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As NATO marks its 75th anniversary this week, the alliance — and America’s role in European security — are issues that separate U.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.

NEW YORK — The judge in Donald Trump's hush-money criminal case expanded the former president's gag order Monday after the former president assailed the judge's daughter and made a false claim about her on social media last week. Judge Juan M. Merchan said his original gag order issued last Tuesday did not include members of his family, but Trump's subsequent actions warranted including them. Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, is a Democratic political consultant. Prosecutors had urged Merchan to clarify or expand his gag order after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Loren Merchan "makes money by working to 'Get Trump,'" and wrongly accused her of posting a social media photo showing him behind bars. The trial, which involves allegations Trump falsified payment records in a scheme to cover up negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign, is scheduled to begin April 15. Trump denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump's lawyers had fought the gag order and its expansion, arguing that Trump was engaging in protected political campaign speech.

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.

seoul, south korea — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the South Korean military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday. The launch comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang's state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had overseen a successful test of a solid-fuel engine for a "new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile." Japan also said it "appeared" North Korea had fired the missile, Kyodo news agency reported, adding that the country's coast guard believed the missile had fallen. Tuesday's launch is the third ballistic missile test so far this year, after the solid fuel one overseen by Kim in March, and another tipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead in January. The North claimed last year it had successfully tested its first solid-fuel ICBM — the largest, longest-range category of ballistic missile — hailing it as a key breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities. Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fueled before launch, making them harder to find and destroy, as well as quicker to use. So far this year, the nuclear-armed North has declared South Korea its "principal enemy," jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

honolulu — Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102. Conter passed away Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, following congestive heart failure, his daughter, Louann Daley said, adding she was beside him along with two of her brothers, James and Jeff. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the 1941 attack that launched the United States into World War II. The battleship’s dead account for nearly half of those killed in the attack. Conter was a quartermaster, standing on the main deck of the Arizona as Japanese planes flew overhead at 7:55 a.m. on December 7 that year. Sailors were just beginning to hoist colors or raise the flag when the assault began. Conter recalled how one bomb penetrated steel decks 13 minutes into the battle and set off more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of gunpowder stored below. The explosion lifted the battleship 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) out of the water, he said during a 2008 oral history interview stored at the Library of Congress. Everything was on fire from the mainmast forward, he said. “Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter said. “Oil all over the sea was burning.” His autobiography The Lou Conter Story recounts how he joined other survivors tending to the injured, many of them blinded and badly burned. The sailors only abandoned ship when their senior surviving officer was sure they had rescued all those still alive. The rusting wreckage of the Arizona still lies where it sank. More than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside. Only 335 Arizona crew members survived. Conter went to flight school after Pearl Harbor, earning his wings to fly PBY patrol bombers, which the Navy used to look for submarines and bomb enemy targets. He flew 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a “Black Cats” squadron, which conducted dive bombing at night in planes painted black. In 1943, he and his crew were shot down in waters near New Guinea and had to avoid sharks. A sailor expressed doubt they would survive, to which Conter replied, “baloney.” “Don’t ever panic in any situation. Survive is the first thing you tell them. Don’t panic or you’re dead,” he said. They were quiet and treaded water until another plane came hours later and dropped a lifeboat on them. In the late 1950s, he was made the Navy’s first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. He spent the next decade training Navy pilots and crew on how to survive if they’re shot down in the jungle and captured as a prisoner of war. Some of his pupils used his lessons as POWs in Vietnam. Conter retired in 1967 after 28 years in the Navy. Conter was born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, on Sept. 13, 1921. His family later moved to Colorado. He enlisted in the Navy after he turned 18, getting $17 a month and a hammock for his bunk at boot camp. With Conter's death, there are now 19 survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack still living, according to Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. About 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on Dec. 7, according to a rough estimate compiled by military historian J. Michael Wenger. In his later years, Conter became a fixture at annual remembrance ceremonies in Pearl Harbor that the Navy and the National Park Service jointly hosted on the anniversaries of the 1941 attack. When he lacked the strength to attend in person, he recorded video messages for those who gathered and watched remotely from his home in California. In 2019, when he was 98, he said he liked going to such events, to remember those who lost their lives. “It’s always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve,” he said.

