North America

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Attorneys for a Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death, and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, argued in court on Monday she should be released on bail for the duration of her trial.

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration has stopped taking mobile app appointments to admit asylum-seekers at a Texas border crossing that connects to a notoriously dangerous Mexican city after advocates warned U.S. authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave no explanation for its decision to stop scheduling new appointments via the CBP One app for the crossing in Laredo, Texas.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 11 (APP): A United Nations Security Council report has come as a reminder about the persistent threat Pakistan’s security faces from the Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying the militant group also poses a threat to the region.

“The link between the Taliban and both Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains strong and symbiotic,” the annual report of the 1988 Taliban sanctions committee monitoring team noted.

HAVANA, June 11 (NNN-ACN) — A Vietnamese donation of 2,000 tons of rice was donated by the government of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to Havana in the presence of the two top Communist Party leaders of both capital cities, Dinh Tien Dung and Luis Antonio Torres.

The donation was granted following the signing by Tien Dung and Torres Iribar of a cooperation accord between the provincial Committees of the Communist Parties of Vietnam and Cuba.

NEW YORK, June 11 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Solar power generation in the northeast United States is tumbling by more than 50% as a result of the smoke from eastern Canada wildfires. On Thursday ISO New England, the operator of the grid, said solar power generation in New England was 56% below last week during times of peak demand.

“In recent days, smoke from wildfires in Canada has traveled to New England, significantly lowering production from solar resources in the region compared to what ISO New England would expect absent the smoke,” pointed out the operator.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First came the crypto winter, then the alleged fraud wrought by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and now the lawsuits.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed lawsuits last week against the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, deepening tensions between the government and a volatile industry that has been marred by scandals and market meltdowns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As former President Donald Trump prepares for a momentous court appearance Tuesday on charges related to the hoarding of top-secret documents, Republican allies are amplifying, without evidence, claims that he is the target of a political prosecution.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed early Sunday in Philadelphia after a vehicle caught fire, closing the main north-south highway on the East Coast and threatening to upend travel in parts of the densely populated Northeast, authorities said.

Transportation officials warned of extensive delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area. Early reports indicated that the vehicle may have been a tanker truck, but officials could not immediately confirm that. The fire was reported to be under control.

GRENADA, Miss. (AP) — Conservative Mississippi is tough territory for Democrats, but the party sees an unusual opportunity this year to unseat first-term Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. They’re pinning hopes in November on a candidate with a legendary last name who has used his own compelling story to highlight the economic plight of working families in a state that has long been one of the poorest in America.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Whether a constitutional right to a healthy, livable climate is protected by state law is at the center of a lawsuit going to trial Monday in Montana, where 16 young plaintiffs and their attorneys hope to set an important legal precedent.

It’s the first trial of its kind in the U.S., and legal scholars around the world are following its potential addition to the small number of rulings that have established a government duty to protect citizens from climate change.