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U.S. universities unplug from China's Huawei under pressure from Trump

Top U.S. universities are ditching telecom equipment made by Huawei Technologies and other Chinese companies to avoid losing federal funding under a new national security law backed by the Trump administration. Beijing and the Chinese companies have repeatedly denied such claims. The University of California at Berkeley has removed a Huawei video-conferencing system, a university official said, while the UC campus in Irvine is working to replace five pieces of Chinese-made audio-video equipment.

'AI' to hit hardest in U.S. heartland and among less-skilled: study

The Midwestern states hit hardest by job automation in recent decades, places that were pivotal to U.S. President Donald Trump's election, will be under the most pressure again as advances in artificial intelligence reshape the workplace, according to a new study by Brookings Institution researchers. The spread of computer-driven technology into middle-wage jobs like trucking, construction, and office work, and some lower-skilled occupations like food preparation and service, will also further divide the fast-growing cities where skilled workers are moving and other areas, and separate the high- skilled workers whose jobs are less prone to automation from everyone else regardless of location, the study found. The findings suggest the economic tensions that framed Trump's election may well persist, and may even be immune to his efforts to shift global trade policy in favor of U.S. manufacturers.

Age bias law does not cover job applicants: U.S. appeals court

In an 8-4 decision, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said the "plain language" of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), which forbids discrimination against people 40 and older, showed that Congress intended that law to cover current employees, not outside job applicants. It also reinstated a federal district judge's dismissal of Illinois resident Dale Kleber's disparate impact claim against CareFusion Corp, a unit of medical device maker Becton Dickinson and Co. The job description required that applicants have "no more than 7 years" of relevant experience, less than Kleber had.

Gunman surrenders after killing five in central Florida bank: police

The shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles (153 km) south of Orlando, around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference. The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Zephen Xaver, called 911 dispatchers and said he had shot five people inside the bank, according to authorities. When police entered the bank, the gunman had barricaded himself inside but eventually surrendered, the Sebring Police Department said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Furloughed federal workers may lose some health benefits: U.S. senators

Four U.S. senators expressed concern on Wednesday that federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown could lose their dental and vision health insurance benefits if they are unable to pay their premiums. In a letter to the government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Democratic Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin said forcing workers to pay the premiums during the shutdown would be "unacceptable." Some 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or are working without pay since the shutdown began on Dec. 22, after Republican President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress deadlocked over his demand for $5.7 billion for a border wall with Mexico.

Back to school: Los Angeles teachers return to work after six-day strike

Thousands of teachers in Los Angeles returned to the job on Wednesday, fresh off a six-day strike against the second-largest U.S. school district that disrupted the education of half a million students. Rank-and-file members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly late on Tuesday to approve a 3-1/2-year contract agreement the union and school district had reached before dawn that day, union officials said. The agreement gave teachers an immediate pay raise of 6 percent, slightly less than the 6.5 percent they had sought.

U.S. government shutdown to crimp growth, recession risk steady: Reuters poll

U.S. economic growth will take a hit this quarter from the longest-ever government shutdown, keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until at least its April 30-May 1 meeting, a Reuters poll of economists showed. The latest Reuters poll of over 100 economists taken Jan 16-23 also showed a cut to the 2019 quarterly growth outlook, in line with a recent run of weaker U.S. economic data pointing to rougher sledding for the economy this year than last year. The partial government shutdown affecting 800,000 federal workers has lasted more than a month and is expected to hurt the already-slowing economy.

Democrats push technology as alternative to Trump wall in shutdown impasse

As a shutdown that has left 800,000 federal workers without pay hit its 33rd day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially disinvited Trump from delivering the annual State of the Union address in the House chamber until the government is fully opened. Representative James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, said Democrats could fulfill Trump's request for $5.7 billion for border security with technological tools such as drones, X-rays and sensors, as well as more border patrol agents.

Gay Indiana mayor joins field of Democratic presidential hopefuls

Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched an underdog 2020 bid for the White House on Wednesday, aiming to stand out as a problem-solving Midwestern outsider who would be the first openly gay nominee of a major U.S. political party. The relatively unknown Buttigieg, 37, a two-term mayor of the Rust Belt city of about 100,000 people, said he represented a new generation of leadership with fresh approaches to the country's problems. In an email and video to supporters, he offered a sharp contrast to Republican President Donald Trump's nostalgia-driven message invoking an America of the past.

Five killed in central Florida bank shooting, police say

The shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles south of Orlando, around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference. The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Zephen Xaver, called police and said he had fired shots inside the bank, according to authorities. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he has asked the state's department of law enforcement to assist local police officials in the investigation.

Back to school: Los Angeles teachers return to work after six-day strike

Thousands of teachers in Los Angeles returned to the job on Wednesday, fresh off a six-day strike against the nation's second largest school district that disrupted the education of half a million students. Rank and file members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly late on Tuesday to approve a 3-1/2 year contract agreement that the union and school district had reached before dawn that day, union officials said. The Los Angeles Unified School District kept schools open during the strike, staffing them with substitute teachers and support staff to supervise students.

