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Oradour-sur-Glane, France — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned against the dangers of nationalism Monday, as he visited a World War II massacre site in France a day after European elections saw advances for the far right.   It is "fittingly on the day after the European elections that I say: let us never forget the damage done in Europe by nationalism and hate. Let us never forget the miracle of reconciliation the European Union has worked," Steinmeier said at a commemoration ceremony for the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where Nazi SS soldiers massacred civilians in 1944.   Among the German head of state's audience was President Emmanuel Macron, who called new national elections to France's parliament Sunday, after his party's disastrous showing in the European vote.   While Macron hopes to break the deadlock of a hung parliament that has dogged his second term since 2022, the far-right National Rally (RN) looks set to make significant gains from its current 88 lawmakers.   "It is in this memory, in the ashes of Oradour, that we have to ensure the strength of this reconciliation is reborn," Macron said, calling post-war Franco-German ties "the lifeblood of our European project." 

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WILMINGTON, Delaware — Hunter Biden's lawyers rested their case Monday in the federal criminal trial of the president's son, who is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018, according to news reports.  Prosecutors have argued the evidence is clear that Hunter Biden was in the throes of addiction when he checked "no" on the form at the gun shop that asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" drugs.  Hunter Biden's addiction struggles before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argued that prosecutors failed to prove he was using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun.  The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time, completing a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018. His daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense last week, telling jurors about visiting him while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. The defense also tried to cast doubt on the memories of the prosecution's witnesses, pressing them about their recollection of events.  Hunter Biden was charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty,  It's the first of two trials for Hunter Biden in the midst of his father's Democratic reelection campaign. He also is charged with failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a case scheduled to go to trial in September in California.  Hunter Biden has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the gun case and the separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.  The case has put a spotlight on a turbulent time in Hunter Biden's life after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015.  Hunter Biden's struggles with addiction before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argue there's no evidence he was actually using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun. He had completed a rehab program weeks earlier.  Jurors have heard emotional testimony from Hunter Biden's former romantic partners and read personal text messages. They've seen photos of Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe and partly clothed, and video from his phone of crack cocaine weighed on a scale.  His ex-wife and two former girlfriends testified for prosecutors about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. One woman, who met Hunter Biden in 2017 at a strip club where she worked, described him smoking crack every 20 minutes or so while she stayed with him at a hotel.  Hunter Biden has not taken the witness stand. But jurors have heard him describe at length his descent into addiction through audio excerpts played in court of his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things." The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.  A key witness for prosecutors is Beau's widow, Hallie, who had a brief troubled relationship with Hunter after his brother died of brain cancer. She found the unloaded gun in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash.  "I didn't want him to hurt himself, and I didn't want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie Biden told jurors. From the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs, Hallie told jurors. That time period included the day he bought the weapon. But jurors also saw text messages Hunter sent to Hallie in October 2018 saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.  The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time of the gun purchase, having completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.  "There is no evidence of contemporaneous drug use and a gun possession," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in court papers filed Friday. "It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs."  Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense Friday, telling jurors about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. She told jurors that he seemed "hopeful" and to be improving, and she told him she was proud of him. As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.  The defense on Friday did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Hunter's lawyers previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden's brother, James, and he was at the courthouse on Friday. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more deeply personal messages to be introduced to the jury.  President Joe Biden said last week that he would accept the jury's verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son. After flying back from France, President Biden was at his home in Wilmington for the day and was expected in Washington in the evening for a Juneteenth concert. He was scheduled to travel to Italy later this week for the Group of Seven leaders conference.  Last summer, it looked as if Hunter Biden would avoid prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal with prosecutors imploded after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Republican former President Donald Trump, raised concerns about it. Hunter Biden was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.  If convicted in the gun case, he faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.