Bangkok, Thailand — The Thai Senate will debate a bill Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, as the kingdom moves towards becoming the first Southeast Asian country to recognize marriage equality.  Thailand has long enjoyed an international reputation for tolerance of the LGBTQ community, but activists have struggled for decades against conservative attitudes and values.  The lower house easily approved the law last week and the legislation now moves to the country's unelected Senate, which is stacked with conservative appointees named by the last junta.  Senators will discuss the bill, which changes references to "men," "women," "husbands" and "wives" in the marriage law to gender-neutral terms and will hold a first vote before passing it to a committee for further consideration.  The Senate cannot reject the legislation, but it can send it back to the House of Representatives for further debate for 180 days.  It will come back for two more Senate votes, with the next probably no earlier than July.  Paulie Nataya Paomephan, who won Miss Trans Thailand in 2023, said until recently she had never dreamed that transgender people would be able to legally marry in Thailand.  "I think it is because politicians have to adapt themselves to the changing world," she told AFP, adding that she and her boyfriend of three years planned to marry if the law passed.   'Proud of our pride' Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was "proud of our pride" after the lower house voted to approve the bill in a 399-10 landslide.  "The passing (of this law) in the parliament today is a proud moment for Thai society who will walk together towards social equality and respect differences," he wrote on social media platform X.  Across Asia, only Taiwan and Nepal recognize same-sex marriage. Last year, India's highest court deferred the decision to parliament, and Hong Kong's top court stopped just short of granting full marriage rights.  LGBTQ activists celebrated last Wednesday's vote as a significant milestone on the road to equality.  Inside parliament, a small burst of cheers and clapping accompanied the final vote, with one representative waving a rainbow flag.  The prime minister has been vocal in his support for the LGBTQ community, making the marriage equality policy a signature issue and telling reporters last year that the change would strengthen family structures.  Opinion polls reported by local media show the law has overwhelming support among Thais.  While Thailand has a reputation for tolerance, much of the Buddhist-majority country remains conservative, and LGBTQ people, while highly visible, still face barriers and discrimination.  Activists have been pushing for same-sex marriage rights for more than a decade, but in a kingdom where politics is regularly upended by coups and mass street protests, the advocacy did not get far.  Activist Ann Waaddao Chumaporn said she knew of dozens of LGBTQ couples ready to tie the knot once the law is passed, which she hoped would happen this year.  "Once the law is enforced, yes of course, it will change Thai society," she told AFP.   "It will inspire other fights for other equalities." 

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.

new delhi — The world’s largest democratic election could also be one of its most consequential. With a population of over 1.4 billion people and close to 970 million voters, India’s general election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up. The 73-year-old Modi first swept to power in 2014 on promises of economic development, presenting himself as an outsider cracking down on corruption. Since then, he has fused religion with politics in a formula that has attracted wide support from the country's majority Hindu population. India under Modi is a rising global power, but his rule has also been marked by rising unemployment, attacks by Hindu nationalists against minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media. How does the election work? The six-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. The voters, who comprise over 10% of the world's population, will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term. The polls will be held in seven phases and ballots cast at more than a million polling stations. Each phase will last a single day with several constituencies across multiple states voting that day. The staggered polling allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport election officials and voting machines. India has a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins. To secure a majority, a party or coalition must breach the mark of 272 seats. While voters in the United States and elsewhere use paper ballots, India uses electronic voting machines. Who is running? Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and his main challenger, Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, represent Parliament’s two largest factions. Several other important regional parties are part of an opposition bloc. Opposition parties, which have been previously fractured, have united under a front called INDIA, or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, to deny Modi a third straight election victory. The alliance has fielded a single primary candidate in most constituencies. But it has been roiled by ideological differences and personality clashes — and has not yet decided on its candidate for prime minister. Most surveys suggest Modi is likely to win comfortably, especially after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya city in January, which fulfilled his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge. Another victory would cement Modi as one of the country's most popular and important leaders. It would follow a thumping win in 2019, when the BJP clinched an absolute majority by sweeping 303 parliamentary seats. The Congress party managed only 52 seats. What are the big issues? For decades, India has clung doggedly to its democratic convictions, largely due to free elections, an independent judiciary, a thriving media, strong opposition and peaceful transition of power. Some of these credentials have seen a slow erosion under Modi’s 10-year rule, with the polls seen as a test for the country’s democratic values. Many watchdogs have now categorized India as a “hybrid regime” that is neither a full democracy nor a full autocracy. The polls will also test the limits of Modi, a populist leader whose rise has seen increasing attacks against religious minorities, mostly Muslims. Critics accuse him of using a Hindu-first platform, endangering the country's secular roots. Under Modi, the media, once viewed as vibrant and largely independent, have become more pliant and critical voices muzzled. Courts have largely bent to Modi’s will and given favorable verdicts in crucial cases. Centralization of executive power has strained India’s federalism. And federal agencies have bogged down top opposition leaders in corruption cases, which they deny. Another key issue is India's large economy, which is among the fastest growing in the world. It has helped India emerge as a global power and a counterweight to China. But even as India's growth soars by some measures, the Modi government has struggled to generate enough jobs for young Indians, and instead has relied on welfare programs like free food and housing to woo voters. The U.N.'s latest Asia-Pacific Human Development Report lists India among the top countries with high income and wealth inequality.

