By , (Reuters) - Protesters shut down a major highway in Atlanta on Saturday and burned down a Wendy’s restaurant where a black man was shot dead by police as he tried to escape arrest, an incident likely to fuel more nationwide tensions over race and police tactics.The restaurant was in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers, local television showed. By that time the building was reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.Other demonstrators marched onto Interstate-75, stopping traffic, before police...…By , (Reuters) - Protesters shut down a major highway in Atlanta on Saturday and burned down a Wendy’s restaurant where a black man was shot dead by police as he tried to escape arrest, an incident likely to fuel more nationwide tensions over race and police tactics.The restaurant was in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers, local television showed. By that time the building was reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.Other demonstrators marched onto Interstate-75, stopping traffic, before police...WW…

By , (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic raged in Florida on Monday as the state reported more than 10,000 new infections for a sixth day in a row, but California saw improvement, with cases and hospitalizations beginning to stabilize after a surge.Florida has become the epicenter of the latest COVID-19 surge, prompting the state’s teachers union to sue Republican Governor Ron DeSantis over his plan to reopen schools for in-class instruction.In California, which emerged as another coronavirus hotspot in July, Governor Gavin Newsom said new infections, hospitalizations and intensive care...…By , (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic raged in Florida on Monday as the state reported more than 10,000 new infections for a sixth day in a row, but California saw improvement, with cases and hospitalizations beginning to stabilize after a surge.Florida has become the epicenter of the latest COVID-19 surge, prompting the state’s teachers union to sue Republican Governor Ron DeSantis over his plan to reopen schools for in-class instruction.In California, which emerged as another coronavirus hotspot in July, Governor Gavin Newsom said new infections, hospitalizations and intensive care...WW…

By , LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California’s state university system, the largest in the United States, canceled classes on Tuesday for the fall semester because of the coronavirus, while Los Angeles County said its stay-at-home order was likely to be extended by three months.The announcements on the West Coast came after the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress that lifting the sweeping lockdowns could touch off new outbreaks of the illness, which has killed nearly 81,000 Americans and devastated the economy.In one of the first indications the pandemic will...…By , LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California’s state university system, the largest in the United States, canceled classes on Tuesday for the fall semester because of the coronavirus, while Los Angeles County said its stay-at-home order was likely to be extended by three months.The announcements on the West Coast came after the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress that lifting the sweeping lockdowns could touch off new outbreaks of the illness, which has killed nearly 81,000 Americans and devastated the economy.In one of the first indications the pandemic will...WW…

By , WASHINGTON/ LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday extended his stay-at-home guidelines until the end of April, dropping a hotly criticized plan to get the economy up and running by mid-April after a top medical adviser said more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak.The reversal by Trump, which he said would be disclosed in greater detail on Tuesday, came as the U.S. death toll topped 2,460 from the respiratory disease, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 141,000 cases, the most of any country in the world.Click for a GRAPHIC on U.S....…By , WASHINGTON/ LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday extended his stay-at-home guidelines until the end of April, dropping a hotly criticized plan to get the economy up and running by mid-April after a top medical adviser said more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak.The reversal by Trump, which he said would be disclosed in greater detail on Tuesday, came as the U.S. death toll topped 2,460 from the respiratory disease, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 141,000 cases, the most of any country in the world.Click for a GRAPHIC on U.S....WW…

By , NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Americans spent a glum Easter Sunday largely confined to their homes by the still-raging coronavirus pandemic as the U.S. death toll neared 22,000, with more than half a million confirmed cases nationwide.With 42 states imposing strict stay-at-home orders most churches were shuttered, although many erected crosses outside or even offered drive-through services conducted by priests, pastors or ministers wearing latex gloves and surgical masks.Other Americans turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.In Louisiana,...…By , NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Americans spent a glum Easter Sunday largely confined to their homes by the still-raging coronavirus pandemic as the U.S. death toll neared 22,000, with more than half a million confirmed cases nationwide.With 42 states imposing strict stay-at-home orders most churches were shuttered, although many erected crosses outside or even offered drive-through services conducted by priests, pastors or ministers wearing latex gloves and surgical masks.Other Americans turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.In Louisiana,...WW…

By LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged 10 Iranian nationals on Friday over an alleged long-running scheme to dodge U.S. sanctions on Tehran by disguising $300 million in transactions, including the purchase of two oil tankers.The eight men and two women were outside the United States and had not been arrested, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles said. He declined to say if foreign governments had been asked to take them into custody.“In a wide-ranging scheme spanning nearly two decades and several continents, the defendants conspired to abuse the U.S....…By LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged 10 Iranian nationals on Friday over an alleged long-running scheme to dodge U.S. sanctions on Tehran by disguising $300 million in transactions, including the purchase of two oil tankers.The eight men and two women were outside the United States and had not been arrested, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles said. He declined to say if foreign governments had been asked to take them into custody.“In a wide-ranging scheme spanning nearly two decades and several continents, the defendants conspired to abuse the U.S....WW…

By , , (Reuters) - Nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as states scrambled to step up inoculations that have yet to slow the roaring pandemic.The 8,987,322 people who have been jabbed with the first of two shots, according to the CDC, represent less than one-third of the 25 million total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government.Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Monday sought permission from the Trump administration to directly purchase 100,000 doses of the...…By , , (Reuters) - Nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as states scrambled to step up inoculations that have yet to slow the roaring pandemic.The 8,987,322 people who have been jabbed with the first of two shots, according to the CDC, represent less than one-third of the 25 million total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government.Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Monday sought permission from the Trump administration to directly purchase 100,000 doses of the...WW…

By LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters battled to tame a wildfire on hillsides southeast of Los Angeles late on Thursday, some 24 hours after it broke out in a wooded canyon, apparently triggered by a faulty domestic generator.Slideshow The fire, which forced the evacuation of some 25,000 people, was 10% contained but still burning across 6,400 acres. Two of some 500 firefighters deployed to control it had been hospitalized with injuries, the Orange County Fire Authority said on Twitter.The Bond Fire, named for the street in Silverado Canyon where it started, ignited late on Wednesday...…By LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters battled to tame a wildfire on hillsides southeast of Los Angeles late on Thursday, some 24 hours after it broke out in a wooded canyon, apparently triggered by a faulty domestic generator.Slideshow The fire, which forced the evacuation of some 25,000 people, was 10% contained but still burning across 6,400 acres. Two of some 500 firefighters deployed to control it had been hospitalized with injuries, the Orange County Fire Authority said on Twitter.The Bond Fire, named for the street in Silverado Canyon where it started, ignited late on Wednesday...WW…

By , WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) - U.S. health authorities will hold an emergency meeting next week to recommend that a coronavirus vaccine awaiting approval be given first to healthcare professionals and people in long-term care facilities.The meeting, announced on Friday by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee on immunizations, suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be close to authorizing distribution of the long-awaited medication, at least to those considered most vulnerable.United Airlines has begun moving shipments of the vaccine,...…By , WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) - U.S. health authorities will hold an emergency meeting next week to recommend that a coronavirus vaccine awaiting approval be given first to healthcare professionals and people in long-term care facilities.The meeting, announced on Friday by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee on immunizations, suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be close to authorizing distribution of the long-awaited medication, at least to those considered most vulnerable.United Airlines has begun moving shipments of the vaccine,...WW…