Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Migrant boy who died in U.S. left Guatemala's migrant heartland

An eight-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in U.S. custody this week had trekked to the border with his father from a rural northwestern village, Guatemala's government said on Wednesday, following thousands of others who have made the area a hot spot of migration. Felipe Gomez Alonzo and his father, Agustin, 47, came from the municipality of Nenton in Huehuetenango province, said Guatemalan foreign ministry spokeswoman Marta Larra.

Child says still believes in Santa after Trump's 'marginal' quip

President Donald Trump set off a Christmas social media storm when he questioned whether a seven-year-old was too long in the tooth to believe in Santa Claus. But not to worry.

U.S. acting AG falsely claimed scholar-athlete honor: report

Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has incorrectly claimed in government documents that he had been named an Academic All-American while playing football at the University of Iowa, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. It said Whitaker made the claim in his biography on his former law firm's website and on a resume sent in 2014 to the chief executive of a now-closed patent-marketing firm, for which he sat on the advisory board.

No winner for Christmas Mega Millions, jackpot grows to $348 million

A $321 million Mega Millions jackpot, the biggest ever offered on Christmas Day, went unclaimed as the size of the grand prize grew for the next drawing later this week, the multistate lottery said on Wednesday. No one held the numbers 2, 8, 42, 43, 50 and Mega ball 6 that were picked Christmas night, Mega Millions said. The jackpot increased to $348 million for the next drawing to be held on Friday.

U.S. Justice Ginsburg released from hospital after cancer surgery

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, has been released from the hospital after undergoing cancer surgery, a court spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "Justice Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital yesterday and is recuperating at home," spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement.

On shutdown, Trump vows to wait as long as it takes for wall funding

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is prepared to wait as long as it takes to get $5 billion from taxpayers for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, a demand that has triggered a partial shutdown of the federal government that is now in its fifth day. With no immediate end to the shutdown in sight, Trump made his remarks during a surprise visit to Iraq and blamed the shutdown on Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was expected to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 3.

Guatemalan girl's Christmas funeral too much for grieving mother

A crowd of mourners said goodbye to the 7-year-old Guatemalan migrant girl who died in U.S. custody this month, laying her to rest in a Christmas Day funeral that left her mother so crushed she could not bear to attend. Friends and family on Tuesday lowered the body of Jakelin Caal into a grave in an impoverished mountain village in Guatemala, some 2,000 miles from where she died in an El Paso, Texas, hospital on Dec. 8 after succumbing to a high fever.

Ex-Insys CEO to plead guilty to opioid kickback scheme

The former chief executive of Insys Therapeutics Inc has agreed to plead guilty to participating in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a powerful opioid medication in order to boost its sales, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday. Michael Babich, who resigned as the Arizona-based drugmaker's CEO in 2015 and was due to face trial next month, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and mail fraud charges, federal prosecutors in Boston disclosed in a court filing.

U.S. holiday shopping season best in six years: report

Sales in the 2018 U.S. holiday shopping season rose 5.1 percent to over $850 billion, the strongest in six years, according to a Mastercard report on Wednesday, as shoppers were encouraged by a robust economy and early discounts. The data follows Amazon.com Inc's announcement of a "record-breaking" selling season, with the online retail giant shipping a billion items for free through its Prime membership in the United States.

Explainer: How partial shutdown of U.S. government could play out

A partial U.S. government shutdown was widely expected to continue after Congress reconvenes on Thursday, with lawmakers split over President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion in taxpayer funding for a proposed Mexican border wall. The Senate and the House of Representatives were set to meet at 4 p.m. EST on the sixth day of the shutdown and resume debating ways to end it. That will include Senate consideration of a measure already approved by the Republican-controlled House that meets Trump's wall-funding demand.