessing the latest innovations in artificial intelligence to spread online disinformation, mislead voters and undermine trust in democracy. But the U.S. has greatly improved its ability to safeguard election security and identify and combat foreign disinformation campaigns since 2016, when Russia sought to influence the election, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The latest warning from security officials came as advances in AI make it easier and cheaper than ever to create lifelike images, video and audio that can fool even the most discerning voter. Other tools of disinformation include state media, online influencers, and networks of fake accounts that can quickly amplify false and misleading content. Russia, China and Iran remain the main actors looking to interfere with the 2024 election, security officials said, but because of advances in technology, other nations or even domestic groups could try to mount their own sophisticated disinformation campaigns. Russia remains "the most active foreign threat to our elections," Haines said, using its state media and online influencers to try to erode trust in democratic institutions and U.S. support for Ukraine. In recent months, Russia has seized on America's debate over immigration, spreading posts that exaggerate the impact of migration in an apparent effort to stoke outrage among American voters. China did not directly try to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, mostly because of concerns about blowback, Haines said. China's ties to TikTok were one of the things cited by members of Congress who recently voted to force TikTok's Beijing-based owner to sell the platform. "Needless to say, we will continue to monitor their activity," Haines said of China. Iran, meanwhile, has used social media platforms to issue threats and try to confuse voters, Haines said. She cited a 2020 episode in which U.S. officials accused Tehran of distributing false content and being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating them into voting for President Donald Trump. Wednesday's hearing on foreign threats to the election also covered the risk that an adversary could hack into state or local election systems, either to change the vote or to create the perception that the outcome can't be trusted. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the federal government has worked closely with state and local election officials to ensure the 2024 election is the most secure ever. "Election infrastructure has never been more secure," Easterly said.

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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Women Affairs says it is investigating a plan by a lawmaker in central Niger state to marry off some 100 female orphans of unknown ages later this month. Speaker of the Niger State Assembly Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji announced the mass wedding last week but called off the ceremony following widespread outrage. Minister of Women Affairs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, condemned the plans. Kennedy-Ohanenye said she had petitioned the police and filed a lawsuit to stop the marriages pending an investigation to ascertain the age of the orphans and whether they consented to the marriages. "This is totally unacceptable by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and by the government” of Nigeria, she said. Last week, Sarkin-Daji announced his support for the mass wedding of the orphans, whose relatives were killed during attacks by armed bandits. He said it was part of his support to his constituents following an appeal for wedding funding by local traditional and religious leaders. The mass wedding had been scheduled for May 24. "That support I intend to give for the marriage of those orphans, I'm withdrawing it,” he said. “The parents can have the support [money], if they wish, let them go ahead and marry them off. As it is right now, I'm not threatened by the action of the minister." Despite national laws prohibiting it, forced or arranged marriage is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, especially among rural communities in the predominantly Muslim north, where religious and cultural norms such as polygamy favor the practice. Poor families often use forced marriage to ease financial pressure, and the European Union Agency for Asylum says girls who refuse could face repercussions such as neglect, ostracism, physical assault and rape. Raquel Kasham Daniel escaped being married off as a teenager when her father died and now runs a nonprofit helping children, especially less-privileged girls, get a formal education for free. She said the ability of women to avoid forced marriage in Nigeria depends on their income and education. "I was 16 when I lost my dad and I was almost married off, but then I ran away from home. And that gave me the opportunity to complete my education, and now I have a better life,” Daniel said. “So, the reason why I prioritize education is to make sure that other girls have access to quality schooling so that it will help them make informed decisions about their lives. Education not only increases our awareness as girls about our rights but also enhances our prospects for higher income earning,” she said. Thirty percent of girls in Nigeria are married before they turn 18, according to Girls Not Brides, a global network of more than 1,400 civil society groups working to end child marriage.

