A U.S. appeals court on Friday prevented an illegal immigrant teenager detained by the government from immediately obtaining an abortion, although it left open the possibility she could undergo the procedure within days. The decision by a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel gave the government until Oct. 31 to approve a sponsor, who could help the 17-year-old obtain the procedure without the government's assistance. If the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed off on the sponsor, she "will be lawfully able, if she chooses, to obtain an abortion on her own," the court said.

The barge was carrying some 133,000 barrels of crude oil to a refinery in Corpus Christi when the explosion occurred at 4:30 a.m., they said. The dead person had not yet been identified, said Rick Adams, Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Port Aransas. Six of the eight crew members were rescued and did not suffer any serious injuries, Adams added.

Experimental communications balloons provided by Alphabet Inc in collaboration with AT&T Inc will allow some of the carrier's customers in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico to send texts and access critical information on the internet, Alphabet said on Friday. Alphabet said the "Project Loon" balloon project would deliver limited internet connectivity to LTE enabled phones in the hardest-hit areas of Puerto Rico. The island's wireless and broadband communications networks were devastated after Hurricane Maria made landfall last month.

By Lawrence Hurley and Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday prevented a pregnant teen detained by the government as an illegal immigrant from immediately obtaining an abortion while leaving open the possibility that she could undergo the procedure within days. The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on a 2-1 vote gave the government until Oct. 31 to approve a sponsor who could help her obtain the procedure without the government's assistance.

By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Florida software engineer was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Friday after being found guilty of scheming to help an illegal bitcoin exchange avoid having banks and regulators look into its activities. Yuri Lebedev was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, according to Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for federal prosecutors. The bitcoin exchange involved in the case, Coin.mx, was linked to an investigation of a data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co, revealed in 2014, that exposed more than 83 million accounts.

A U.S. appeals court in New York on Friday ruled in favor of senior creditors who had contested interest rates imposed on them during the bankruptcy of silicone maker Momentive Performance Materials, reversing a decision that had sparked alarm among lenders. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, erred by not using market rates to determine the interest paid on new notes Momentive forced on holders of about $1.25 billion of secured notes. The replacement notes carried much lower rates, which were set by the court using a formula developed in a consumer bankruptcy case involving a subprime loan for a used truck.