US News Roundup: FDA to hold a public meeting; U.S. announces more coronavirus cases and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

EU condemns U.S. decision to end the ban on anti-personnel land mines

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to relax restrictions on the U.S. military's use of anti-personnel land mines was "completely unacceptable", the European Union said on Tuesday in a rare formal criticism of Washington. In a statement, the EU said the ban on such mines had "saved tens of thousands of people in the past twenty years ... Their use anywhere, anytime, and by any actor remains completely unacceptable to the European Union."

FDA to hold a public meeting on testing for asbestos in talc

For the first time in nearly 50 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will examine asbestos testing for talc powders and cosmetics at a hearing on Tuesday. Regulators are taking a closer look after finding asbestos, a known carcinogen, in several talc cosmetics and powders, including a bottle of Johnson & Johnson's well-known Baby Powder. Citing those FDA results, some U.S. lawmakers and consumer advocates have called for stricter safety regulations to protect public health.

Trump blasts Democrats' chaotic Iowa caucus challenge

President Donald Trump branded the Democratic Party's chaotic effort in Iowa to begin choosing an election challenger as an "unmitigated disaster" on Tuesday after results in the state caucus were delayed indefinitely. Hours after voters made their choices at 1,600 schools and other public locations, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price told reporters to expect results sometime on Tuesday in the state, the first to hold a nominating contest.

After the controversial trial, U.S. Senate poised to acquit Trump

Donald Trump was on the brink of ending the darkest chapter of his tumultuous presidency on Monday as the U.S. Senate began the final phase of his impeachment trial that will almost certainly conclude on Wednesday with his acquittal. The 100 senators will hear four hours of closing arguments split equally between Trump's legal team and prosecutors from the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which charged him with abusing power by pressuring Ukraine to probe political rival Joe Biden, and then obstructing their inquiry.

California lawmaker introduces bill to make PG&E a publicly owned utility

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill aimed at making PG&E Corp a publicly owned utility, a year after liabilities from wildfires traced back to some of its equipment pushed the power producer into bankruptcy. "Today I'm introducing legislation to force PG&E to become a publicly owned utility," California State Senator Scott Wiener said on Monday, adding it was time for a new approach at the utility company.

The U.S. announces more coronavirus cases, details quarantine plans for returning travelers

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday announced the second case of transmission of the new coronavirus within the United States and provided more detailed plans on how it will handle travelers returning from China as the country works to limit the outbreak. "We expect to see more cases of person-to-person spread," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a conference call that included confirmation of a handful of new cases, bringing the U.S. total to 11.

Lowa official slams viral claim of suspicious voter registration activity as false

A viral claim by a conservative activist group that voter registration numbers in Iowa are suspiciously large ahead of the first U.S. presidential nominating contest on Monday is false, a senior state government official said, and called on the group to end its "misinformation campaign." Iowa's Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, said the claim by Washington D.C.-based group Judicial Watch that total regisration numbers for caucuses in eight Iowa counties were larger than the eligible voter population had been disproven by official data.

Dogged by impeachment, Trump goes head to head with Congress in a big speech

With the impeachment drive against him ebbing, U.S. President Donald Trump will face his Democratic accusers on Tuesday night at a State of the Union speech where he is expected to push his case for another four years in office. Trump, a Republican, may be tempted to lash out at the Democratic critics seated before him in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeing it as a chance for payback against those who sought to oust him through what he calls a "witch hunt."

U.S. candidate Bloomberg says Trump cannot stop taking the bait in insult war

U.S. Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg vowed on Monday he would not let President Donald Trump bully him and said the insults being lobbed at him are a sign Trump is worried about running against the fellow New York business tycoon. "I think he thinks I'm going to beat him," Bloomberg told Reuters in an interview in Compton, California, where he was campaigning. "And we've tried to get under his skin."

Entrance Poll: Majority of Iowa Democrats simply want to defeat Trump

As Iowa's Democrats entered their party's caucuses on Monday, defeating President Donald Trump in November's election was at the top of their minds when considering which candidate to support for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, according to preliminary findings by the National Election Pool (NEP). The NEP, a consortium of news organizations including Reuters that runs election-day polling through Edison Research, found most caucus-goers were simply looking for a winner instead of someone who agrees with them on the issues.