US News Roundup: Court weighs antitrust dispute over Apple App Store; Rain breaks, easing search in California

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

On Black Friday, more U.S. shoppers chose the computer over the mall

The Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday kickoff of the U.S. holiday shopping season showed the increasing preference for online purchases, as more Americans opted to stay home and use their smartphones while sales and traffic at brick-and-mortar stores declined. The ongoing shift to online shopping has forced retailers across the country to invest heavily in boosting their e-commerce businesses, and also highlights the impact of early holiday promotions and year-round deals on consumer spending.

Cyber Monday to test limits of retailers' websites as shoppers scour deals

U.S. shoppers who missed out on deals this past Black Friday are expected to flock to online sites Cyber Monday, testing the limits for some retailers that have been investing heavily on their e-commerce operations to stay relevant in a brutal space. Retailers across the country are fighting to entice people to come to their web sites, offering new services such as deliveries with no minimum order limits and an assortment of deals.

Trump is right, jobs for black Americans abound. Here's why it may not last

Ask Memphis residents and they might say that President Donald Trump got this one right: this is the best job market as far as many in this majority black city can remember. For single mother Latasha Harwell, it has meant finally landing a full time job as a medical assistant, one with the regular 9 to 5 hours she needs so she can care for her kids. Chiquita Clayton says she has an open offer to move from part-time to full-time work at a FedEx warehouse; forklift driver Kendrick Jefferson got $3 dollar an hour more for switching employers.

U.S. fires tear gas into Mexico to repel migrants, closes border gate for several hours

U.S. authorities shut the country's busiest border crossing and fired tear gas into Mexico on Sunday to repel Central American migrants approaching the border after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed the asylum-seekers would not easily enter the country. Traffic in both directions was suspended for several hours at the San Ysidro port of entry between San Diego and Tijuana, U.S. officials said, disrupting trade at the most heavily trafficked land border in the Western Hemisphere. Pedestrian crossings and vehicle traffic later resumed, officials said.

Trial to start of man charged with murder at Charlottesville rally

James Fields Jr., the man accused of killing a woman when he drove into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was due to go on trial on Monday on a charge of first-degree murder. Fields, 21, was among hundreds of white nationalists who attended the "Unite the Right" rally on Aug. 12, 2017, where prosecutors say he plowed his car into people protesting the event, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring 19 others.

Rain breaks, easing search for remains of California wildfire

Teams searching for remains from the deadliest wildfire in California history were able to comb through wreckage in dry weather on Saturday, but rains are expected to return next week and officials warned of a threat of mudslides. The so-called Camp Fire all but obliterated the mountain community of Paradise, 175 miles (280 km) northeast of San Francisco, on Nov. 8, killing at least 85 people and destroying nearly 14,000 homes. The death toll was increased late Saturday night by one, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office.

Supreme Court weighs antitrust dispute over Apple App Store

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday will take up Apple Inc's effort to bury a lawsuit seeking damages from the company for allegedly monopolizing the market for iPhone software applications and forcing consumers to overpay. The justices will hear arguments in Apple's appeal of a lower court's decision to revive the proposed class-action lawsuit by a group of iPhone users. The lawsuit accused the Cupertino, California-based technology company of violating federal antitrust laws by requiring apps to be sold through the company's App Store and then taking a 30 percent commission from the purchases.

49s linebacker Foster arrested again on domestic violence charge

San Francisco 49s linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested on Saturday night in Florida on a domestic violence charge, adding to a string of run-ins with the law over the past year. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office website showed the 24 year-old was arrested shortly after 9 p.m. and booked into jail shortly after 11 p.m.

Alabama police say man killed by officer wasn't gunman in mall shooting

A man shot to death by police during Black Friday sales at an Alabama shopping mall was likely not the gunman in a shooting there that wounded two people, as authorities previously said, and police said at least one suspect remains at large. Police said Emantic Bradford, 21, was holding a handgun when he was killed by an officer who believed he was responsible for an incident Thursday night in which a 12-year-old girl and 18-year-old man were shot at the Riverchase Galleria in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover.

Midwest commuters face blizzard as they head back to work

Commuters in Chicago and across the Midwest will face a blizzard packing more than a foot of snow and whiteout conditions as they head back to work on Monday after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Blizzard warnings were in effect early on Monday in northeast Missouri through metro Chicago and northeast into Michigan as the storm brought winds up to 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and more than 12 inches (15 cm) of snow to the region, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

(With inputs from agencies.)