Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US Army tests counter-drone tech at Mexican border as cartel drone use rises

The US Army is testing counter-drone technology in the US-Mexico border area, seeking to sharpen its defenses against the growing threat of drone use by cartels and emulate the rapid battlefield innovation happening in Ukraine's ​war with Russia. At Falcon Peak, a US Northern Command exercise held in September in Arizona, soldiers watched as defense firms demonstrated radars, interceptor drones, autonomous gun systems and other technologies designed to detect, track and destroy small unmanned ​aircraft.

Japan's Takaichi protests to US after Marine accused of murder in Okinawa

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi registered a protest with the United States on ‌Sunday after a US ​Marine was arrested on suspicion of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman in Okinawa. Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southernmost prefecture, on Saturday and taking her wallet and backpack, police said. Ballard denied the allegations, police said.

Trump picks John Coale as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that lawyer and current Belarus envoy John Coale, who has been credited with the release of hundreds of prisoners, would be his special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners last month after talks with Coale, who has been talking to Minsk for more than a year.

Exclusive-ShinyHunters hacker in FBI data theft detained ‌in Jordan, cooperating with bureau, sources say

A suspected member of the ShinyHunters hacking group, which says it stole data on every FBI employee, was detained in Jordan this week and is cooperating with the FBI, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Saif al-Din Khader was detained by Jordanian authorities, the three sources said. Two of them said he was brought into custody on Tuesday. Reuters could not immediately determine the circumstances of Khader’s detention or where he is being held. Two sources said that he is helping the FBI and global law enforcement locate the other hackers in the group.

Appeals court pauses reinstatement of fired Seattle federal prosecutor

A US appeals court on Sunday put on hold a judge's order reinstating the Seattle area's top federal prosecutor, who had been fired by President Donald Trump. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay while it considers the merits of the dispute. The order for now will keep Roger Rogoff from resuming his role as US attorney for the Western ‌District of Washington.

In crude Ohio rally speech, Trump says he may not help if Democrats win

US President Donald Trump used an Ohio rally on Saturday to mix profane attacks on Democrats with promises of financial help if Republicans win the midterms and a warning that he would be less willing to work with the state if Democrats prevail. "Just get out and vote," Trump said at a rally for Republican candidates, including US Senator Jon Husted and Ohio gubernatorial candidate ‌Vivek Ramaswamy. "If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big, and we're going to shove it up their ass."

US appeals court weighs Trump's block on Harvard research funding

US President Donald Trump's administration will ask an appeals court on Monday to revive his effort to terminate more than $2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University, a centerpiece of his broad campaign against the nation's richest and oldest university. The oral argument before the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, slated for 9:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT), will help determine whether Trump can leverage federal funding to force change at US universities, which the Republican president has said are gripped by "radical left" ideologies.

Trump heads to Nebraska as Republicans defend red-state Senate seat

US President Donald Trump will visit Nebraska on Monday to rally Republicans and promote his economic record, taking his message of new investment and manufacturing to a state where farmers and truckers face sharply higher diesel prices and voters worry about inflation. His stop in the city of Grand Island is part of Trump's 32-day sprint to the November 3 midterm elections, a campaign in which he is spending considerable time in Republican strongholds. Trump has urged Republicans to “pretend” he is on the ballot, arguing that voters should view the midterms ⁠as a referendum on his administration ​and economic record.

Cornell president vows 'serious look' at fraternities, sororities in wake of rape allegations

Cornell University will examine the role of fraternities ⁠and sororities on campus following an outcry over the school's handling of a student's rape allegations, the Ivy League school's president said on Saturday. A civil lawsuit filed last month by the woman, who alleges she was drugged and raped in 2024 by several members of the Chi Phi fraternity, has sparked outrage and soul-searching at Cornell over its campus culture at the school in Ithaca, New York.

