North America

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah college student missing 11 days was abducted and killed and her remains burned in the yard of a man now facing aggravated murder and other charges, authorities said Friday.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown, who became emotional at times during a morning press conference, said Ayoola A. Ajayi will be charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body in the death of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck.

He was arrested without incident Friday morning by a SWAT team.

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — The acting secretary of Homeland Security said Friday that he expected 25% fewer migrants to cross the border this month, as officials in Yuma unveiled the newest temporary facility meant to detain children and families.

That number of illegal crossings would still be too high, but it was a start, Kevin McAleenan said, crediting Mexico with a concentrated effort to stop Central Americans before they arrived even to Mexico — a push prompted by threats of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adding a high-stakes immigration case to its election-year agenda, the Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether President Donald Trump can terminate an Obama-era program shielding young migrants from deportation.

The justices’ order sets up legal arguments for late fall or early winter, with a decision likely by June 2020 as Trump campaigns for re-election. The president ordered an end to the program known as DACA in 2017, sparking protests and a congressional effort to salvage it.

CHICAGO (AP) — Joe Biden strongly defended his civil rights record on Friday, pledging to be a “president who stands against racism” and defiantly dismissing any suggestions otherwise.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — An avowed white supremacist who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims Friday before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in March to 29 of 30 hate crimes in connection with the 2017 attack that killed Heather Heyer and injured more than two dozen others.

28 June 2019; DW: The US on Thursday urged the UN to find a new way forward for the Syrian conflict, saying its efforts to establish a political solution have so far failed to gain traction.

"It is time to admit that not only has progress stalled, it is likely to remain out of reach for some time, because that's where the regime wants it to be," said acting US Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Cohen.

Washington, Jun 27; GANASHAKTI:  The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Wednesday strongly condemned the lynching of a Muslim man in Jharkhand and called on the government to take concrete actions to prevent this kind of violence and intimidation.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 28 (APP): The head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has denounced the Taliban for publicly threatening to turn media outlets in the war-torn country into military targets, stressing freedom of the press is critical and civilians should never be deliberately targeted with violence.

NEW YORK, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy has seen increasing downside risks against the backdrop of trade tensions and slower global economic growth, analysts have said.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at 3.1 percent in the first quarter, according to its third estimate.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has spent $17 million to remove over a half-million tons of sargassum seaweed from its Caribbean beaches, and the problem doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon, experts told an international conference Thursday.

The floating mats of algae seldom reached the famed beaches around Cancun until 2011, but they’re now severely affecting tourism, with visitors often facing stinking mounds of rotting seaweed at the waterline.