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white house — There are few things the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree on. One is the presidential candidacy of activist-lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Both the Biden and Trump camps see Kennedy as a potential spoiler in this November's election. About half of registered voters have told pollsters that if given the chance, they would replace both Biden and Trump on this year's ballot. "If you picture what this country is going to look like in November if either President Trump or President Biden won, the division is going to continue," Kennedy said at a California campaign event to introduce his running mate, 38-year-old attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan. "The anger, the vitriol, the chaos, the polarization is going to worsen. The only way to end that is through my successful candidacy." Neither Kennedy nor Shanahan has ever held elective office. Kennedy's father was Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. attorney general and a senator, and a major contender in the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primary until he was assassinated. His uncle was President John F. Kennedy, slain while in office in 1963. "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not going to be the next president," predicts Georgetown University Associate Professor Hans Noel, echoing the consensus of his fellow political scientists. What worries the Biden and Trump campaigns is the possibility of Kennedy on the ballot in the half-dozen or so swing states where his mere thousands of votes could "change the outcome of that state. Then of course, that tips the direction of that state — if that state is large enough — and the ultimate election is fairly close, which is what we expect. Then, it could change the outcome of the race," Noel tells VOA. During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Kennedy declared "I'm going to be on the ballot in every state. I'll be on the ballot in every state by July." Kennedy's team declined VOA's request to make the candidate or a surrogate available to respond to questions, saying "the campaign has decided to only grant interviews to U.S press with targeted U.S. audiences at this time." The Kennedy clan "is not happy at all that he's running, and they've made a number of efforts to make that very clear," notes Noel. Biden, during a recent campaign appearance in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, was surrounded by Kennedy family members, including the independent candidate's sister, Kerry Kennedy, who said "We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years." Candidate Kennedy's beliefs about vaccines, the origins of COVD-19, and the assassinations of his father and uncle have attracted some supporters, including those who said they previously voted for Trump or Biden. In recent weeks, Kennedy attracted the most media attention not for his positions on any political issue but for a revelation from a 2012 deposition for a divorce. In it, he said cognitive issues that had harmed his earning potential could have been "caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died." In a social media post after the brain worm wriggled into the headlines across the country, Kennedy quipped, "I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate." Political pundits are split on whether Kennedy poses more of a threat to Trump or Biden. "Kennedy is much more popular among Republicans than he is among Democrats right now. But that's probably mostly because he's a Democrat or former Democrat who says bad things about other Democrats," said Noel. "And, so, Republicans like to hear that, and they think that sounds interesting. But they're not going to vote for that over Donald Trump." The Republican National Committee, attempting to dissuade conservatives who oppose abortion from considering Kennedy as an alternative to Trump, stated, "There is exactly zero daylight between the abortion extremism of RFK Jr. and Crooked Joe Biden." The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint against Kennedy in February with the Federal Election Commission alleging a political action committee was illegally coordinating with the independent candidate's campaign to get him on additional state ballots. Biden's party also portrays Kennedy as a "spoiler for Donald Trump," according to Matt Corridoni, a DNC spokesperson. "RFK Jr.'s campaign isn't building a plan or a strategy to get 270 electoral votes. They're building one to help Trump return to the Oval Office," he says. The New York Times calls Kennedy the "X factor" in this year's presidential election, noting that the latest public opinion survey, organized by the newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College, shows him polling stronger than any third-party candidate in decades. The poll has Kennedy being supported by about 10% of registered voters in the battleground states, drawing equally from both Biden and Trump.

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As Russia ramps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, officials with the U.S. command in Eastern Europe say it’s urgent for NATO to be ready for a possible confrontation. VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze talked to the U.S. and Polish commanders during a U.S. Army transfer of authority ceremony in Boleslawiec, Poland. VOA footage and video editing by Daniil Batushchak.

Blantyre, Malawi — A new report finds that gaps in family laws in most African countries are fueling discrimination of women and girls. The report from the international NGO Equality Now says laws that favor men in matters of sex, marriage and inheritance, among other issues, leave many women in despair. The study, released to coincide with the United Nations-declared International Day of the Family on Wednesday, highlights how legal frameworks and customary practices in 20 African countries have fueled discrimination in marriage, divorce, custody and property rights. Esther Waweru is a senior legal adviser at Equality Now and co-author of the report. She spoke with VOA from Kenya on how gaps in family laws have affected the lives of women in Africa. “Take a case of Sudan for instance, where women cannot initiate divorce, unlike men. So, it therefore means that the woman will be trapped in a marriage that they don’t want to live [in], just because they can’t initiate a divorce,” she said. Waweru said in some countries where women initiate a divorce, they are not allowed to take custody of the children from a previous marriage when they remarry. In Malawi, the report notes that courts have ruled rape does not extend to marriage. It says customary law in Malawi presumes perpetual consent to sex within marriage and that a wife can deny her husband sex only when she is sick or legally separated. While in Tanzania, the report says marital rape is only criminalized upon separation. It also says customary and religious laws in countries like Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria undermine women and girls in matters of inheritance, as they receive less than men and boys. Hala Alkarib is the executive director for Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa. She told VOA from Ethiopia that the legal imbalance in many African countries leaves women feeling helpless. “Imagine that you are not treated equally and discriminated against. It automatically goes without saying you are typically poor. You are exposed to violence systematically. You are dehumanized and undermined. You don’t have equal access to opportunities. You are subjected to different forms of sexual violence, and your dignity is compromised,” said Alkarib. Francis Selasini is the executive director for Network Against Female Genital Mutilation in Tanzania. He said communities also play a role in undermining or sidestepping laws meant to protect women. He cited issues of genital mutilation in northern parts of Tanzania, where he said communities have changed tactics to protect their traditional norms. “For example, initially they were mutilating girls from 10 and above, for the reason of preparing her for marriage. But nowadays, they are mutilating even babies. They are doing so because they would like to defeat the legal process. Because they know if they mutilate babies, babies will not be able to take them to court. They will not be able to report,” he said. Waweru of Equality Now says although many countries have ratified key international treaties that protect women’s rights, existing domestic laws make implementation and enforcement of these treaties difficult.  She calls upon African states to fully align their family laws and their practices with international human rights standards.