new delhi — The world’s largest democratic election could also be one of its most consequential. With a population of over 1.4 billion people and close to 970 million voters, India’s general election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up. The 73-year-old Modi first swept to power in 2014 on promises of economic development, presenting himself as an outsider cracking down on corruption. Since then, he has fused religion with politics in a formula that has attracted wide support from the country's majority Hindu population. India under Modi is a rising global power, but his rule has also been marked by rising unemployment, attacks by Hindu nationalists against minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media. How does the election work? The six-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. The voters, who comprise over 10% of the world's population, will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term. The polls will be held in seven phases and ballots cast at more than a million polling stations. Each phase will last a single day with several constituencies across multiple states voting that day. The staggered polling allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport election officials and voting machines. India has a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins. To secure a majority, a party or coalition must breach the mark of 272 seats. While voters in the United States and elsewhere use paper ballots, India uses electronic voting machines. Who is running? Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and his main challenger, Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, represent Parliament’s two largest factions. Several other important regional parties are part of an opposition bloc. Opposition parties, which have been previously fractured, have united under a front called INDIA, or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, to deny Modi a third straight election victory. The alliance has fielded a single primary candidate in most constituencies. But it has been roiled by ideological differences and personality clashes — and has not yet decided on its candidate for prime minister. Most surveys suggest Modi is likely to win comfortably, especially after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya city in January, which fulfilled his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge. Another victory would cement Modi as one of the country's most popular and important leaders. It would follow a thumping win in 2019, when the BJP clinched an absolute majority by sweeping 303 parliamentary seats. The Congress party managed only 52 seats. What are the big issues? For decades, India has clung doggedly to its democratic convictions, largely due to free elections, an independent judiciary, a thriving media, strong opposition and peaceful transition of power. Some of these credentials have seen a slow erosion under Modi’s 10-year rule, with the polls seen as a test for the country’s democratic values. Many watchdogs have now categorized India as a “hybrid regime” that is neither a full democracy nor a full autocracy. The polls will also test the limits of Modi, a populist leader whose rise has seen increasing attacks against religious minorities, mostly Muslims. Critics accuse him of using a Hindu-first platform, endangering the country's secular roots. Under Modi, the media, once viewed as vibrant and largely independent, have become more pliant and critical voices muzzled. Courts have largely bent to Modi’s will and given favorable verdicts in crucial cases. Centralization of executive power has strained India’s federalism. And federal agencies have bogged down top opposition leaders in corruption cases, which they deny. Another key issue is India's large economy, which is among the fastest growing in the world. It has helped India emerge as a global power and a counterweight to China. But even as India's growth soars by some measures, the Modi government has struggled to generate enough jobs for young Indians, and instead has relied on welfare programs like free food and housing to woo voters. The U.N.'s latest Asia-Pacific Human Development Report lists India among the top countries with high income and wealth inequality.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president vowed Monday not to back down in the face of vehement protests by doctors seeking to derail his plan to drastically increase medical school admissions, as he called their walkouts “an illegal collective action” that poses "a grave threat to our society.”  About 12,000 medical interns and residents in South Korea have been on strike for six weeks, causing hundreds of canceled surgeries and other treatments at university hospitals. In support of their action, many senior doctors at their teaching schools have also submitted resignations, though they haven’t stopped treating patients.  Officials say they want to raise the yearly medical school cap by 2,000 from the current 3,058 to create more doctors to deal with the country’s rapidly aging population. Doctors counter that schools can’t handle such an abrupt increase in students and that it would eventually hurt the country’s medical services. But critics say doctors, whose profession is one of the best paid in South Korea, are simply worried that the supply of more doctors would result in lower future incomes.  Public surveys show that a majority of ordinary South Koreans support the government plan. But observers say many people are increasingly fed up with the protracted confrontation between the government and doctors, which threatens to deal a blow to governing party candidates ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections.  In a nationally televised address, President Yoon Suk Yeol said an additional 2,000 medical students would be the minimum increase needed to address a shortage of physicians in rural areas, the military and essential but low-paying professions like pediatrics and emergency departments. Yoon said South Korea's doctor-to-patient ratio — 2.1 physicians per 1,000 people — is far below the average of 3.7 in the developed world.  “Increasing the number of doctors is a state project that we can't further delay,” he said.  Yoon urged the striking doctors to return to work, saying they have a responsibility to protect people's lives in line with the local medical law. He also said the government remains open to talks if doctors come up with a unified proposal that adequately explains their calls for a much smaller increase in the medical school enrollment quota.  “I can't tolerate an attempt to carry through their thoughts by force without due logic and grounds,” Yoon said. “The illegal collective action by some doctors has become a grave threat to our society.”  Yoon said the recruitment plan wouldn't lead to lower earnings for doctors, citing what he called expected increases in national income and demand for medical services in the fast-aging society. He said the average income of South Korean doctors was the highest in the developed world.  Later Monday, the Korean Medical Association, or KMA, which represents doctors in South Korea, criticized Yoon for repeating what his government has already argued to support the recruitment plan.  "It was an address that brought us greater disappointment, because we had high hopes” for some changes in the government's position, Kim Sung-geun, a spokesperson for KMA’s emergency committee, told reporters.  Yoon said the government was taking final administrative steps to suspend the licenses of the strikers but added that he didn't want to punish the young doctors. This implied that his government would be willing to soften punitive measures on the strikers if they returned to work soon.  Yoon recently ordered officials to pursue “a flexible measure” to resolve the dispute and seek constructive consultations with doctors at the request of ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon.  It's unclear if the government and doctors can find a breakthrough to settle their standoff anytime soon. Last week, KMA elected Lim Hyun-taek, a hardliner who has called for a decrease in the medical school admission cap, as its new chief.  After his election Tuesday, Lim said doctors could sit down for talks with the government if Yoon apologized and dismissed top health officials involved in the recruitment plan. Lim also threatened to launch an all-out fight if any doctors received punitive steps for their recent protests.  The striking junior doctors represent a small fraction of the total doctors in South Korea — estimated at 115,000 by Yoon and 140,000 by a doctors association. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of doctors, assisting qualified doctors and department chiefs during surgeries and other treatments while training.  Doctors say the government enrollment plan lacks measures to resolve key medical issues such as how to increase the number of physicians in some key but unpopular professions. They say newly recruited students would also try to work in the capital region and in high-paying fields like plastic surgery and dermatology. They say the government plan would also likely result in doctors performing unnecessary treatments because of increased competition.

