US Domestic News Roundup: Two of Trump's Republican challengers to debate without him

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Two of Trump's Republican challengers to debate without him

Joe Walsh and Bill Weld, two of the three Republicans challenging President Donald Trump for their party's 2020 presidential nomination, are set to meet in a debate on Tuesday, hoping to bring attention to their long-shot candidacies. Trump will not take part in the event in New York hosted by the website Business Insider, nor will the third candidate seeking the Republican nomination, former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford.

Trump denies pressuring Ukraine, will not commit to transcript release

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday denied trying to coerce Ukraine into investigating his Democratic rival Joe Biden but wavered about whether he would release a transcript of a phone call that some Democrats say is grounds for his impeachment. Trump told reporters in New York that he did not pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July phone call to launch a corruption investigation into Biden and his son in return for U.S. military aid.

U.S. health officials to testify to Congress on vaping sickness

Congress begins public hearings this week about a mystery vaping-related lung disease that has sickened hundreds of people across the United States and taken eight lives. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be asked by a House Oversight subcommittee Tuesday about the possible causes of the outbreak, what vaping products may have been implicated and what can be done about the disease that recently has sickened 530 people in 38 states. The parent of a recently stricken Chicago teen will also speak to lawmakers.

GM-UAW contract talks focus on temp workers

The use of temporary workers is a key bargaining issue in negotiations between General Motors Co and the striking United Auto Workers union over a new four-year contract. Details of their proposals have not been disclosed. The union approved the occasional use of temporary workers by U.S. automakers during the last contract talks in 2015 when the two sides agreed to gradually phase out the existing two-tier wage structure.

Democratic White House hopeful Sanders urges 'wealth tax' on richest 180,000 Americans

U.S. presidential contender Bernie Sanders released a plan on Tuesday to tax fortunes worth more than $32 million, in a move that follows his Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren's own wealth-tax proposal. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, said his "extreme wealth tax" would address historically high levels of inequality and fund his healthcare plan, known as Medicare for All, as well as plans for affordable housing and universal childcare.

Searches carried out at Paris home of Epstein and at model agency

French authorities have carried out searches at the Paris property of deceased sex offender and U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, and at a model agency of one of his alleged acquaintances, said a source from the Paris prosecutor's office. The source, who was confirming an earlier report from France Info radio, said the searches were now over.

Ex-Dallas cop missed clues before shooting man eating ice cream in own home: prosecutor

A Dallas police officer missed clues, including the smell of marijuana, when she entered an apartment she believed was her own and shot dead a man eating a bowl of ice cream, a prosecutor said Monday at the start of the former officer's murder trial. Amber Guyger, who is white, has told investigators she mistook 26-year-old Botham Jean, a black man, for a burglar after she mistakenly entered his central Dallas apartment one floor above her own.

More Americans say vaping is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes: Reuters poll

A growing number of Americans say that vaping e-cigarettes is at least as harmful as smoking traditional cigarettes, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, following reports of an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths. The national online poll, released Tuesday, found that 63% of adults in the United States disagreed with the statement that "vaping is healthier than traditional cigarettes." That is up 16 percentage points from a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran in the spring of 2016.

Factbox: Democratic U.S. presidential hopefuls differ with Trump on foreign policy

President Donald Trump's unpredictable foreign policy moves have sent shock waves around the world, from his overhaul of U.S. trade relationships to his questioning of longstanding alliances. But the Democratic contenders hoping to challenge him in the November 2020 U.S. election have largely eschewed foreign policy debates, seen as less important to U.S. voters, instead of focusing on domestic issues such as healthcare, immigration, and gun control.

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