US Domestic News Roundup: Reuters cameraman hit by rubber bullets; NASA resumes human spaceflight from U.S and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Reuters cameraman hit by rubber bullets as police disperse protesters

Two members of a Reuters TV crew were hit by rubber bullets and injured in Minneapolis on Saturday night when police moved into an area occupied by about 500 protesters in the southwest of the city shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew. Footage taken by cameraman Julio-Cesar Chavez showed a police officer aiming directly at him as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

FBI's top lawyer resigns as agency faces pressure from Trump

The FBI said on Saturday that its top lawyer, Dana Boente, had announced his resignation as the agency faces scrutiny over its investigations of former staffers and supporters of President Donald Trump. As a senior Justice Department official, Boente was involved in the investigation of Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The Justice Department has since asked a judge to drop those charges, arguing that prosecutors should not have brought them in the first place.

U.S. military units put on four-hour standby amid Minnesota unrest

In an extraordinary move, the Pentagon on Saturday said it put military units on a four-hour recall status to be ready if requested by Minnesota's governor amid civil unrest following the killing of a black man by a white Minneapolis police officer. It was unclear when the U.S. military last invoked such a short timeline to potentially recall U.S. troops, something it might do for contingencies such as natural disasters.

NASA resumes human spaceflight from U.S. soil with historic SpaceX launch

SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched two Americans into orbit from Florida on Saturday in a landmark mission marking the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), launching Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company's newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station.

U.S. CDC reports a total of 1,737,950 coronavirus cases, 102,785 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported a total 1,737,950 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 18,123 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,074 to 102,785. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. EDT on May 29 versus its previous report released on Friday. Trump says protesters would have met 'vicious dogs' if White House fence breached

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said demonstrators protesting the death of a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck would have been "greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen" had they breached the White House fence. In a series of Twitter posts, Trump also appeared to call his supporters to rally outside the executive mansion on Saturday evening, saying, "TONIGHT, I UNDERSTAND IS MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???" MAGA stands for Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again."

Biden staff donate to a group that pays bail in riot-torn Minneapolis

Campaign staff for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is advertising their donations to a group that pays bail fees in Minneapolis after the city's police jailed people protesting the killing of a black man by a white police officer. At least 13 Biden campaign staff members posted on Twitter on Friday and Saturday that they made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which opposes the practice of cash bail, or making people pay to avoid pre-trial imprisonment. The group uses donations to pay bail fees in Minneapolis.

As Minneapolis rioters set buildings ablaze, grocer pleads to save his stores

At a little past midnight on Saturday as smoke billowed and flames rose from the tops of a nearby bank and a post office building, Minneapolis grocery store owner Mohammad Abdi knew he had a critical business decision to make. Either go out into the street and confront the dangerous vandals and looters who were preparing to torch his Tawakal Halal Grocery or standby and watch them destroy his livelihood.

'I can't breathe' protests heat up as curfews imposed in several U.S. cities

Civil unrest flared and curfews were imposed in several major U.S. cities on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets to vent outrage at the death of a black man shown on video gasping for breath as a white Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck. From Los Angeles to Miami to Chicago, protests marked by chants of "I can't breathe" - a rallying cry echoing the dying words of George Floyd - began peacefully before turning unruly as demonstrators blocked traffic, set fires and clashed with riot police, some firing tear gas and plastic bullets in an effort to restore order.

Trump says military could respond quickly to Minneapolis unrest

U.S. President Donald Trump said the military could deploy troops to Minneapolis "very quickly" to respond to violent protests in the aftermath of a police killing of an unarmed black man. The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked protests in several cities, some of which have turned violent. Minnesota's governor activated the state's national guard after four nights of confrontations in Minneapolis, its first full activation since World War Two.

(With inputs from agencies.)