US Domestic News Roundup: Synagogue suspect pleads not guilty, Woman survives 6 days in Arizona desert after crash

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Former Harvard president defends school in Asian-American bias trial

Former Harvard University President Drew Faust on Thursday rejected claims that the Ivy League school discriminates against Asian-American applicants, saying that doing so would be "totally at odds with what we believe." Faust, who stepped down as president in June, made the remarks on the witness stand in Boston federal court, in a closely-watched trial that could have wider implications for the role of race in U.S. college admissions.

Amid Pittsburgh funerals, synagogue suspect pleads not guilty

Appearing defiant and swaggering, the man charged with killing 11 worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a federal court as the Jewish community buried three more of the dead. Robert Bowers, 46, an avowed anti-Semite, was brought before Judge Robert Mitchell in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, dressed in a red jumpsuit with a bandaged left arm.

U.S. charges financier, former Goldman bankers for 1MDB

U.S. prosecutors unveiled criminal charges on Thursday against two former Goldman Sachs bankers and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho tied to the alleged theft of billions from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn announced that Tim Leissner, former partner for Goldman Sachs in Asia, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and agreed to forfeit $43.7 million.

Trump hardens stance on Mexico border, says 15,000 troops could be sent

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States could send as many as 15,000 troops to the border with Mexico, as he hardens his stance against a caravan of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. The numbers cited by Trump are significantly higher than defence officials have disclosed. The Pentagon said on Monday it was deploying more than 5,200 troops to the border but that the number would rise. On Wednesday, it said more than 7,000 troops would support the Department of Homeland Security along the border.

NiSource discloses criminal probe of Massachusetts gas pipeline explosions

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation of utility company NiSource Inc over gas explosions and fires in three Massachusetts communities that killed one person and injured at least 21 others in September, the company disclosed on Thursday. Grand jury subpoenas were served to NiSource and its subsidiary Columbia Gas of Massachusetts on Sept. 24, according to a NiSource regulatory filing. The company said it is cooperating with the investigation.

Tennessee set to execute double murderer by electrocution

Tennessee plans to execute 63-year-old Edmund Zagorski by electrocution on Thursday night after the condemned man requested not to be put to death by lethal injection. Zagorski, who killed two men in 1983 who were carrying a large amount of cash in order to buy 100 pounds of marijuana, would be the first U.S. inmate executed by electrocution since 2013.

Tenth child dies from viral outbreak at New Jersey facility

A 10th child died has in a viral outbreak at a rehabilitation centre in northern New Jersey, where 27 young patients with compromised immune systems have been confirmed with adenovirus infections, state health officials said. The child had fallen ill prior to Oct. 22, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement late on Wednesday. It did not say when the child died at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in the town of Haskell.

U.S. ambassador to Russia diagnosed with early-stage cancer: report

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has early-stage cancer and is being treated, according to comments he gave to a Utah-based newspaper in an interview published on Thursday. Huntsman, who spoke in Moscow with Deseret News in a series of conversations in August, said at the time he planned to return for treatment to Utah, where he served twice as governor.

U.S. judge shreds main claim in Parmesan cheese labeling lawsuits

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed the central claim in lawsuits accusing five food producers and retailers of deceiving consumers by using "100% Grated Parmesan Cheese" labels to describe products that contained cellulose, an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman in Chicago found a lack of proof that the labels would mislead reasonable consumers into thinking the products were 100 per cent cheese, despite evidence that two linguistics professors and the "vast majority" consumers in a recent survey thought so.

Woman survives six days in Arizona desert after crash

A 53-year-old woman survived six days in the Arizona desert on grass and water after crashing her car, before being rescued by a rancher and highway workers who were chasing a cow, police and local media said on Wednesday. The woman, whose name was not disclosed, lost control of her car on Oct. 12 on a rain-slicked road near Wickenburg, Arizona, about 65 miles (105 km) north of Phoenix, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

(With inputs from agencies.)