USA

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to two federal criminal tax charges and admit to illegally possessing a firearm, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in the court filing that Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his 2017 and 2018 taxes on time. He has been under federal investigation by a federal grand jury in Delaware since 2018.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy for South Sudan warned the Security Council Tuesday not to take its eyes off the world’s newest nation, saying the conflict in neighboring Sudan shows “how quickly hard-won peace gains can unravel.”

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party primary field for attorney general is filling up as the former head of Philadelphia’s public defense lawyers kicked off her campaign Wednesday for the state’s top law enforcement office.

If elected, Keir Bradford-Grey, 48, would become the first Black attorney general in Pennsylvania. She also would become the first attorney general whose legal experience was primarily as a public defender.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Criminal defendants are routinely advised to avoid commenting on pending charges against them. But Donald Trump, the former president and current White House hopeful, is no ordinary defendant.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden had just six words to offer after his 53-year-old son Hunter pleaded guilty to federal tax offenses in a deal that is also likely to spare him time behind bars on a weapons charge.

“I’m very proud of my son,” he said.

That pride has been accompanied by pain, and for the president’s family, both have been on public display. Republicans have worked to use Hunter Biden’s actions — and his acknowledged struggle with addiction — as an anchor to try to drag down his father.

Washington (AP) — A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as a massive search continued early Wednesday in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.

A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost abroad the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day’s worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.

WASHINGTON, Jun 20 (APP):Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, on Monday met members of the Pakistani community in Atlanta, capital of the U.S. state of Georgia, and urged them to work for the vital interests of the country.

“You are pillars and pivots of Pak-US relations,” the ambassador told a cheering gathering of the community members, calling them “hidden nuggets”.

June 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Florida on Monday ordered defense lawyers for former President Donald Trump not to release evidence in the classified documents case to the media or the public, according to a court filing.

The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart also put strict conditions on Trump's access to the materials.

June 19 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Monday the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is "real", days after denouncing Russia's deployment of such weapons in Belarus.

On Saturday, Biden called Putin's announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus "absolutely irresponsible".

"When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy," Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The international community should focus on prevention as the most effective approach to ending the global menace of terrorism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

"Prevention means more than just foiling attacks and disrupting plots," he told a UN high-level conference of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of member states.