FAA details impact of drone sightings on Newark airport

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that 43 flights into New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport were required to hold after drone sightings at a nearby airport on Tuesday, while nine flights were diverted. The issue of drones impacting commercial air traffic came to the fore after London's second busiest airport, Gatwick Airport, was severely disrupted in December when drones were sighted on three consecutive days. An FAA spokesman said that Tuesday's event lasted for 21 minutes.

White man who wanted race war pleads guilty to New York stabbing

A white Baltimore man who traveled to New York City in 2017 and killed a black man with a sword in hopes of sparking a race war in the United States pleaded guilty to murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said on Wednesday. James Jackson, a 30-year-old U.S. Army specialist, stabbed Timothy Caughman, 66, to death on March 20, 2017, and turned himself in at a police station the next day after police circulated surveillance video of the killing.

Nurse charged with raping disabled Arizona patient who gave birth

The woman, who is in her 20s, has spent most of her life in Phoenix's Hacienda Healthcare since suffering a childhood injury. Police charged the suspect, Nathan Sutherland, 36, with sexual assault and vulnerable adult abuse. Sutherland is a licensed practical nurse who has worked at the site since 2011.

Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' abortion ban ruled unconstitutional

Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature passed the restriction in May 2018, outlawing the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often at six weeks and before a woman realizes she is pregnant. In the ruling, posted online, District Court Judge Michael Huppert wrote, "It is undisputed that such cardiac activity is detectable well in advance of the fetus becoming viable." A fetus that is viable outside the womb, usually at 24 weeks, is widely considered the threshold in the United States to prohibit an abortion. The district court decision is a victory for supporters of abortion rights, but abortion opponents have vowed to take the fight to Iowa's appellate courts, the Des Moines Register and other media reported.

U.S. airlines tap army helicopter pilots to ease shortage

U.S. Army pilot Shaun Perez spent ten hours flying an Apache helicopter over Afghanistan, providing gun cover for Special Forces soldiers on the ground as they hunted for high-value targets, guns and weapons. Returning to his base at dawn, he donned a fresh uniform before shutting himself into a small room to secure the next stage of his career - as a commercial airline pilot. Perez took advantage of one of the tightest labor markets in the United States, created by years of slow hiring, a wave of pending retirements at major U.S. airlines, and Federal Aviation Administration rules that in 2013 increased the number of required training hours from 250 to 1,500.

Ex-'El Chapo' lieutenant says he discussed killing cop as favor to mayor

A former top lieutenant to accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Tuesday said he and his former boss once discussed killing a police officer as a favor to a local politician. Guzman, Nunez said, responded that they should do the mayor the "favor," because she was a favorite for a state-level office in an upcoming election. The mayor of La Paz in 2013 was Esthela Ponce Beltran, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

Four charged in bomb plot against Muslim community in New York

Three men and a teenager have been arrested after planning to bomb a Muslim community in upstate New York, and investigators have recovered three homemade bombs and nearly two dozen guns, authorities said on Tuesday. The alleged plot was uncovered after a student at Odyssey Academy, a school in Greece, New York, showed a classmate a photograph of another student and said, "He looks like the next school shooter, doesn't he?" Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan told reporters at a news conference. The remark was reported to school security, which along with local police interviewed both the student who had the photograph as well as the student in the picture.

Senate to vote on ending government shutdown, Trump wall impasse

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid the groundwork for a vote on Thursday on a Democratic proposal to fund the government for three weeks, without attaching the $5.7 billion in U.S.-Mexico border wall funding demanded by President Donald Trump. The president has opposed similar legislation in the House of Representatives. McConnell had said previously he would not consider a funding bill that Trump would refuse to sign.

Walgreens pays $269.2 million to settle U.S. civil fraud lawsuits

The pharmacy chain will pay $209.2 million to resolve claims it improperly billed Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs from 2006 to 2017 for hundreds of thousands of insulin pens it dispensed to patients it knew did not need them. Walgreens will also pay $60 million to resolve claims it overcharged Medicaid from 2008 to 2017 by failing to disclose and charge the discount drug prices it offered the public through its Prescription Savings Club program. The Deerfield, Illinois-based company said it "admits, acknowledges, and accepts responsibility" for conduct alleged by the federal government, according to the settlement agreements.

U.S. insulin costs per patient nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016: study

A person with type 1 diabetes incurred annual insulin costs of $5,705, on average, in 2016. The average cost was roughly half that at $2,864 per patient in 2012, according to a report due to be released on Tuesday by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). The figures represent the combined amount paid by a patient and their health plan for the medicine and do not reflect rebates paid at a later date.

