US Domestic News Roundup: Protests flare around U.S. over Minneapolis killing; Trump backpedals after 'shooting' threat to Minneapolis rioters and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. high court rejects church challenges to state pandemic rules

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges on Friday to curbs on religious services in California and Illinois during the coronavirus pandemic. In the California dispute, the nine justices split 5-4 in rejecting a bid by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista to block the rules issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberal justices in the majority.

Minnesota police arrest CNN reporter on air while covering Minneapolis protests

The Minnesota State Patrol arrested a CNN reporter reporting live on television early Friday morning while covering the Minneapolis protests, without giving any reason, and led him and three crew members away in handcuffs. Black reporter Omar Jiminez had just shown a protester being arrested when about half a dozen white police officers surrounded him.

Young Minneapolis mayor in spotlight after police killing, protests

Shaken and angry, Minneapolis' telegenic young mayor stood in front of television cameras over and over this week - first to decry the police killing of George Floyd, and on Friday to impose a curfew as parts of his city burned in ongoing protests. Disturbing footage showing a Minneapolis law enforcement officer pressing his knee into Floyd's neck and the ensuing unrest after the 46-year-old's death have drawn international attention to Mayor Jacob Frey, a 38-year-old attorney and former professional athlete who ran for office on a platform of reforming the police.

Saturated hospitals, airlifts as California border region virus cases surge

Coronavirus cases are surging in a scorching hot desert region straddling south California and a city near Mexico's Tijuana, leading to saturated hospitals, a cross-border overspill of patients and airlifts from rural U.S. clinics. Mexicali, capital of the Mexican state of Baja California, has the third-highest number of confirmed COVID cases in Mexico, with its main hospitals at four-fifths capacity, state health department data shows.

Videos of U.S. police killings spur protest - and sometimes charges

The decision of Minneapolis prosecutors to criminally charge a police officer four days after the death of George Floyd shows how efforts to hold officers accountable often hinge on the level of public protest and whether the incident was caught on video. Even then, it is rare for officers to be charged criminally in such incidents, with the swiftness of the Floyd charges something of an anomaly.

Trump backpedals after 'shooting' threat to Minneapolis rioters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday tried to walk back a Twitter threat to respond with deadly force to three days of violent protests in Minneapolis over the police killing of an unarmed black man. After his online comment that "looting leads to shooting" drew a warning from Twitter and widespread condemnation from Democrats, Trump said he understood why the killing had sparked nationwide protests about police violence against African Americans.

Biden urged to pick black VP, not Klobuchar as Minneapolis killing stokes racial tensions

Former Vice President Joe Biden is facing fresh calls to choose a black woman as his running mate amid rising racial tensions after this week's videotaped death of an unarmed black man as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, has promised to pick a woman. Several black candidates are on the short list, including Senator Kamala Harris, former Georgia gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams and Representative Val Demings.

SpaceX, NASA to try again for landmark launch of two astronauts from Florida

Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was set for a repeat attempt at launching two Americans into orbit on Saturday from Florida for a mission that would mark the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years. The mission's first launch try on Wednesday was called off with less than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock due to stormy weather around the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

Exclusive: White House kept FDA in the dark on Russian ventilators for New York and New Jersey

When U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to accept a shipment of ventilators from Russian President Vladimir Putin at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, the White House did not alert the FDA as it headed to New York and New Jersey, Reuters has learned. Instead, the Food and Drug Administration heard about the arrival of the shipment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on March 31st, the day before the 45 Aventa-M ventilators were delivered, the health regulator told Reuters.

Protests flare around U.S. over Minneapolis killing

Protests flared late into the night in many cities in the United States over the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died this week after being pinned down by the neck by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The sometimes violent demonstrations hit cities from New York to Atlanta in a tide of anger over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.

(With inputs from agencies.)