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Madrid — Three Valencia football fans were sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday for hate crimes against Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior, the first conviction for racist insults in a soccer stadium in Spain, the court announced. "The ruling handed down today, which is final, establishes as proven that the three defendants insulted Vinicius with shouts, gestures and chants referring to the color of his skin," the court said in a statement. "These shouts and gestures of a racist nature, consisting among other things in the repetition of the sounds and imitating the movements of monkeys, caused the footballer feelings of frustration, shame and humiliation, with the consequent undermining of his intrinsic dignity." In Spain, prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent crimes rarely require a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time so the three are likely to remain free unless they commit further offences. The three supporters, who pleaded guilty to the charges, were also banned from entering football stadiums for two years and ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings. "This ruling is great news for the fight against racism in Spain as it repairs the damage suffered by Vinicius Jr and sends a clear message to those people who go to a football stadium to insult that LaLiga will identify them, report them and there will be criminal consequences for them," LaLiga president Javier Tebas said.   The events happened at Valencia's Mestalla stadium in May last year, when racist slurs were hurled at Vinicius, who is Black, during a league match. They led to an outpouring of support for the Brazilian forward and galvanized a series of local and international campaigns, including the creation of a FIFA anti-racism committee made up of players. "During the hearing, the defendants read a letter of apology to Vinicius Jr, LaLiga and Real Madrid," LaLiga said in a statement on Monday. Real Madrid said the defendants had shown repentance and, in their letter, had "asked fans that all traces of racism and intolerance should be banished from sporting competitions." "Real Madrid, which together with Vinicius Jr has acted as private prosecutor in these proceedings, will continue to work to protect the values of our club and to eradicate any racist behavior in the world of football and sport," the club added in a statement. The 23-year-old Vinicius helped Real Madrid to win the LaLiga title and the Champions League this past season. He was named the Champions League's player of the season and is one of the favorites to win the Ballon d'Or for the world's best player in October. Sixteen incidents of racist abuse against Vinicius have been reported to Spanish prosecutors by LaLiga in the last two seasons. In March, Vinicius broke down in tears at a press conference and said he was struggling to stay motivated and enjoy playing football due to the recurring abuse, urging Spanish authorities to take action. "People should know that this type of act is punishable, punishable as a hate crime, because the conviction is for crimes against moral integrity but with the aggravating circumstance of hatred," state prosecutor Susana Gisbert told reporters. In April, Spanish TV station Movistar Plus+ fired analyst German Burgos after Barcelona and Paris St Germain refused to give interviews to the network following a comment he made about Barcelona's Lamine Yamal which was interpreted as racist. In the same month, Atletico Madrid and Getafe were ordered to partially close their stands following racist and xenophobic abuse in a LaLiga game, while a third-division match between Rayo Majadahonda and Sestao River was suspended after Rayo's Senegalese goalkeeper Cheikh Kane Sarr confronted a rival fan who he said was racially abusing him.

A Chinese aircraft manufacturer is actively marketing its commercial jet to the international market, eventually hoping to compete with giants like Boeing and Airbus. But VOA’s Ahadian Utama reports that Beijing faces an uphill battle for Asian skies. Indra Yoga contributed to this report.

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Tokyo — The United States needs Japan's help to cope with strategic challenges in Europe and Asia that are straining its defense industries, the U.S. ambassador to Japan said on Monday as the countries kicked off talks on military industrial cooperation. "Our national security strategy calls for us to be able to handle one and a half theaters, that's a major war and another one to a stand-off, and with both the Middle East, Ukraine, and keeping our deterrence credible in this region (East Asia) you can already see that we are in two plus," Rahm Emanuel told reporters.  On Sunday, Japan and the U.S. kicked off their first talks in Tokyo on forging deeper defense industry collaboration under the U.S.-Japan Forum on Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) established in April by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden.   Discussions on Tuesday between U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William A. LaPlante and Masaki Fukasawa, the head of Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency, will focus on naval repairs in Japan that could help free up U.S. yards to build more warships. "China has a major capacity we already know that will surpass us on new shipbuilding," Emanuel said.   Other potential cooperation between Japan and the U.S. includes aircraft repairs, missile production and military supply chain resilience, he added. Japan and the U.S. already build a missile defense interceptor together and Tokyo has also agreed to supply Patriot PAC3 air-defense missiles to the U.S. 

