USA

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo on Wednesday echoed the secretary-general's appeal to the United States to lift or waive its sanctions outlined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is wrapping up its first all-virtual term, with decisions expected in a key case on voting rights and another involving information that California requires charities to provide about donors.

The court’s last day of work Thursday before its summer break also could include a retirement announcement, although the oldest of the justices, 82-year-old Stephen Breyer, has given no indication he intends to step down this year.

01 July 2021; MEMO: Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary who was the main architect of the Iraq war, died on Tuesday at age 88, Reuters reported his family saying in a statement yesterday.

"It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather," the statement said. "At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico."

(AP) --- New York prosecutors are expected to announce the first criminal indictment Thursday in a two-year investigation into Donald Trump’s business practices, accusing his namesake company and its longtime finance chief of tax crimes related to fringe benefits for employees.

The charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, remained sealed Wednesday night but were to be unveiled ahead of an afternoon arraignment at a state court in Manhattan, according to two people familiar with the matter.

SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — A team of technical experts from the federal government and outside specialists are going to gather building material samples and study soil conditions in order to determine the engineering reasons behind the collapse of a South Florida condominium building, officials said Wednesday.

PHARR, Texas (AP) — Republican lawmakers traveled to Texas to cheer former President Donald Trump as he paid a visit to the southern border Wednesday and hammered the Biden administration for its immigration policies amid a decades-high spike in border crossings.

Trump, who was joined by more than two dozen House members, also continued to spread lies about the 2020 election as he participated in a border briefing and visited the wall he championed in a trip that was strikingly similar to the many he’d taken here while president.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked for the time being a new Florida law that sought to punish large social media businesses like Facebook and Twitter if they remove content or ban politicians.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sharply split along party lines, the House launched a new investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection on Wednesday, approving a special committee to probe the violent attack as police officers who were injured fighting Donald Trump’s supporters watched from the gallery above.

The vote to form the panel was 222-190, with all but two Republicans objecting that majority Democrats would be in charge. The action came after Senate Republicans blocked creation of an independent commission that would have been evenly split between the two parties.

NEW YORK (AP) — Revised vote counts in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary show Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams maintaining a thin lead, a day after a first attempt to report the results of a ranked choice voting analysis went disastrously wrong.

The mayor’s race, part of the first city election to use ranked choice voting, was thrown into disarray Tuesday after the city’s Board of Elections posted incorrect preliminary vote counts and then withdrew them hours later.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The grim toll of the historic heat wave in the Pacific Northwest became more apparent as authorities in Canada, Oregon and Washington state said Wednesday they were investigating hundreds of deaths likely caused by scorching temperatures that shattered all-time records in the normally temperate region.

British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said her office received reports of at least 486 “sudden and unexpected deaths” between Friday and Wednesday. Normally, she said about 165 people would die in the Canadian province over a five-day period.