TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes’ and environmentalists’ decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality.

Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi confirmed a day earlier. It will mark the president’s fifth monument designation.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. court on Monday blocked a Biden administration rule that aimed to make it easier for defrauded borrowers to obtain student loan debt relief.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an injunction to prevent the government from implementing regulations that took effect last month while it considers a lawsuit brought by Career Colleges and Schools of Texas, which represents 70 for-profit colleges, reported The Washington Post, one of the leading newspapers in the country.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a scathing ruling last month, a judge said the FBI had used a ”villain” of an informant to manipulate a group of Muslim men into going along with a fictitious plot to destroy military planes and synagogues in New York City’s suburbs. She ordered three released from prison, saying “the real lead conspirator was the United States.”

Washington (AP) —Donald Trump’s legal team told a judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against him on Monday that prosecutors’ proposed protective order aimed at preventing the public disclosure of evidence is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights.

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - "Hostile actors" targeted Britain's Electoral Commission in a complex cyber incident that involved hackers accessing internal emails and copies of voter data, the commission said on Tuesday.

The Electoral Commission, the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance, said the incident came to light last year.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Nigeriens awoke Tuesday to deepening uncertainty about whether a regional bloc will follow through on its threat to use military force to try to reinstall ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or if last-minute diplomacy will prevail, nearly two weeks after mutinous soldiers overthrew the country’s democratically elected leader.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS had given the mutinous soldiers until Sunday to release and reinstall Bazoum or they threatened to use force.

MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/: The Russian News Agency TASS and the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation have signed a partnership agreement, which, among other things, is aimed at raising awareness about voter rights and providing them with information.

The document was signed at the agency's press center by Ella Pamfilova, Chairperson of Russia’s Central Election Commission, and Andrey Kondrashov, Director General of TASS.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Buses began moving tens of thousands of Scouts to inland venues Tuesday ahead of a tropical storm, bringing an effective end to a World Scout Jamboree that had already struggled with heat, hygiene and land use controversies.

Known for its insatiable desire to host international events, the South Korean government scrambled to keep the Jamboree going as thousands of British and American Scouts departed over the weekend because of an extreme heat wave that caused some attendees to be hospitalized.

RAMALLAH, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Monday called on the U.S. Congress to abolish "hostile" laws and regulations targeting the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and to recognize the Palestinian state.

Speaking to a delegation of 22 U.S. Congress members at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Ishtaye also called for amendments to laws and regulations that link the PLO to "terrorism."

LA PAZ, Aug 8 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Bolivian authorities have reported that the state-run oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) had discovered a new gas field in the Okinawa area after recent studies in the Remanso-X1 (RMS-X1) well.

The new reservoir will generate approximately US$ 5 billion in gas, it was explained. It will also contribute to savings in fuel purchases of US$1 billion, according to YPFB.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Monday began registering candidates for parliamentary elections in March, which will be the first since nationwide protests rocked the country last year.

Iran has held regular presidential and parliamentary elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But a clerical body vets candidates — disqualifying any seen as disloyal to the Islamic Republic — and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all major policies.

TAIPEI/BERLIN, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC on Tuesday committed 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) to a factory in Germany, its first in Europe, taking advantage of huge state support for the $11 billion plant as the continent seeks to bring supply chains closer to home.

The plant, which will be TSMC's (2330.TW) third outside of traditional manufacturing bases Taiwan and China, is central to Berlin's ambition to foster the domestic semiconductor industry its car industry will need to remain globally competitive.