US News Roundup: Trump touts environment record; Women's World Cup final draws 14.3M U.S. viewers

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Women's World Cup final draws 14.3 million U.S. viewers, but misses record

More than 14 million Americans watched on television as the U.S. women's soccer team clinched their fourth World Cup title, broadcaster Fox said on Monday, but the TV audience failed to break records. Sunday's match in Lyon, France, in which the United States beat the Netherlands 2-0, was seen by 14.3 million Americans on Fox and its cable sport channels, the broadcaster said.

Trump touts environment record, green groups scoff

U.S. President Donald Trump boasted about his administration's environmental record on Monday, saying America can lead the world in fighting pollution at the same time it is promoting fossil fuels, in a speech green groups derided as "utter fantasy." Trump, who has dismantled scores of environmental rules and rejected mainstream climate science since taking office, gave the speech at a time of growing national support https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-climatechange/americans-demand-climate-action-reuters-poll-idUSKCN1TR15W for strong environmental protections. He is widely seen as vulnerable on that issue ahead of next year's presidential elections.

Financier Epstein pleads not guilty to U.S. sex trafficking charges involving girls

American financier Jeffrey Epstein pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of sex trafficking as prosecutors accused him of luring dozens of girls as young as 14 to his luxury homes in New York and Florida and paying them for sex acts. An indictment unsealed in federal court in Manhattan accused Epstein, 66, of arranging for girls to perform nude "massages" and other sex acts, and paying some girls to recruit others, from at least 2002 to 2005.

U.S. judge strikes Trump administration rule requiring drug prices in TV ads

A federal judge on Monday dealt a blow to the Trump administration by striking down a new rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington sided with drugmakers Merck & Co Inc , Eli Lilly and Co and Amgen Inc by halting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule from taking effect on Tuesday as planned.

In losing legal battles over census, Trump may win political war

The Trump administration has few realistic options to get a citizenship question onto next year's census, but by keeping the issue in the public eye it could still trigger an undercount of residents in Democratic-leaning areas, legal and political experts told Reuters. Constant media coverage linking citizenship and census forms could scare undocumented immigrants away from responding and rally U.S. President Donald Trump's base to participate, they said. That, in turn, would help redraw voting districts across the country in favor of his Republican party, encouraging the president to pursue a legal battle that he has little chance of winning.

U.S. health officials record 14 new cases of measles as outbreak slows

The United States recorded 14 new measles cases between June 27 and July 3, federal health officials said on Monday, signaling a slowdown in the spread of the disease that has infected 1,109 people this year in the worst U.S. outbreak since 1992. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had seen a 1.3% increase in cases since the previous week and that it has recorded cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease in 28 states.

Delaware chief justice to retire, leaves mark on U.S. takeover law

Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court Leo Strine will retire in the next few months, Governor John Carney announced on Monday, a leadership change in the court system that decides disputes for more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies. The governor will nominate a replacement, who faces confirmation by the state Senate. A list of potential nominees will be drawn up by a selection committee and given to the governor, a process that usually takes months.

Shakeup in U.S. Navy leadership adds to Pentagon churn

A surprise shakeup in the U.S. Navy's leadership this week added to some of the biggest churn in memory at top levels of the Pentagon, where positions ranging from the secretary of defense to the heads of military branches have seen jolting turnover. Admiral Bill Moran, who was expected to take over as the Navy's top officer next month, announced late on Sunday he would instead retire after what Navy Secretary Richard Spencer called poor judgment regarding a professional relationship.

New York clears way for release of Trump's state tax returns

New York state on Monday cleared the way for Democrats in the U.S. Congress to obtain President Donald Trump's state tax returns, raising the possibility of fresh avenues of inquiry for lawmakers investigating his finances. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an amendment to a tax law that would require the commissioner of the Department of Taxation and Finance to share state income tax returns and reports when certain congressional committees request them.

U.S. seeks death penalty for 'calculated' murder of grad student from China

U.S. prosecutors argued on Monday that an Illinois man who raped and murdered a Chinese graduate student two years ago should be executed, and called on her heartbroken fiance and friends to tell the jury about the victim's kind, optimistic nature. A federal jury in Peoria, Illinois found Brendt Christensen, 29, guilty last month of the abduction and murder of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The jury is now in the penalty phase of the trial.