Tbilisi, Georgia — Hundreds of protesters donning gas masks and protective goggles shut down streets in Tbilisi on Tuesday after Georgia’s parliament passed a so-called “foreign influence” law that critics call a copy of Russia’s foreign agent law, heavily relied upon by the Kremlin to suppress dissent. Ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers approved the legislation despite warnings from Washington and Brussels that such a move might threaten Georgia’s partnership with the West. For over a month, tens of thousands of Georgians have flooded the streets to protest the legislation in the largest rallies the country has seen since the nation's independence from the Soviet Union. Protester Giorgi Iashvili was just 20 when he was called up as a reservist in 2008 to fight in the war that Russian military and Moscow-backed-separatist forces launched against his country. Sixteen years later he finds himself once again rallying against Russia's ongoing efforts to subjugate his country, this time, he says, with tacit assistance of the Georgian government itself. As a young cybersecurity professional, Iashvili firmly believes enactment of the foreign agent law is inexorably pushing the country, a fifth of which is already occupied by Russia, deeper into Russia's orbit. "In 2008, Russia attacked Georgia directly and conventionally. In recent years, however, it has resorted to hybrid methods — disinformation, influence operations, borderization [creeping annexation], infiltration, and cyber campaigns,” he told VOA’s Georgian Service. “Both this law and recent events are evidently part of this hybrid warfare." Like many of his young fellow protesters in Georgia’s capital Tuesday, Iashvili appeared hopeful amid unsettling circumstances. "I believe that a significant part of our society remains vigilant against these threats and refuses to fall victim to these information operations,” he said. “The current wave of protests serves as confirmation." Targets foreign funding Georgia’s foreign influence law requires civil society organizations, media and others that receive 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. The public's discontent with the government has been simmering gradually. The Georgian Dream-led government, now in its third term, is said to be controlled by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who amassed his wealth in 1990s Moscow and has since strategically appointed loyalists to key government positions. Ivanishvili rejects that accusation, as do the Georgian Dream officials who also deny that they’re quietly working to support Russian efforts to undermine Georgian democracy. The government has long conducted a two-pronged foreign policy, working with Western partners to appease its overwhelmingly pro-European population while simultaneously warming up to Moscow under the pretext of preventing another conflict. It has claimed publicly to be moving the country in a westward direction while fomenting anti-Western sentiment domestically. While Georgia’s ruling government has allowed a large number Russian men fleeing the military draft to enter the country, it has refused entry to members of Russia’s military opposition and failed to join Western countries imposing sanctions on Russia. Georgian Dream leaders blame the war in Ukraine on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, putting their government at odds with the West. Georgian authorities have criticized their Ukrainian counterparts and repeatedly accused Ukraine and its Western supporters of attempting to embroil Georgia in the conflict, labeling them the "global war party." “The protests are not merely about a Russian law,” Helen Khoshtaria, the leader of the Droa opposition party, told VOA. “It's about the survival of Georgia and its aspiration to remain a free, European nation, which Ivanishvili has jeopardized. He openly stated that the enemies of this country are not Russia, its actual enemy ... but the U.S. and the EU, when the overwhelming majority of this country, the entire nation, holds the opposite belief.” Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the Strategy Agmashenebeli opposition party, told VOA: "We aspire to be part of the European Union. We envision a Georgia without Russia, without Russian oligarchs." US anti-Nazi law cited The Georgian government has staunchly defended the law, calling it similar to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA — a comparison U.S. officials reject. Enacted in 1938 to unmask Nazi propaganda in the United States, FARA requires people to disclose to the Justice Department when they advocate, lobby or perform public relations work in the United States on behalf of a foreign government or political entity. “Our appeal to the U.S. is to think about partnership and not take counterproductive steps,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said after meeting with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien in Tbilisi on Wednesday. The protests have taken place almost every day since the beginning of April. For the first time in years, those taking to the streets are self-organized grassroots activists without a leader or political party behind them. Georgian authorities have arrested dozens of demonstrators over the past few days. Dozens have been assaulted or intimidated by riot police, prompting widespread condemnation by local watchdogs and Georgia’s Western partners. "They have detained scores of youth and representatives of civil society,” former State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Buka Petriashvili told VOA. “We are witnessing the establishment of Ivanishvili's autocratic regime and obstruction of Georgia's path toward the European Union. Georgia will never accept the blocking of its path toward the European Union and will fight until we prevail."

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.

China, France, and Spain are the largest extractors of uranium in Niger. China is also the single largest harvester of Nigeria’s lithium. A Nigerian subsidiary of a U.S. private firm Chevron is involved in that country’s oil production.