US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. Justice Dept asks appeals court to allow review of classified docs in Trump probe; Hurricane Fiona swamps Puerto Rico, knocking out power to island and more

Seeing the classified documents turned up by an Aug. 8 FBI search of Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago caused Biden to wonder "how anyone can be that irresponsible," he said in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" program. Teva Pharm expects to start paying U.S. opioid settlement in 2023 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries expects to finalise an opioid settlement in the United States by year-end and start paying in 2023, its chief executive said on Sunday, while confirming he was unlikely to renew his contract next year.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Justice Dept asks appeals court to allow review of classified docs in Trump probe

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday asked a federal appeals court to let it resume reviewing classified materials seized in an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida estate. In the filing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the Justice Department said the circuit court should halt part of the lower court decision that prevents prosecutors from relying on the classified documents in their criminal investigation into the retention of government records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach after his presidency ended.

Hurricane Fiona swamps Puerto Rico, knocking out power to island

Hurricane Fiona left most of Puerto Rico without power on Sunday, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides on the island before barreling toward the Dominican Republic, a government agency said. The storm, hitting Puerto Rico five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, ripped up asphalt from roads, swept away a major road bridge, closed airports, swamped cars and dumped rain in such quantities that some rivers were rising 20 feet in just hours, according to eyewitnesses.

Biden says Trump handling of documents 'totally irresponsible'

U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday that his predecessor Donald Trump's handling of classified documents was "totally irresponsible" but that he is staying out of the investigation. Seeing the classified documents turned up by an Aug. 8 FBI search of Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago caused Biden to wonder "how anyone can be that irresponsible," he said in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" program.

Teva Pharm expects to start paying U.S. opioid settlement in 2023

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries expects to finalise an opioid settlement in the United States by year-end and start paying in 2023, its chief executive said on Sunday, while confirming he was unlikely to renew his contract next year. After years of negotiations, Israel-based Teva in July proposed a $4.35 billion nationwide settlement - mostly cash and partly medicines that will amount to $300 million to $400 million over 13 years - to resolve its opioid lawsuits.

Trump ally's trial on foreign agent charges to start with jury selection

Jury selection is set to begin on Monday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the private equity executive and onetime fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges he acted as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. government. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Barrack, the 75-year-old former chairman of the firm now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc, worked for the United Arab Emirates to influence Trump's campaign and administration between 2016 and 2018 and advance the Middle Eastern country's interests.

Organized groups fuel rapid rise in U.S. book-banning, report says

Book bans accelerated across the United States during the 2021-2022 school year, largely through the efforts of organized groups that called on public schools to remove more than 1,600 titles, the writers' group PEN America said on Monday. There were 2,532 instances of individual book bans affecting 1,648 titles at 5,000 schools with 4 million students, according to the report. The research found 1,000 more book bans than were documented in the group's initial report released in April.

Biden says 'the pandemic is over' even as death toll, costs mount

U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday that "the pandemic is over," even though the country continues to grapple with coronavirus infections that kill hundreds of Americans daily. "The pandemic is over," Biden said during an interview conducted with CBS' "60 Minutes" program on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show, an event that drew thousands of visitors.

(With inputs from agencies.)