VOA60 America - Blinken urges Hamas to accept cease-fire proposal

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a Hamas statement of support for a U.N. resolution backing a proposal for a cease-fire in the Gaza war was a "hopeful sign," but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Blinken was visiting Israel Tuesday.

The U.S. has removed restrictions on the transfer of American weapons and training to the Azov Brigade, a high-profile Ukrainian military unit with a checkered past, the State Department said on Tuesday. Russia said Monday it sees the move as “extremely negative.”

The jury in Hunter Biden’s gun trial began deliberating Monday whether the president’s son is guilty of lying about his use of illegal drugs when he bought a handgun in 2018. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty.

Clashes between police officers and pro-Palestinians broke out at the University of California, Los Angeles campus Monday. At least one security officer was treated for injuries. Several people were arrested.

U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated the Juneteenth holiday early with a Monday concert at the White House. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free, two years after slaves were liberated in the Confederacy.


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