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.

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.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is heading a coalition government as he begins a third term in office. His dependence on regional allies has raised questions about how effectively he will be able to pursue the transformational changes he promised ahead of the elections. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha has a report.

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Tokyo — Japanese laws making it easier for the country to deport failed asylum seekers took effect Monday, with campaigners warning that the new system will put lives at risk. The world's fourth-largest economy has long been criticized for the low number of asylum applications it accepts. Last year refugee status was granted to a record 303 people, mostly from Afghanistan. Now the government can deport asylum seekers rejected three times, under immigration law changes enacted last year. Previously, those seeking refugee status had been able to stay in the country while they appealed decisions, regardless of the number of attempts made. The revised law is "meant to swiftly deport those without permission to stay and help reduce long-term detentions," justice minister Ryuji Koizumi said in May. "Those who need protection will be protected, while those who violate the rules will be dealt with sternly," he said. Critics have raised concerns over the transparency of Japan's screening process, warning that the new rules could heighten the risk of applicants facing persecution after repatriation. "We're strongly concerned that the enforcement of this law will allow refugees who have fled to Japan to be deported, and endanger their lives and safety," the Japan Association for Refugees said on social media platform X. The group called for a "fair" system to be established instead that "protects asylum seekers in Japan according to the international standards." As of May, more than 2,000 Ukrainians were living in Japan under a special framework that recognizes them as "evacuees."

Wellington, New Zealand — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit New Zealand this week, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said Monday, a rare visit expected to focus on bolstering trade while setting aside security concerns. Li will be the first Chinese premier to visit New Zealand since 2017, embarking on a trip that is widely expected to also take him to Australia. China is New Zealand's largest export destination, and Wellington has been one of Beijing's closest partners among Western democracies. Relations have become strained in recent years as China has looked to expand its military and diplomatic reach across the Pacific. "I look forward to warmly welcoming Premier Li in New Zealand," Luxon said in a statement. "The premier's visit is a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between New Zealand and China." Luxon said Li — China's number two official — would arrive to a ceremonial welcome and official dinner "later this week," before a series of bilateral meetings. Li follows a string of high-powered Chinese delegates who have made the trip to New Zealand in recent months. Foreign Minister Wang Yi held high-level talks during a visit to the capital, Wellington, earlier this year. New Zealand's recently elected center-right government has pivoted toward closer ties with Australia and the United States. It has also been mulling its involvement in the landmark AUKUS security pact between Washington, Canberra and London — a move that would greatly irritate China. New Zealand's foreign minister in May hit out at China's bid for an increased security presence in the Pacific Islands, warning against actions that could "destabilize" or undermine regional security. "New Zealand and China engage where we have shared interests, and we speak frankly and constructively with each other where we have differences," Luxon said on Monday. "Our relationship is significant, complex and resilient." Smoothing differences Jason Young, an expert on China-New Zealand relations, said Li's visit showed both sides were willing to set aside these disagreements. "The high-level visit in itself is a win," said Young, from New Zealand's Victoria University. "It's primarily designed for both sides to demonstrate that many challenges in the relationship are being managed." With China's economy showing signs of slowing down, diplomats and trade officials were looking to "engage with as many markets as they can," Young said. "New Zealand already has close to a third of our exports going to China. We're kind of at saturation point. Whereas for China, there's a lot more momentum to improve relations," he said. Li is expected to visit Australia after New Zealand, although Canberra has yet to confirm that leg of the trip. "The potential visit of the Chinese premier will be confirmed in the usual way," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Monday. China and Australia have been patching up their relationship in the wake of a bitter and costly trade dispute. Starting in 2020, a slew of Australia's most lucrative export commodities were effectively banned from China. But as relations have improved under a new government in Canberra, China has dropped tariffs on Australian beef, barley and wine, halted an import ban on timber and resumed shipments of coal.