Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, oncology treatments are nearly four times as costly as other therapies and are largely paid for by taxpayer-funded programs like the government's Medicare plan for people over age 65, the report notes. COP 27- U.S. House Republicans to press need for minerals at climate talks Republican U.S. representatives heading to U.N. climate talks in Egypt plan to discuss developing critical minerals used in everything from nuclear energy and electricity transmission to batteries for electric vehicles, the head of the delegation said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump settles lawsuit over alleged assaults at Trump Tower protest

Donald Trump and his namesake company have settled a lawsuit by protesters who said his security guards violently attacked them while they were demonstrating outside Trump Tower in September 2015 over his statements about immigration. Trump, the Trump Organization and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the seven-year-old lawsuit over the alleged assault in a joint filing on Wednesday with a New York state court in the Bronx. A trial had gotten under way this week.

U.S. beauty pageant can exclude transgender contestants, court rules

Beauty pageant operator Miss United States of America LLC cannot be forced to allow transgender women to compete because doing so would interfere with its ability to express "the ideal vision of American womanhood," a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision rejected a lawsuit by Anita Green, a transgender activist, claiming that Miss United States of America's policy of only allowing "natural born" women to compete violates an Oregon anti-discrimination law.

Jury weighs whether Trump ally Barrack was a foreign agent and lied about it

A U.S. jury began deliberations on Wednesday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the onetime private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and lied to federal investigators. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last year charged Barrack with using his influence with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later his administration to push the UAE's policy interests without notifying the U.S. attorney general as required by law that he was acting as an agent for the Middle Eastern country.

New U.S. cancer drug prices rise 53% in five years -report

The annual price of a newly-launched cancer drug in the United States averaged $283,000 last year, a 53% increase from 2017, according to a new report from U.S. Democratic Representative Katie Porter, a consumer bankruptcy law professor running for re-election in California. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, oncology treatments are nearly four times as costly as other therapies and are largely paid for by taxpayer-funded programs like the government's Medicare plan for people over age 65, the report notes.

COP 27- U.S. House Republicans to press need for minerals at climate talks

Republican U.S. representatives heading to U.N. climate talks in Egypt plan to discuss developing critical minerals used in everything from nuclear energy and electricity transmission to batteries for electric vehicles, the head of the delegation said on Wednesday. "I'm hoping to see a more practical approach to bringing forth the critical minerals that we need in a new energy world," said Representative John Curtis, the chairman of the Conservative Climate Caucus, a group of lawmakers. Five members of the group, including Representatives Greg Murphy and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, plan to attend late in the second week of the talks, set to run Nov. 6-18 in Egypt's resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Florida school mass shooter sentenced to life in prison

Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students and staff with a semi-automatic rifle at a Florida high school, was formally sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after listening to hours of anguished testimony from survivors and victims' relatives. A jury voted last month to spare Cruz, 24, the death penalty, instead choosing life in prison without possibility of parole for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

U.S. announces takedown of massive catalytic converter theft ring

U.S. authorities on Wednesday said they have taken down a nationwide ring to steal thousands of catalytic converters from cars and trucks, charging 21 people and seizing millions of dollars in assets. Various defendants were accused in separate indictments unsealed in Sacramento, California, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, of crimes such as transporting and receiving stolen goods across state lines, and conspiring to commit money laundering.

U.S. Capitol Police to conduct internal review over missed camera images of Pelosi attack

The U.S. Capitol Police said on Wednesday it would conduct an internal review after its officers failed to notice surveillance camera images of an intruder breaking into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That intruder, identified by police as David Wayne DePape, is accused of hitting Paul Pelosi, the speaker's 82-year-old husband, with a hammer on Friday, leaving him hospitalized with a skull fracture and injuries to his hand and arm.

Analysis-Biden's threatened windfall oil tax unlikely to pass U.S. Congress

President Joe Biden's threat to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies is unlikely to pass in the U.S. Congress, even if Democrats defy forecasts and manage to maintain their razor-thin majority in midterm elections on Nov. 8. Congress passed big, retroactive tax breaks for Big Oil when former President Donald Trump was in office, as fuel demand dropped during COVID lockdowns. After oil prices soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European governments already have imposed windfall taxes on their oil industries.

Biden to warn election deniers pose 'unprecedented' threat to America

President Joe Biden will say on Wednesday that threats by some Republican candidates to refuse to accept election results if they lose is a "path to chaos" and will urge voters to reject election deniers. The White House released excerpts of a speech Biden was to deliver later on Wednesday night as he tries to help Democrats face down a strong challenge from Republicans and maintain control of the U.S. Congress.