US News Roundup: About 350 U.S. evacuees from China; New York jurors shown naked photos of Harvey Weinstein and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

About 350 U.S. evacuees from China en route to California: Pentagon

About 350 Americans evacuated from China's virus-hit Wuhan province are expected to arrive at two U.S. military bases in California on Wednesday, the Pentagon said in a statement. The U.S. travelers on two U.S. Department of State-chartered flights will land at Travis Air Force Base before one of the planes continues to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. Passengers will be quarantined for 14 days as part of U.S. officials' plan to protect against the coronavirus, the U.S. Department of Defense said.

Buttigieg has narrow Iowa lead on Sanders, Biden lags in Democratic race

Pete Buttigieg held a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders on Tuesday in long-delayed results from the chaotic Iowa Democratic Party caucuses, and former Vice President Joe Biden trailed badly in fourth place with about 71% of precincts reporting. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren placed third in the results, released a day after Iowans poured into more than 1,600 public locations to begin the five-month process of picking a challenger to Republican President Donald Trump for November's election.

New York jurors were shown naked photos of Harvey Weinstein

Jurors in Harvey Weinstein's New York rape trial were shown naked photographs of the former Hollywood producer on Tuesday over his lawyers' objections. A sketch artist hired by Reuters saw a couple of the naked photos when they were passed to the jury and produced a drawing for the news agency. In the courtroom, prosecutors did not say why the photographs were introduced or how many were presented.

Qatar Foundation rejects U.S. university's reason for scrapping event after anti-gay backlash

An American university's partner in Qatar has rejected the university's explanation for canceling an event in Doha that would have featured a prominent Middle East band whose singer is openly gay. Members of Lebanese indie rock band Mashrou' Leila had been scheduled to take part in a discussion at Northwestern University’s Qatar campus on Tuesday, but the university moved the event to its U.S. campus after hostile online comments against Mashrou’ Leila’s appearance.

The U.S. deploys 'more survivable' submarine-launched low-yield nuclear weapon

The U.S. Defense Department said on Tuesday the Navy had fielded a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, something the Pentagon believes is needed to deter adversaries like Russia but which critics say lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons. Low-yield nuclear weapons, while still devastating, have a strength of fewer than 20 kilotons. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, in August 1945, had about the same explosive power.

Trump-Pelosi feud erupts during a speech to Congress as impeachment trial nears the end

A bitter feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and top Democrat Nancy Pelosi boiled over at his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, with Trump denying her a handshake and Pelosi ripping apart a copy of his remarks behind his back. Trump avoided the subject of his impeachment drama in a pugnacious 80-minute speech, but the raw wounds from the battle were evident with fellow Republicans giving him standing ovations while rival Democrats, for the most part, remained seated.

News organizations ask the U.S. Labor Department to keep computers in data 'lockups'

Lawyers representing news organizations on Tuesday sent a letter to the U.S. Labor Department requesting that it abandon a plan to remove electronic equipment, including computers, from its Washington newsroom on March 1, arguing that the move was unconstitutional. Lawyers from Holland & Knight, representing Reuters, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Dow Jones & Company and Market News said the reasons given by the Labor Department for the changes did not hold up to legal and factual scrutiny.

Ex-Goldman Sachs VP renews lawsuit alleging anti-LGBTQ bias

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc vice president has renewed his lawsuit accusing the Wall Street bank of firing him after he complained about being discriminated against because he was gay. William Littleton filed his complaint in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, consolidating New York and federal civil rights claims he had previously filed with a New York state court and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

'Brothers for life': Former Lakers attendant remembers Kobe Bryant

Manny Sandoval, who arrived at the Los Angeles Lakers as a team attendant in 1996, the same year as Kobe Bryant, said the death in a helicopter crash of the basketball legend and friend "was like a punch in the stomach". "I cried and (was) just thinking about what the hell’s happening. A lot of years that I spent with a person you know, on a game-to-game basis," Sandoval told Reuters TV.

Emergency 911 phone calls on Kobe Bryant crash show witnesses concerned about fog

Recently released emergency 911 phone calls about the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant showed witnesses were concerned about the poor visibility due to fog and revive the tragic moment that rocked the basketball and entertainment worlds nine days ago. The twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B slammed into a hillside and killed all nine people on board in an accident that still has many of the basketball great's fans grieving, with more public memorials to come.

(With inputs from agencies.)