Yangon, Myanmar — More than 800 people suspected of being cross-border scammers were arrested in a joint police operation by Myanmar and China, the junta and Beijing's embassy in Yangon said Monday. Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar, staffed by citizens from China and other countries who are often forced to work swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions. Beijing — a major ally and arms supplier of Myanmar's isolated junta — has repeatedly asked the military to crack down on such operations. Chinese law enforcement provided input to their Myanmar counterparts, who launched raids around Muse city, a major trade hub in northern Shan state, the embassy said on its WeChat channel. Myanmar police arrested 807 people "who committed cross-border crimes" and seized computers, mobile phones and "fraud scripts," it said in a statement. Among those arrested in the late March operation were 352 Chinese citizens, who were transferred to China on Sunday, the statement said. The remainder were Myanmar nationals, it added. A junta statement released late Monday said 352 Chinese citizens had been arrested in the swoop and handed over to Chinese authorities. It said 486 Myanmar nationals had been arrested. Last year, the United Nations human rights office said at least 120,000 people were being held in scam compounds in Myanmar. Many were housed in the town of Laukkai in northeastern Shan state, which has since been captured by an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups. The alliance said it would wipe out the scam compounds. More than 40,000 people suspected of taking part in cyber scams in Myanmar were handed over to China last year, according to Chinese state media.

JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem on Monday, continuing a three-day protest against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding new elections.  The protests have gathered in intensity as the war in Gaza nears the end of its sixth month and anger at the government's handling of the 134 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza has grown.  "We're here to protest. To ask for having elections as soon as possible. We feel like we got it to the edge. We really need to get rid of Bibi," said Timna Benn, a protester in Jerusalem, using Netanyahu's nickname.  Netanyahu's right-wing coalition faced some of the biggest protests in Israel's history last year, when hundreds of thousands joined weekly demonstrations against plans to overhaul the powers of the Supreme Court, which protesters saw as an attack on Israel's democratic foundations.  Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out early elections, which opinion polls suggest he would lose, saying that to go to the polls in the middle of a war would only reward Hamas.  He has pledged to bring the hostages home and destroy Hamas, the Islamist movement that ruled Gaza, where more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's months-long assault, according to Hamas-run health authorities.  But after months when the crisis in Gaza put the normal rules of politics on hold, Netanyahu has faced increasingly vocal opposition.  Surveys indicate that most Israelis blame Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, for the security failures that led to the devastating attack by Hamas fighters on communities in southern Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 were killed, according to Israeli tallies, and scores of hostages taken.  "They are not concerned about what happens in the country and with the people. They are concerned about maintaining their position in government. They work for themselves, not for the people. Simple as that," said protester Refael Shakked-Gavish.  Adding an additional complication, Netanyahu also has faced protests by ultra Orthodox Jewish demonstrators, angry at the removal of exemptions that have kept young students from religious seminaries from compulsory military 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.

beijing — The French foreign minister pressed China on trade issues and the war in Ukraine on Monday ahead of a planned visit to France by Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this spring. Stéphane Séjourné, in talks with his counterpart Wang Yi in the Chinese capital, largely echoed positions that have been laid out by European leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on a visit to Beijing last week. “The rebalancing of our economic partnership is a priority, as it is for our European partners,” Séjourné said at a joint news conference with Wang. “The European Union is a very open market, the most open in the world. But the current deficits with a certain number of countries, including China, are not sustainable for us.” European officials have expressed concern that a flood of low-priced Chinese-made electric vehicles could disrupt production and displace jobs in Europe. The EU is investigating whether Chinese government subsidies for EVs give an unfair advantage to Chinese auto exporters. European companies operating in China are complaining that recent changes to national security laws have made it riskier to invest and do business in the country. On the Chinese side, officials have raised concern about a “de-risking” strategy being pursued by the EU to ensure that it is not overly dependent on any one country for vital supplies and minerals. Wang expressed understanding for the European position but said he hopes it doesn't negatively affect business sentiment. “I believe the facts have proved and will continue to prove that China constitutes opportunities to Europe, rather than risks," he said. “The two sides are partners not opponents.” He also said that China is willing to import more "high-quality French products and services” and is working to resolve the concerns raised by European companies, including restrictions on the transfer of data overseas. Séjourné insisted that Europe is not becoming protectionist and remains open to investment, a possible reference to attempts to woo Chinese automakers and other companies to create jobs by building factories in Europe rather than exporting their products from China. Neither foreign minister mentioned a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into imports of French brandy that, together with the EU electric vehicle probe, could be a precursor to a trade war. On the Ukraine war, he said France expects China, as a major country, to pass on clear messages to Russia. China, though, has a different stance on the war than Europe or the United States, both of which back Ukraine. China may have Russia's ear, but it's unclear what message it is delivering. Séjourné said France is determined to maintain a close dialogue with China to contribute toward finding a path to a lasting peace in Ukraine.