New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has rejected an attempt by President-Elect Donald Trump to dismiss his business records case and ordered sentencing for Jan. 10.

In his Jan. 3 order, Merchan rejected the idea that the Presidential Transition Act, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, or presidential immunity—each of which had been cited by Trump’s legal team—required vacating the jury’s verdicts or dismissal of the indictment.

The judge said he wasn’t inclined to impose a prison term on the president-elect. Citing concerns about presidential immunity, he also said that “a sentence of unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow the Defendant to pursue his appellate options.” A jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in May, raising the prospect that he could face prison. Experts previously told The Epoch Times that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution would preclude Trump from serving time. (More)

President Joe Biden on Friday blocked the proposed takeover of U.S. Steel by Japanese company Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel had proposed paying $15 billion to take over US Steel.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was unable to decide whether the deal should go through and referred the matter to Biden last month. Biden had 15 days following the referral to block or approve the deal. If he had not acted, the deal would have been approved.

Nippon’s 2023 agreement included several concessions, including giving the U.S. government veto power over changes to output. U.S. Steel shareholders voted in 2024 to approve the acquisition, though the proposal was opposed by the United Steelworkers union. “We are dismayed by President Biden’s decision to block Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U. S. Steel,” Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel said in a joint statement. (More)

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on Friday that alcohol consumption could lead to a risk of developing cancer, calling for an updated warning label on alcoholic drinks.

“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States—greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S.—yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” he said in a statement.

Murthy called for the guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed so that people can weigh the cancer risk when deciding whether or how much to drink. Alcoholic beverages in the United States currently carry a health warning label that advises pregnant women to not drink them and that their consumption impairs a person’s ability to drive a car or operate machinery. (More)

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