News Wrap: Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal gun charges

Geoff Bennett:

In the day's headlines: Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he lied about drug use when he bought a handgun in 2018.

The president's son said nothing as he left a Wilmington, Delaware, courtroom after his arraignment this morning. His lawyers said they hope to get the case dismissed on constitutional grounds. An earlier plea deal for Biden fell through last summer.

A state judge in New York imposed a limited gag order on former President Trump today at his civil trial for alleged business fraud. That came after he disparaged a law clerk online. Today, Mr. Trump spent a second day at the defense table. State prosecutors began making the case that he and his company have routinely overstated his wealth and assets.

Jury selection has opened in New York in the federal fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. The former billionaire founded FTX, the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange. He looked on with his lawyers today as the court began questioning prospective jurors. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to defrauding thousands of customers.

President Biden sought to reassure allied leaders today about the U.S. commitment to Ukraine. He convened a conference call days after Congress removed additional funding for Kyiv from a government funding bill. The White House national security spokesman John Kirby says none of the leaders voiced any concerns.

John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:

They understand what's going on up on Capitol Hill. They understand that this is a small minority of extreme Republicans that are holding this up, and that — they understand that the bulk of Republican leadership, House and the Senate, all support Ukraine.

Geoff Bennett:

The White House is warning that any lapse in U.S. support will only embolden Russia. In Pakistan, the government has ordered anyone in the country illegally to leave by November 1, or face arrest and expulsion.

That includes more than 1.7 million Afghans. Many have been in Pakistan for decades, and they say the new policy is unjust.

Qurban Nazar, Afghan Refugee (through interpreter):

If we are forced to leave Pakistan, we will leave. But it is our right to remain in Pakistan, under Islamic law as well as under democratic norms.

Forty years is a very long time. There should be justice. There is no precedent of expelling people who have been living for 40 years in a country.

Geoff Bennett:

Today's announcement follows suicide bombings that police blame on Afghan militants. The attacks have strained relations between Pakistan and the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Police in Turkey detained nearly 1,000 people today in the wake of a suicide bombing in Ankara that wounded two policemen. Raids were carried out in 16 provinces. Those arrested included dozens of people with alleged ties to the outlawed PKK, a Kurdish insurgent group. Tonight, Turkey also launched fresh airstrikes against PKK targets in neighboring Iraq.

A trio of European scientists has claimed this year's Nobel Prize in physics for producing the first glimpse of hyperfast electrons. Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier used laser pulses to track movements that happened in one quintillionth of a second.

Krausz spoke today near Munich, Germany.

Ferenc Krausz, Nobel Prize Winner (through interpreter):

We capture very quickly in real time processes that are happening in the microscopic world, just as you photograph a Formula 1 racing car with a fast camera as it runs through the finish line. You need a camera with a very short exposure time. This is exactly the concept we use for the fastest movements that happen in nature outside the atomic nucleus, which is the movement of electrons.

Geoff Bennett:

The research could lead to breakthroughs in a wide variety of fields, from medical diagnostics to developing electronics.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today on whether the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional. The agency receives funds directly from the Federal Reserve, instead of appropriations by Congress. A lower court found the arrangement interferes with congressional supervision.

A New Jersey appeals court has tossed out a verdict of $222 million against Johnson & Johnson over claims that its talc powder products cause cancer. The panel said a lower court should have barred some of the expert testimony heard at trial. Johnson & Johnson is facing more than 38,000 related lawsuits.

And on Wall Street, stocks plunged after strong data on job openings reinforced fears that the economy is still too hot for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 431 points, well over 1 percent, to close near 33000. The Nasdaq fell 1.9 percent. The S&P 500 dropped nearly 1.4 percent.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the role California's newest senator could play in Congress; despite sanctions, a U.S.-based company sold machinery that Russia is using in its war against Ukraine. And author Steve Inskeep discusses his new book on how Abraham Lincoln succeeded in a divided United States.