USA

UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly elected Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday for two-year terms starting on Jan. 1, 2024, while Belarus - allied with Russia in its invasion of Ukraine - was denied a spot.

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The United States learned of a Ukrainian plan to attack the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines three months before they were damaged last September by underwater explosions, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing leaked information posted online.

The CIA learned last June, through a European spy agency, that a six-person team of Ukrainian special operations forces intended to blow up the Russia-to-Germany project, the newspaper reported.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In an election reflecting opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine, European Union member Slovenia overwhelmingly defeated Moscow’s close ally Belarus on Tuesday for a seat on the U.N. Security Council starting in January.

The race between the two members of the U.N.’s East European group was the only contested election for five seats on the U.N.’s most powerful body, and was closely watched because of the two countries’ opposing views on Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state legislators who change party registrations midterm could be subject to an early election to keep the seat, according to a bill filed Tuesday by Senate Democrats in response to Rep. Tricia Cotham’s switch to the GOP two months ago.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island landlord whose tenants have long complained about lead hazards, rodent infestations and other problems with their apartments was sued Tuesday by the state attorney general, who said conditions at many properties put renters’ health and safety at risk.

Pioneer Investments LLC, and its president, Anurag Sureka, have failed to comply with state rental, lead hazard, and consumer protection laws, Attorney General Peter Neronha said in the complaint filed in Providence County Superior Court.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A top aide to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has joined Daniel Cameron’s gubernatorial campaign in Kentucky, as the GOP nominee adds another political heavy hitter to his team in trying to defeat Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in one of the nation’s most closely watched races.

Terry Carmack, the senator’s chief of staff, will assume a senior management role in Cameron’s campaign, said Sean Southard, a state Republican Party spokesman.

(AP) --- Only minutes into a doomed journey that ended on a remote Virginia mountain, the pilot of a business jet was not responding to air traffic control instructions and the situation was soon reported to a network that includes military, security and law enforcement agencies, according to federal aviation officials.

(AP) --- Merck is suing the federal government over a plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices, calling the program a sham equivalent to extortion.

The drugmaker is seeking to halt the program, which was laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act and is expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars in the coming years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The collapse of a major dam in southern Ukraine sent global prices of wheat and corn higher.

Wheat prices gained 2.4% in early trading Tuesday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to $6.39 a bushel. The cost of corn rose more than 1% (to $6.04 a bushel) and oats gained 0.73% ($3.46 per unit). Prices had jumped higher earlier in the day.

The destruction of Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, which sits on the Dnieper River in an area that Moscow controls, raised anxiety about a potential disruption to global supplies.

ATLANTA (AP) — Within hours of a U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantling a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Texas lawmakers announced plans to implement a strict voter ID law that had been blocked by a federal court. Lawmakers in Alabama said they would press forward with a similar law that had been on hold.