WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - The United States this month convened a meeting of working-level experts from China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom to discuss nuclear weapons issues including strategic risk reduction, the State Department said.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the talks were part of "a routine, continuing dialogue."

WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Saturday as mutinous Russian mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow after seizing a southern city overnight, the White House said.

"The leaders discussed the situation in Russia. They also affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine," a readout said.

WASHINGTON, June 24 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Over the past two decades, global reservoirs have become increasingly empty despite an overall increase in total storage capacity due to the construction of new reservoirs, according to a new study published by Nature Communications.    

Using satellite data from over 7,000 global reservoirs, Texas A&M researchers found that while total storage capacity has increased, the filling rate is lower than expected.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslim pilgrims streamed into the holy city of Mecca on Friday ahead of the start of Hajj next week, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale after three years of heavy restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saudi officials say close to 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country so far, the vast majority by air. More are expected, and hundreds of thousands of Saudis and others living in Saudi Arabia will also join them when the pilgrimage officially begins on Monday.

(AP) --- Talk to someone who rode on the Titan submersible, and they’re likely to mention a technological glitch: the propulsion system failed or communications with people on the surface cut out. Maybe there were problems balancing weights on board.

They are also likely to mention Stockton Rush, the OceanGate Expeditions CEO who died on the fatal trip this week. He has been described by past passengers as both a meticulous planner and an overconfident pioneer.

CHICAGO (AP) — A 1 a.m. shooting at a party in downtown St. Louis kills one and injures nearly a dozen. Gunmen open fire during a fight near Florida’s Hollywood Beach, injuring nine, including a 1-year-old. Bursts of gunfire at a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama, kill four and wound more than 30.

What these and other recent mass shootings share in common is they all involve suspects in their teens, highlighting what can be a deadly mix of teenage bravado and impulsiveness with access to guns.

BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- China urges the United States to stop using fentanyl-related issues as a pretext to sanction, indict or offer awards to hunt Chinese companies or nationals, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said Saturday.

On June 23 local time, the U.S. Department of Justice announced indictments charging China-based companies and their employees with crimes related to fentanyl production, distribution and sales resulting from precursor chemicals.

BAMBER BRIDGE, England (AP) — The village of Bamber Bridge in northwestern England is proud of the blow it struck against racism in the U.S. military during World War II.

When an all-Black truck regiment was stationed in the village, residents refused to accept the segregation ingrained in the U.S. Army. Ignoring pressure from British and American authorities, pubs welcomed the GIs, local women chatted and danced with them, and English soldiers drank alongside men they saw as allies in the war against fascism.

BRITISH COLUMBIA, June 24 (Reuters) - Canada is wrestling with its worst-ever start to wildfire season, but recruiting firefighters is becoming increasingly difficult due to tight labor markets and the tough nature of the job, provincial officials say.

Limited resources could threaten Canada's ability to douse fires, which are expected to get bigger and fiercer in future as a result of fossil fuel-driven climate change, risking more damage to communities and disrupting the country's oil and gas, mining and lumber industries.

TOKYO, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The defense buildup on Okinawa highlighted in Japan's new security and defense strategies has caused anxiety among local people, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said Friday.

Tamaki made the remarks in a peace declaration issued at a memorial service for the victims of the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, saying that military buildup would remind the residents of the bloody ground battle 78 years ago.

He urged the Japanese government to ease regional tensions through dialogue and reduce the size of U.S. military bases in Okinawa.

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/: The armed mutiny underway in Russia is a thought-through operation organized to take over power, said Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev.

"It is obvious that this is a well-thought-out and planned operation aiming to take over power in the country," he told journalists.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Properties and goods worth more than 1 million U.S. dollars have been burned to ashes as a hotel caught fire in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, a provincial government official said Thursday.

Qurishi Badlon, a public relations officer of the provincial government, confirmed to Xinhua that the fire broke out in the Chardehi Hotel in Police District 1 of Jalalabad city on Wednesday afternoon, burned the goods and belongings to ashes within an hour.