June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government cannot ban people convicted of non-violent crimes from possessing guns, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The 11-4 ruling from the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest defeat for gun control laws in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year expanding gun rights nationwide.

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.

05 June 2023; MEMO: The United States and several other countries have committed human rights violations against a Saudi man held in the Guantanamo prison and accused of organising the bombing of the "USS Cole" in the port of Aden in 2000, a UN report said, Reuters reports.

Abd Al Rahim Al Nashiri could face the death penalty, if convicted, for his alleged role in the attack.

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.

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.

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.

06 June 2023; MEMO: A US senator has called on US President Joe Biden and his administration to release its findings about the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American journalist who was shot by an Israeli soldier while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank on 11 May last year.

05 June 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ramped up threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday, convening a rare cabinet war drill after he accused UN inspectors of failing to confront Tehran, Reuters reports.

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.

06 June 2023; MEMO: Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that Israel will face unprecedented challenges during any war with Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah, local media have reported.

"If, God forbid, a war occurs, the Israeli home front is expected to face challenges the likes of which we have never known in our 75 years of existence," the Times of Israel reported Gallant as saying. "This requires us to be prepared in advance, with optimal preparation."

OTTAWA, June 6 (Reuters) - Authorities in New York, Toronto and Ottawa on Tuesday warned residents about the health risks from air polluted by smoke from unprecedented early summer wildfires in eastern Canada.

An unusually early and intense start to wildfire season has set Canada on track for its worst-ever year as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist for months.

There are blazes in nearly all of Canada's 10 provinces and territories, with Quebec the worst impacted due to multiple fires caused by lightning.

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.