Trump's deportation push forces dozens of LGBT migrants onto hostile terrain

Two years ago, a mob assaulted Abdou Latifou and threatened to kill him after he was seen kissing the man he loved. He fled his home in the ⁠West African nation of Togo and sought refuge in the United States, according to his asylum application.

US Coast Guard suspends search for people on crashed medical aircraft

The US Coast Guard has halted its search for six people who were on a medical transport aircraft that crashed off the coast of Massachusetts' Nantucket Island. Officials said four Canadians and two citizens of Bermuda were on the plane, which was headed for Boston's Logan International Airport.

Tennessee prison chief resigns after failed execution

The head of the Tennessee Department of Correction will step down this month, state officials said on ​Saturday, days after convicted murderer Christa Pike was left gravely ill from the state's failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection. The botched execution on Wednesday left Pike unconscious, intubated and hooked to a mechanical ventilator to breathe, her lawyers wrote in a Friday court filing. It is the state's second failed execution attempt this year, prompting Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to halt attempts to carry out the death penalty for the rest of 2026.

Georgia ⁠block party shooting kills two, injures dozens

A shooting early on Sunday at a Georgia block party left two people dead and almost three dozen injured, some critically, local and state officials said. Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told a news conference that two men, aged 21 and 23, were shot dead in Vienna, Georgia, about 135 miles (216 km) south of Atlanta. Thirty-five people were injured, mostly by gunshot wounds, officials told reporters.

US Supreme Court weighs bid by oil companies to avoid climate lawsuit

The US Supreme Court is set on Monday to hear a bid by oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy to thwart a lawsuit by officials in Boulder, ⁠Colorado, ​seeking monetary damages for harms caused by climate change, as the justices open a new nine-month term. US-based Exxon and Canada-based Suncor appealed after the Colorado Supreme Court let Boulder's lawsuit accusing them of state law violations proceed. President Donald Trump's administration has backed Exxon and Suncor, arguing that the federal government's authority to regulate air pollution precludes Boulder's claims.

US accuses California woman of spying for China, surveilling Taiwan president's son

US authorities arrested a California woman on Sunday and accused her of spying on a son of Taiwan's president at the behest of Chinese officials, the FBI said. The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday before her planned departure to China, the agency said in a statement. Authorities charged Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Woman at center of Cornell rape allegations targeted with threats, lawyer says

The woman who has alleged she was drugged and raped by Cornell University students has been the target of threats, her lawyer said on ⁠Sunday. Thomas Giuffra, who represents the woman identified as "Jane Doe," told CNN that people have threatened to silence or harm her if she does not withdraw her civil lawsuit alleging that several members of a Cornell fraternity drugged and raped her in 2024.

US Supreme Court to kick off term with bid by Big Oil to toss climate suits

The US Supreme Court begins its new nine-month term on Monday with arguments in a major case involving a bid by ⁠oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy to scuttle a lawsuit by officials in Boulder, Colorado, seeking monetary damages for harms caused by climate change. It is ⁠the first of several important cases already teed up for the term, with disputes involving issues such as President Donald Trump's immigration policies and state-level bans on assault-style rifles to be heard in the coming months. The court's 6-3 conservative majority has moved US law dramatically rightward in recent years.

US goes into midterm elections with a less dynamic form of full employment

US President Donald Trump and his Republican Party will carry a 4.2% unemployment rate into the congressional elections in early November, a low number by historical standards and in line with what most economists would regard as full employment. In other words, a hallmark of a solid US job market.

US Coast Guard finds debris from missing medical aircraft off Nantucket

The US Coast Guard ‌said late on Saturday it found debris from a medical transport aircraft off the shore ‌of Massachusetts' Nantucket island and was searching for six people who were on board. The Federal Aviation Administration told the Coast Guard early on Saturday that it had lost contact with a Gulfstream jet traveling from Bermuda to Boston. Several hours later, the Coast Guard ​said in a statement that it "located a debris field that has been confirmed to be associated with the missing aircraft."