Los Angeles teachers vote on contract deal with school district

The union representing Los Angeles teachers reached a tentative contract agreement on Tuesday with the second-largest U.S. school district, paving the way for classes to resume for nearly a half million students after a weeklong strike. About 30,000 striking teachers will vote on Tuesday afternoon on the deal, which would last through the 2021-22 academic year. If they back the agreement, teachers would return to work at the city's more than 1,200 schools on Wednesday morning.

Body found in area of Southern California charred by wildfire

A body has been found in an area of the California seaside town of Malibu left blackened by a massive wildfire in November, and investigators were trying to determine if the victim was slain or died in the flames, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The skeletal remains were discovered late on Monday afternoon and homicide detectives, joined by investigators from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, responded to the scene at first light on Tuesday, Deputy Trina Schrader said. Schrader said the Coroner's Office would conduct an autopsy to help determine the identity of the victim, who could be either a man or a woman, and whether foul play was involved.

Trump administration to ask Supreme Court to decide census dispute

The Justice Department said in a court filing in a related case currently before the justices that it would like the Supreme Court to rule on the census matter by the end of the court's current term in June. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled on Jan. 15 that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the census, concealed the true motives for his "arbitrary and capricious" decision to add the question in violation of federal law. By seeking high court review before giving a lower appeals court time to consider the case, the administration put its faith in the conservative-majority high court to hear and decide the matter in the coming months, as time is running out before the census forms must be printed in June.

Trump transgender troop limits can take effect, top court decides

The decision, with the court's five conservative justices prevailing over its four liberals, granted the Trump administration's request to put on hold injunctions issued by federal judges against enforcement of the policy while a challenge to its legality continues in lower courts. The court did not resolve the underlying question of the legality of the Republican president's plan, which reversed the landmark 2016 policy of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to let transgender people for the first time serve openly in the armed forces and receive medical care to transition genders. The justices declined the administration's request to immediately take up the fight over the policy's legality even before a California-based federal appeals court that often has been criticized by Trump rules on the matter.

Supreme Court to hear biggest gun rights case since 2010

The nine justices will review a 2018 lower court ruling upholding the city's restrictions after three gun owners and the NRA's New York state affiliate sued claiming the regulations imposed in the largest American city violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." The decision indicates a new interest regarding gun rights on the court, where conservatives hold a 5-4 majority. The Supreme Court had not taken up a major firearms case since issuing important rulings in 2008 and 2010 that established an individual right to own guns for self-defense inside the home. The issue of gun rights is contentious in the United States, which has experienced a succession of mass shootings in recent decades and calls from many Americans for stricter regulation of firearms and ammunition.

U.S. home sales hit three-year low, prices rise slowly

U.S. home sales tumbled to their lowest level in three years in December and house price increases slowed sharply, suggesting a further loss of momentum in the housing market. The weak report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Tuesday was the latest indication of slowing economic growth. A survey last Friday showed consumer sentiment dropped in January to its lowest level since President Donald Trump was elected more than two years ago.

Trump still plans to deliver Jan. 29 State of the Union address: official

U.S. President Donald Trump still plans to deliver his annual State of the Union address from the Capitol later this month as scheduled, a Trump administration official said on Tuesday as the federal government shutdown stretched into its second month. The White House has sent a request to the House of Representatives' sergeant at arms seeking a "walk-through" for the Jan. 29 speech, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week called on Trump to reconsider delivering the president's annual address before a gathering of both chambers of Congress and other dignitaries given that about one-quarter of the U.S. government has been shuttered since Dec. 22.

Supreme Court lets mystery company file appeal under seal

The case has remained a high-profile mystery, with the Supreme Court and lower courts declining to identify the company, the country that owns it or the purpose of the subpoena. More details about the company's legal arguments were revealed in redacted court papers made public after the nine justices permitted it to move forward with its appeal to the high court under seal, a process that keeps many facts about the matter secret. The company is facing a daily fine of $50,000 imposed by a U.S. federal judge in Washington for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued in the unidentified investigation.

Supreme Court again mum on Trump's 'Dreamers' appeals

Unless the court breaks with its normal procedure, the nine justices would not be able to hear arguments and decide the case in its current term, which ends in June. The Justice Department has filed appeals concerning the Republican president's September 2017 move, blocked by lower courts, to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented in 2012 by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. DACA protects about 700,000 immigrants, often called "Dreamers" based on the name of the Dream Act legislation that failed to pass Congress, from deportation and provides them work permits, though not a path to citizenship.

Talks to end Los Angeles teachers' strike make progress: union, mayor

Negotiations to end a strike by teachers in Los Angeles made progress on Monday, but educators will not return to work until Wednesday at the earliest even if contract talks produce a deal because union members must ratify it before halting their walkout. The United Teachers Los Angeles union said in a statement that the two sides "are making progress" in the negotiations, aimed at settling a labor dispute that has disrupted classes for some 500,000 students in America's second-largest school district. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose office has been mediating the talks, said "tremendous progress" had been achieved.