North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday will call on Congress to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months — an election year move meant to ease financial pressures that was greeted with doubts by many lawmakers.

The Democratic president will also call on states to suspend their own gas taxes or provide similar relief, the White House said.

The New York Times is the latest US news agency to conclude that Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, was most likely killed by an Israeli soldier. A month-long investigation by The Times found that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh was fired from the approximate location of the Israeli military convoy, most likely by a soldier from an elite unit.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 (APP): Nuclear weapons are “a deadly reminder of countries’ inability to solve problems through dialogue and collaboration”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday, urging the international community to abandon them once and for all.

“These weapons offer false promises of security and deterrence – while guaranteeing only destruction, death, and endless brinksmanship,” he said in a video message to the First Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, taking place in Vienna, Austria.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 (APP): The number of school-aged children requiring educational support living in several crisis impacted countries, including Pakistan, has grown from an estimated 75 million in 2016, to 222 million today, a new UN report released Tuesday revealed.

The UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), outlines that of those 222 million girls and boys, as many as 78.2 million are out of school, and close to 120 million, who are in attendance, are not achieving minimum proficiency in math or reading.

June 20 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's transgender daughter has filed a request to change her name in accordance with her new gender identity and because "I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

The petition for both a name change and a new birth certificate reflecting her new gender identity was filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica in April. It came to light recently in some online media reports.

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Both the Black-White and Latino-White homeownership gaps grow wider than they were before the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, according to a recent opinion article published by CNN.

"Systemic discrimination in housing and lending policies has been a prime engine of social and economic inequality among communities of color," the article wrote on Sunday, adding that Black households own about 2.9 percent of wealth in the United States, only slightly more than they owned in 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law.

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has deteriorated in the past months as a result of conflict and climate shocks, a UN official said Monday.

"Against a backdrop of profound macro-economic challenges, the drivers of conflict and climate shocks have resulted in a dire humanitarian situation," said Ghada Eltahir Mudawi, director of Operations and Advocacy Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"When it gets as bad as in South Sudan, the specter of severe hunger and even famine results," she warned.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s top diplomat began the open jostling to win the 2024 nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party on Monday.

Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard offered his WhatsApp number for comments from the public Monday, and on Sunday he said he would start touring the country to build support.

His bid, however, is likely to get off to a slow start. On Monday, Ebrard announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mayor Muriel Bowser cruised to reelection in the nation’s capital four years ago without serious opposition, and as the city enjoyed prosperous times, the main criticism of her policies was that Washington was growing too quickly, driving up housing costs and pricing out Black residents in an uncontrolled gentrification wave.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Nobel Peace Prize auctioned off by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel.

A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, could not confirm the identity of the buyer but said the winning bid was made by proxy. The $103.5 million sale translates to $100 million Swiss francs, hinting that the buyer is from overseas.