US Domestic News Roundup: Bank of America to stop financing operators of private prisons, detention centres

Bank of America to stop financing operators of private prisons, detention centres

Bank of America Corp said on Wednesday it will no longer finance operators of private prisons and detention centres, joining peers in distancing itself from a sector that has triggered protests over the Trump administration's immigration policies. The bank gave no further comment. JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co. made similar commitments to stop financing private prison companies earlier this year.

Boston Wayfair workers threaten walkout over sale to U.S. immigrant camp

Hundreds of employees of Wayfair Inc are expected to walk off the job on Wednesday in protest of what they said was the retailer's sale of more than $200,000 in bedroom furniture for a Texas detention facility for migrant children. The protest, in the online furniture retailer's home city of Boston, marks the latest outpouring of anger over Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal and legal immigration. It has drawn the support of high-profile Democrats including U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Massachusetts U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.

Warren emerges from first Democratic debate unscathed

A lot could have gone wrong for Elizabeth Warren at Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate. It didn't.

Federal prosecutors to fight Boston Marathon bomber's appeal

Prosecutors on Thursday will urge a federal appeals court to uphold Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's conviction and death penalty sentence for helping carry out the 2013 attack, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file a brief urging the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston to reject Tsarnaev's arguments that he was deprived of a fair trial when a judge declined to move the case out of the city rocked by one of the highest-profile attacks on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

U.S. Navy SEAL charged with war crimes had confidence of his immediate superior

The immediate superior of a Navy SEAL standing trial charged with murdering a helpless Iraqi prisoner and shooting unarmed civilians testified on Wednesday he had complete confidence in the defendant's combat tactics and decision-making. Master Chief Petty Officer Brian Alazzawi, the first defence witness called to the stand in the trial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, also described how one of the main accusers in the case had seemed to harbour a grudge against Gallagher.

Supreme Court to issue major census, electoral map decisions

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to issue eagerly awaited decisions on Thursday in cases on the Trump administration's attempt to add a contentious citizenship question to the 2020 census and bids by voters to stem the partisan manipulation of electoral district boundaries, a practice called gerrymandering. The court, which has a 5-4 conservative majority, has five cases remaining to decide during its current term, which began in October and ends on Thursday, with the rulings set for 10 a.m. (1400 GMT).

Trump signs order to allow military academy graduates to play pro sports

President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday to allow graduates of the U.S. military academies to play professional sports before fulfilling their two-year active-duty military requirement. Trump's memo to the secretary of defence reverses a Pentagon requirement that prevented sports stars at the U.S. Military Academy, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy from joining professional teams immediately after graduation and hurt recruiting of top athletes at the schools.

U.S. states unsure how to halt online sales of abortion pills amid clinic crackdown

American women faced with new restrictions on abortions passed by a dozen U.S. states this year are turning to abortion pills from foreign online suppliers, and the states say there is little they can do to stop it. In the year before many of these new restrictions passed Republican-controlled state legislatures, over 20,000 U.S. women sought the pills online from providers willing to defy U.S. federal rules over sale of the drugs that induce a miscarriage.

Trump criticizes Rapinoe for spurning potential White House invite

United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to criticize U.S women's soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe for saying she would not visit the White House if the team won the World Cup. Defending champions the United States face hosts France in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Democrats clash on healthcare, border in scrappy first U.S. presidential debate

Democratic presidential contenders battled over healthcare coverage and border policy on Wednesday during a surprisingly heated first debate that laid bare the party's divisions on whether to abolish private insurance and shift to a Medicare-for-All system. In the first round of back-to-back debates, several of the lesser-known candidates vied for attention in the crowded race to take on President Donald Trump, shouting over one another to grab the spotlight and prove they are capable of standing up to the Republican in the November 2020 election.